Tim
Creative Writer
I go camping from time to time and spend 12-14 days out without electricity. I've always told friends and family I will have my mobile phone on for an hour each day, a set time when they can all quickly reach me and expect text messages from me.
This year I spotted a charger being used in a BBC production by some adventuring sorts. This got me into researching them and what they could do for me.
Whilst I have looked at making an entire house solar powered and the obscene cost that goes with that, I didn't think a little device could do the job really. So here is where I get to test a portable device soon. I've bought the Juicebar solar charger. Found it on ebay packaged up new and paid £8 ($16) for it (retails for a fair bit more than that!)
I've found a shopping channel sales pitch for this unit:
It has a 1500mah rechargeable battery in it you charge up via the sun and then use that battery with a range of connectors to power up your devices.
I think my mobile phone has a 850mah battery. Not sure on my Sony MP3 player (don't even think the manual with that is going to tell me battery size) And there is a possibility on taking a Nintendo DS that can be charged with it.
Now, living in the UK the sun isn't the brightest admittedly. So this is going to be interesting finding out exactly how long it takes in the sun to charge the battery up fully................
I have been reading a lot of disgruntled people stating their various branded and non branded solar chargers haven't been working. If we disclude those forgetting to remove the protective transparent cover, those using the device behind UV blocking glass, not using the USB connector on a pc/laptop a few times to give the battery a good memory, with dodgy units (wiring/etc) then we have a base of people probably living in the UK wondering why their devices don't charge under our generally cloudy skies!
Needless to say, this is going to be an interesting time, although I will be trying to charge the battery a few times by USB and fully discharge it before moving on to solar powered charging prior to going away so I skip the screaming by taking it out blind. But I have my fingers crossed that this unit will be useful to me. I have used a unit for my old Pocket PC in the past that works similarly to this. The lightweight plastic device plugged into the unit and you put two rechargeable AA batteries in it to power the PPC and charge its battery.
I'll have to remember to post back how useful it is in a months time when it's been properly field tested.
This year I spotted a charger being used in a BBC production by some adventuring sorts. This got me into researching them and what they could do for me.
Whilst I have looked at making an entire house solar powered and the obscene cost that goes with that, I didn't think a little device could do the job really. So here is where I get to test a portable device soon. I've bought the Juicebar solar charger. Found it on ebay packaged up new and paid £8 ($16) for it (retails for a fair bit more than that!)
I've found a shopping channel sales pitch for this unit:
It has a 1500mah rechargeable battery in it you charge up via the sun and then use that battery with a range of connectors to power up your devices.
I think my mobile phone has a 850mah battery. Not sure on my Sony MP3 player (don't even think the manual with that is going to tell me battery size) And there is a possibility on taking a Nintendo DS that can be charged with it.
Now, living in the UK the sun isn't the brightest admittedly. So this is going to be interesting finding out exactly how long it takes in the sun to charge the battery up fully................
I have been reading a lot of disgruntled people stating their various branded and non branded solar chargers haven't been working. If we disclude those forgetting to remove the protective transparent cover, those using the device behind UV blocking glass, not using the USB connector on a pc/laptop a few times to give the battery a good memory, with dodgy units (wiring/etc) then we have a base of people probably living in the UK wondering why their devices don't charge under our generally cloudy skies!
Needless to say, this is going to be an interesting time, although I will be trying to charge the battery a few times by USB and fully discharge it before moving on to solar powered charging prior to going away so I skip the screaming by taking it out blind. But I have my fingers crossed that this unit will be useful to me. I have used a unit for my old Pocket PC in the past that works similarly to this. The lightweight plastic device plugged into the unit and you put two rechargeable AA batteries in it to power the PPC and charge its battery.
I'll have to remember to post back how useful it is in a months time when it's been properly field tested.
