Solar Standing Walking Desk
Have you ever thought your office was too cold, stuffy, warm, depressing, but you still have work to do? Have you yearned to work outside but those rickety old picnic tables are covered in bird poop and general wetness? Do you have a tiny computer but need at least a 21” monitor to make out what your graph looks like? Well, don’t let any of that stop you. I would like to introduce, the Solar Standing/Walking Desk…
Straight from my imagination circa summer 2013 and spare parts in the back of the office and recycled lab equipment; this build project finally came into fruition in the spring of 2018. I have the Onenote to prove it. Although the 100W solar panel does not quite cover the 150W inverter, the three lead-acid batteries keep the 2in1, the monitor, and a cell phone charging going for as long as you want to stay in the sun, and then some. I mean it physically does, but the angle of the solar panel and engineering efficiencies, it was pretty close to not working. "Oh, but why would you use an inverter when you can just connect the computer and monitor directly to the 12V output of the controller?"
1) I don't want to splice my power bricks/cables in case I need them later.
2) Do you trust the solar controller? Some of them are super suspect.
a. With the female car plug, the inverter, the ac to dc power bricks, there are at least two 15A fuses and the power bricks themselves between the power and the goods.
b. Also serves as multiple points to break the chain in case something goes bad.
i. Solar flares.
ii. Someone pointing a solar reflector at me while I am working outside (you can't trust these people)
iii. All these Pikachus decide they want to help me write my thesis
There are also many things to improve on:
1) Shock absorbers would be nice. The batteries are floating on a piece of foam under the wood, my computer has a magnetic base which makes it cling to the frame, and the solar panel has some shock absorbing through the wood and semi-floating hinges. But my god, rolling this out onto the pavement had the monitor flopping about, and my drinks hitting the ground.
2) Cup holders
3) Some people suggested having the solar panel come up and over to give the user shade
a. A bit more complicated, and the solar panel is heavy
b. It is covering the batteries, so they are not in direct sunlight
c. I mean, I want to see the sun, and not hide away from it like some vampire
4) This is not really my fault, but the only way our building is handicapped accessible is through a land bridge with another building with an elevator, but I only have keycard access to that building during normal hours.
a. Luckily the battery-wood panel is easy enough to take off
b. The bad news is everything else kind of flops around as you try to summit the stairs.
5) The original design called for Arduino sonic proximity sensors and have tank treads so you can steer the desk while walking, but some people thought it would be more akin to torture to have your desk continually rolling away from you while you are working. Clearly missing the point of a walking desk, and I still think that would be awesome.
6) Look at that cable management, clearly not Tom approved.
Overall B+, Shows promise, but there are many things to improve. Asian parents disapprove that you actually spent time on this. And I say, totally worth it. Should have brought sunscreen the day I decided to work outdoors. It was more of the spur of the moment thing, ya know, with Cleveland weather.
I would like to leave you with my inspiration to build this Solar Standing/Walking Desk.
I wanna be where the people are
I wanna see, wanna see them dancin'
Riding around on those - what do you call 'em?
Oh - hoverboards! (totally not a dated reference)
…
Down where they walk, down where they run (my office is on the second floor)
Down where they stay all day in the sun
Schlubbing free - wish I could be
Part of that world
-The little mermaid, the good-ish one, and not the weird subsequent one