Using Solar Yard Lights to Charge Electronics?

Hey, I need an opinion of whether this will be possible or not. We have a bunch of individual solar sidewalk lights outside out house. a few of them smapped loose, but the electronics work perfectly still, so I figured I would try to do the following:

Each solar panel in the lights puts out around 4.3v on a good bright day, and then I have a few other ones that put out around 3.5v on a bright day.

So I realized… my laptop charger uses 18vDC to charge… So my electronics-stupid brain though "Well that means I can just hook a bunch of these together to get around 18 volts, hook up the 2 wire plug and there we go!"

Now I am assuming I am missing something, likely a shortage of amps, or something like that… but what would I have to do to hook these small panels together and make it work? (if possible)

Also, even more out of likelyhood, I have a 10vDC-15vDC to 120vAC 60Hz converter for my car lighter port, that gives me two regular AC outlets. What are the chances of me hooking that to my small solar panels?

how many of these tiny panels would I actually need to power my 18vDC laptop? or say, my 5vDC PSP?

Those small solar cells just put out a few milliamps of current. Laptops and inverters take a lot of power. You could theoretically charge your laptop battery, but it would take days (if not weeks). Your best bet would be to charge a cell phone, MP3 player, or a flashlight.

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  4. Using Solar Yard Lights to Charge Electronics?
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