Life Alternate » solar battery charger

iPetals Solar Charger Concept

Wispa — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:55:47 +0000

The iPetals probably won`t be your Christmas gift this year. It is just a concept for a solar phone charger from the designer, Mac Funamizu.

A cross between a flower and a fan, each petal of the charger is a flat solar panel that unfolds itself in to the shape of a flower. Hinged at the center and cleverly moulded to act as a stand for your iPhone or iPod device while it recharges.

A slight flaw here or maybe not, it looks that the charger cannot act a solar collector and a stand at the same time as the iPetals needs to be closed to hold the device. Then again it might not be the best idea to expose your phone to direct sunlight.

Concepts are great for letting the minds of designers wander without much of the restraints of making a commercial product. Solar battery chargers are increacing in popularity and many designs are already on the market.

If you already have electrical devices then a good multi-purpose solar charger will allow you to keep all those devices charged up wherever you may be. There is no need to run around and find an electrical outlet.

The iPetals style of solar battery charger made be a dying breed. Self powering for small electrical gadgets will be the future. Like the Solar Powered Torch many devices will come equipped with their own solar panels and in a few years time the casings themselves will be solar generating materials.

Kodak KS100 Solar Battery Charger

Wispa — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:41:41 +0000

Kodak, the company well known for its instant film cameras have delved in to the solar battery charger with their electrifying new gadget
.
The solar charger KS100 is capable of charging up your mp3 Player, mobile phone including the iPhone, digital cameras, e-book readers and along with the ever growing list of digital devices.

The kS100 can be fully charged via a usb connection in around 14 hours and for 100 percent solar, it will take 28 hours – that will be 3 days of sun exposure as we all know the sun doesn’t shine at night. It may seem a long time, but for an emergency backup or a irregular top up or your devices batteries it should perform adequate.

Fully charged it has an amazing capacity and can recharge your cell phone up of one and a half times or run your music player for 33 hours. A day and a half of continuous music running on free solar power is amazing, not many things are free today and solar battery chargers are a gift for everybody.

Costing just under US$40, the Kodak KS100 will be available from September 2009.

What types of Solar Battery Charger

Wispa — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:51:57 +0000

For all of you out there that have dumped the traditional non rechargeable batteries and switched over to the cost effective rechargeable type, the next step in going greener and cheaper is actually recharging those batteries with solar energy. There is a massive choice here and you don`t want to choose the wrong type of charger for your batteries.

A couple of things to wonder about is how portable are you? Have you lots of personal gadgets that you like to carry about while you are away from home. The ideal candidate here is the outdoor person, backpacker or hill walker.

The second though is just what type of batteries do you use in your equipment, they might not all be the same size and that will narrow down your options for what charger to purchase. You`ll want your charger to be extremely portable.

For the mostly stay at home person, portability is not your primary concern so you are no so limited in choice. The types of batteries you use are still important and you`ll probably be thinking about a universal charger.

Actually before we move on, take a look around at all your devices and check if you have missed any that are still no running on rechargeable batteries and make a point in swapping over to the more cost effective battery.

The solar battery chargers today offer a variety of options, for the basic capable of charging a single type AA or AAA battery to chargers that are both solar and can be plugged in to your computer via a usb cable. Along with the universal chargers that can take all manner of batteries and also charge batteries that are on-board your device as well as actually powering some of them.

Portability varies too, some are the ultimate like roll up film or fold-able wallets to larger heave duty devices. If you backpack then weight will be a factor, for those that drive or even cycle then weight is of less importance.

The ideal solar batter charger for you is out there, you just have to look around at what you`ll need charging and when. No more dead batteries for your devices.