Solar Charger Freeloader Pico
Freeloader come out again with another solar energy powered device, The Pico is enables you to keep your mobile devices powered up without the restrictions of having to be near a utility outlet.
The Freeloader Pico is essentially a Lithium Ion battery that is charged up with a photovoltaic solar panel add in a few connectors and wrap it all up in a nice portable hand sized case. This could be something the more technically minded could knock up in the garage but with the Pico coming in at around US$20 you`d be hard pressed to match it on price.
The down side of all solar chargers is the length of time needed to convert the suns energy in to usable power. We could use a larger area of solar panels but this would add to the cost and it wouldn’t be as portable. The convenience of the small size which is just 10.5cm x 4.5cm x 1.2cm and weighing just 49 grams is the appealing factor here.
Charging the Pico using the sun will take around 10 hours to full capacity and this will depend on location and cloud cover. So some times it might take a little longer to achieve maximum charge. The internal batter is a Li-ion battery rated at 800mAh and should have a lifespan of around 2 years depending on use.
A fully charged Pico could transfer its power over to your mobile device in around 30 minutes and this could give your around 35 hours use of a mobile phone and about 15 hours if your are an avid music fan on your iPod.
An additional form of charging is via a USB port, this should be somewhat faster than direct solar. USB charging should be really used as a backup and its quite hard to find a suitable USB port when you are miles from home.
The time needed to get these backup energy storage devices powered up may seem too long but this is just something we need to get our mindset accustomed too. Remembering to expose our chargers to sunlight long before we need to use them is just like going shopping and having some groceries in the cupboard. We do have to pay for our food but the energy stored in Pico is free.
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