Lazyweb I want a solar powered USB jack

Simple: a solar panel, 2.5W, output 5V and 500 mA, with a USB jack attached. In sun, you plug your USB device (ipod, phone etc) into the solar-powered USB jack, and it charges.

Pure, simple. Who’s got it?

http://www.rei.com/product/770230 - $115 == $40 a watt, that’s Not Right.

http://www.modernoutpost.com/gear/details/sf_solar_uno_slim.php - another candidate, fifty dollars, much closer… but still, $20 a watt… that’s Not Right either.

Feb 19 2008 05:05 pm | Cool Tools |

3 Responses to “Lazyweb I want a solar powered USB jack”

  1. on 20 Feb 2008 at 4:00 am   viridari

    I think the tricky bit is in taking the wildly unpredictable output from the PV panel and regulating it before it gets to the USB device.

  2. on 20 Feb 2008 at 7:50 am   Vinay Gupta

    Hm. Point. I guess an inline voltage regulator? Although when the panel is producing a lot of energy, all the regulator is going to be doing is throwing away volts…

    I guess this is why most of these devices seem to buffer with batteries…

    Hm. Thoughts?

  3. on 20 Feb 2008 at 2:13 pm   viridari

    Check this out:
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080213/od_nm/shirt_dc;_ylt=AhCTihHmzUov_ihS_edDBdUDW7oF

    Use your shirt to recharge your cell phone or iPod.

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