Lazyweb I want a solar powered USB jack
by Vinay Gupta • February 19, 2008 • Cool Tools • 3 Comments
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.
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.
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?
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.