Solar Charging Anyone?


^


Isn't ThinkGeek a little on the pricey side for their goods?


@Torpor: The Voltaic Amp is out of stock until April 15th, I have access to their entire line of backpacks and other panels, it just seems like the Amp size factor and battery capacity is good for the Pandora compared to what else is on the market.


I'm waiting to see if Voltaic Systems has anything new coming down the pipe for the iPad craze and such, waiting to hear back from them on this as this might be a better option for the Pandora.


On a side note, if you need a hard case for your Pandora or SD cards, my site is now live and ready to process orders for Pelican cases.
 
Finally had sun to charge up the Voltaic Amp. Truthfully I'm a bit disappointed in this 3000mAh battery, but maybe I shouldn't be. I thought since the Pandora battery is 4000mAh, that the 3000mAh battery would give it at least a 50% charge, hoping for more like 60-70%. I had a Pandora battery that I ran down to 2% (thanks to Wars: Commando). I got a full charge in the sun on the Voltaic Amp and hooked the two together.


It went from 2% to 40%. Thinking about the Pandora and how far 40% can go makes me feel a little better. Today the Amp is sitting in the sun for another round of charging.


I just want to see what the rest of the community thinks about 40%?
 
I'm in the situation where I'd go fully 100%-solar power for all my computing needs, today, if I could. So I'm very interested in your results here, Link. If, after one day of charging in the sun, the voltaic can keep the Pandora battery alive for 40% of its normal time - thats really, really not too shabby! It just means, I need two solar panels! :)


So please continue your research in this area - once you get items in stock, after such research - I will be one of your first customers, for sure!
 
A few years ago I read about a backpack that actually used the kinetic up/down motion as the person walked to generate power. The interesting thing was that, by absorbing excess up/down energy, less energy was being transferred by the walker into the ground, meaning users actually found these backpacks to be easier to carry than a regular backpack of the same weight: not only does it recharge batteries, but it does so with the excess energy that would have been wasted anyway.


I've since been trying to find these or similar, but I suspect they never made it to market. Anyone else heard anything like that? I've started doing some hiking lately, and it'd be kinda cool to see how much energy I can get.
 
torpor said:
I'm in the situation where I'd go fully 100%-solar power for all my computing needs, today, if I could. So I'm very interested in your results here, Link. If, after one day of charging in the sun, the voltaic can keep the Pandora battery alive for 40% of its normal time - thats really, really not too shabby! It just means, I need two solar panels! :)


So please continue your research in this area - once you get items in stock, after such research - I will be one of your first customers, for sure!
Click to expand...

Hmm, 2.5 solar cells unless my maths is off....
 
WizardStan said:
A few years ago I read about a backpack that actually used the kinetic up/down motion as the person walked to generate power. The interesting thing was that, by absorbing excess up/down energy, less energy was being transferred by the walker into the ground, meaning users actually found these backpacks to be easier to carry than a regular backpack of the same weight: not only does it recharge batteries, but it does so with the excess energy that would have been wasted anyway.


I've since been trying to find these or similar, but I suspect they never made it to market. Anyone else heard anything like that? I've started doing some hiking lately, and it'd be kinda cool to see how much energy I can get.
Click to expand...

Not quite walking powered.....


http://www.reghardware.com/2011/03/30/nanogenerators_could_charge_ipod/
 
Agent ZigZag said:
torpor said:
I'm in the situation where I'd go fully 100%-solar power for all my computing needs, today, if I could. So I'm very interested in your results here, Link. If, after one day of charging in the sun, the voltaic can keep the Pandora battery alive for 40% of its normal time - thats really, really not too shabby! It just means, I need two solar panels! :)


So please continue your research in this area - once you get items in stock, after such research - I will be one of your first customers, for sure!
Click to expand...

Hmm, 2.5 solar cells unless my maths is off....
Click to expand...

Actually the Pandora started off at 2% and went up to 40% so it went up 38% therefore 2.5 solar cells would get the panda to 95% from 0% so yeah your maths is off :p


Sorry couldn't resist :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Its not linear though. Probably the last 20% of the charge cycle will go faster ..
 
I dont know the math here but surely those B Square guys are in potential shit streak with Apple over their pledged provision of iPhone squares which dock using Apples dock connector. What happens when Apple say "How'd you like those apples"? They received $99k in pledges, $74k more than they were after, so the business is assured and I'd wager a fair number of the backers are wanting a swanky solar iphone dock which is unlikely to be allowed to proceed, unless Apple want to rosy there green image (groan) :p
 
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