Samsung P2070 EcoFit 20″ 12V LCD – Slim, sleek, and Perfect for Rural Africa?
When you produce solar power, it's DC (Direct Current). Most electronics and computer components run on DC, usually either 5V or 12V. But since The Grid is AC (Alternating Current), they come equipped with power supplies that go from 100-240V down to DC. That's why your laptop has a "brick" power supply, switching the power from say 230V AC to 19.2V DC.
Our computers are all 12V or, even better, 6-26V DC. This means they can receive power when the batteries are low (and output is about 11V) or use truck batteries which are 24V.
The problem is monitors always have an AC "brick" built inside so if you are on solar power you have to use an inverter and go:
- From Solar > 12V DC Battery > AC Inverter (up to 23oV) > AC Monitor > Back down to DC components inside monitor.
Wasting 10-15% of power you go from AC to DC or DC to AC. Ideally you could just bin the AC power supply of the monitor and go:
- From Solar > 12V DC Battery > DC Monitor
Samsung appears to have done with this with their new P2070 monitor though the reason for making the PSU external is to make the monitor extra thin.
Schools in rural Nigeria are probably the last thing on the minds of Samsung engineers but it's so much less expensive than the crappy 12V 10" 800 x 600 Chinese monitors that sell for £150 to £200 on eBay and Car PC websites. And it doesn't require difficult linux drivers like the USB monitors do.
It actually has a great spec: 20", 1600 x 900 Resolution, 2ms response rate, 50,000:1 Contrast Ratio. I'll have one in on Monday and post the video review next week. It only has a DVI port which means it will work with our best-selling Aleutia T1 and our H-Series but not crappy thin client type PCs like the Inveneo or Linutop.
October 17th, 2009 - 17:10
Hi,
I pointed out the Samsung SyncMaster P2270 in a comment the 8 october 2009 (LGW2286L ticket). The main difference is the resolution. The P2270 is full HD with a native resolution of 1950*1080. The P2070 has a native resolution of 1600*900. There is, also, a P2270P model with a HD TV Tuner integrated. Of course, the price increases. Depending of your needs, I am sure that one of these models should reply positively. It is a serious option for a large diagonal i.e 20″ instead of 8″. The 8″ models have the serious advantage to use 5W (5V 1A) from USB.
About the off grid, the solar panels provide an unregulated voltage. I read you use batteries. Maybe you could post a schematic of your solar installation with batteries, solar panels, regulators, etc…
Bye/
October 23rd, 2009 - 08:32
If you’re applauding Samsung’s use of an external 12V brick for this monitor, I’m surprised. Monitors with external power bricks have been around for ages. This monitor is ok, but not really great — see our review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/Samsung_Lenovo_monitors The Lenovo it was compared to is much more sensible, and takes far less power — but it has an internal power supply.
October 24th, 2009 - 10:05
Mate, I love the L1940P (and thanks for the link). We have one in the office and are shipping 8 to Zambia for a project. Build quality is awesome and since I’m 6 foot 3, it’s nice that it’s Height Adjustable. It’s just that the Samsung has a 12V DC input so it wouldn’t require an inverter – you could just ditch the brick PSU and plug it straight into your regulated 12V battery.
Unfortunately, once I bought the sample it turns out it uses 25 Watts.
October 24th, 2009 - 10:15
Wow, actually just read your review. Great job and very thorough! I’ll have to try that calibration on Monday.
October 25th, 2009 - 13:30
“If you’re applauding Samsung’s use of an external 12V brick for this monitor, I’m surprised.”
Depends the need, their need (solar in Africa) it means imagine your house without plugs and a bike as a generator or the sun. They need a 12V or DC direct input power. Consider it is finished when you have an internal brick because it means it is a AC direct input. So AC direct input is not filling the need. It was a challenge to find external brick. Most of the time, external brick means a DC direct input such as 12VDC. However, nowadays, external bricks are coming back. A come back? Yes at the begining with the frst LCD monitors the power supply units were outside. Today, the art of miniaturization, green power (LED blacklight) mean a slim (design) display. A major constraint exists. What to do with the power supply: protection, AC DC conversion, filter, isolation, etc? It takes space. An idea is to come back to an external brick.
To conclude, you will find a lot of new LCDs displays with external bricks for the reasons explained above. You will be able to integrate it in a solar power unit. Solar cells deliver DC current. DC AC is always possible but cost power. DC (cells)> AC(brick) > DC (display controllers …). Wastes.
The choice is between small display (USB2) low consumption and large display (HDMI DVI). It depends the need.
Best regards,
October 26th, 2009 - 15:58
Brilliant review. I did wonder how they could actually make the monitors so thin? now i know.
November 18th, 2009 - 18:20
A friend of mine bought this monitor in a sale *without* the power supply. I wonder if anyone out there who also owns the P2070 is kind enough to tell me the polarity of the power connector (negative or positive connector inside) so I can adapt another power supply to her monitor.
January 18th, 2010 - 15:34
“If you’re applauding Samsung’s use of an external 12V brick for this monitor, I’m surprised. – (It) depends (on) the need … their need is solar (in Africa) — imagine your house without plugs and a bike as a generator or the sun. ”
There is another positive aspect to the external power supply. Nearly all LCD monitors outlive their internal power supplies. Having an external supply means that the poor people can just replace the supply and not the entire monitor!
March 31st, 2010 - 03:09
Pleased to see this and the SPCR articles. We’re looking for a low-power monitor with external power adaptor, as we aim to move to solar DC at home. So Mike…
“Monitors with external power bricks have been around for ages…”
Could anyone point me to a link which identifies which monitors have external power adaptors, which we can then compare across to the US EPEAT rating… Cheers
March 18th, 2011 - 16:32
they tested the samsung at the wall lenovo tested 11w at best samsung was 18w- they even suggest a more efficient power brick to get the samsungs rating down! so in the 12dcv situation your porbbly looking at not much difference in power consumption between the two – the samsung is probably designed with this in mind- smsung are well awre thta people are putting these in there cars.
if you supplied them both with 12v and 5v rails or whtever they are splitting the 12v into it would be appropriate test of hradwrae vs hardware
but
you are comparing apples and oranges or AC to dc- not the same- and in the offgrid application mentioned here you are totally wrong bar the argumnet the smsung is flimsier
the following comment can only be made by an idiot who is trying to sell you an inverter or an inferior display for your needs.
“If you’re applauding Samsung’s use of an external 12V brick for this monitor, I’m surprised. Monitors with external power bricks have been around for ages. This monitor is ok, but not really great — see our review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/Samsung_Lenovo_monitors The Lenovo it was compared to is much more sensible, and takes far less power — but it has an internal power supply.
March 18th, 2011 - 16:42
“The Lenovo it was compared to is much more sensible, and takes far less power “— but it has an internal power supply”.-
that is also wasting power and probably only wins the test because of a more efiicient power brick-
probably with switching control, lack of voltage drop etc.
you can save a waatt or two by being clever with the power brick and putting it in a draught/on its thin edge or adding a fan – i used to do this when i was using an inverter- the fan on the inverter would also cool my laptops power brick- silly but gave me a little extra battreylife!
run all dc now 12v 100w pv panels- mini 12v laptop inverter>19V- INTEL ATOM SAMSUNG NETBOOK-12v 3a rTED ISONIC MONITOR SOON TO REPLACED WITH THIS SAMSUNG ONE AND NOTIONINK ADAM TaBLET
June 4th, 2011 - 11:04
Doesn’t having an external power supply to allow the monitor to be thinner solve a problme and crete a problem. Where do you put the power supply?