Monthly Archives: April 2010
Free LED cables
Update: We’re out of these LED cables. Thanks to everyone who asked for them. We have extra inventory of LED cables from an older model bag. If you’d like some of them, let us know the quantity (up to 20) …
Get your free LED cable
Economics of Phone Charging in US vs Kenya
We recently read a report by the GSMA that lays out the economics for solar charging phones in developing countries. In one field study in Kenya, they found that phone users spend about $0.25 cents to charge a phone and …
Read More
Earth Day Events 2010
Our friends at Structure Green in Baton Rouge showed off the Voltaic bags and lots of other cool solar technology at the local celebration last Saturday. If you want to find Earth Day events near you, go to the Earth …
Read more
Solar to Charge Portable Medical Devices?
Several students at University of Wisconsin looked into charging portable medical devices like pulse oximeters, spirometers, and temperature sensors with a range of battery sources. Given the stated Voltage and amperage requirements of these devices it seems reasonable that they …
More on solar powering medical devices
Paper Cup Re-Use Contest
We like when people try to creatively re-use materials. That’s why we’re supporting the Coffee Cup Challenge on Instructables sponsored by Betacup. Identify a way to reuse a paper coffee cup and you could win one of our Converter solar …
Enter the coffee cup challenge
Solar Gas Detector
We love it when people mod our bags to suit their own purposes. A company outside of Alberta, Canada is taking our Converter solar backpacks, fitting it with a much bigger battery and connecting it to a mobile gas detection …
Read more
Charging an iPad — More like a computer than a phone
We test-charged an iPad with our solar backpack and it worked, but with two caveats: 1) The iPad charges from a USB port like a phone, but its battery is 25 Watt hours (about 5x that of an iPhone), so …
More about solar charger for iPad
LED Lamp Design Class at 3RDWARD
For all you New Yorkers, 3RDWARD in Brooklyn is hosting a Solar Powered LED Lamp design class this May 22nd. Phillip Stearns is an artist who will teach you how to build a light that charges during the day and …
make an LED Lamp
Solar-powered Drip Irrigation System
A new Stanford University study claims that solar-powered drip irrigation systems can be used to irrigate farms and improve yields in Sub-Saharan Africa on an equal cost basis with liquid-fuel systems. One great part about the setup is the simplicity …
Read More