Thursday, October 20, 2011

Simple Solar Power Projects For DIY Fun at Home

!±8± Simple Solar Power Projects For DIY Fun at Home

I've written a lot about making solar panels at home to save huge amounts on your electricity bill and slash your carbon footprint, all without paying big supply and installation costs. However what if you don't want to take this step right now, instead you just want to have a play with solar technology and see what it can do? Here we present several simple and fun experiments you can do without breaking the bank.

I'd like to look at the solar garden lights that are spreading everywhere like wildfire at the moment. These are getting so cheap and readily available that you can pick up a dozen for next to nothing.

A quick search on eBay I did turned up packs at a "Buy it Now" price of .95 and I saw plenty of auctions at less than a dollar!

Now these solar garden lights don't pack a lot of power really, but they do have a fully working solar cell, a little battery (usually AA size) and a bonus LED light thrown in. Apart from using these lights for their intended purpose of lighting up your garden, you can fire up your imagination and put them to all sorts of great uses. How about using some of the spotlight types over your door so you can find your key at night? What about lighting up the path to the garage so you don't trip?

These are a few of the more obvious suggestions, but I like to tinker, so if you have some basic skills at wiring, or even better like to hack electronics, how re-using these gadgets for other low power applications? You can make a solar USB charger by hacking together a couple of solar garden lights solar cells and adding a simple regulator. Put enough in "series" (electrical term for connecting together the batteries within the solar garden light units in a daisy chain fashion) and you can build up the voltage a bit. Experiment with a few in series and then connect together a few of your series chains in parallel (another term meaning positive to positive and negative to negative). Series gives you more voltage, and parallel gives you more current and the combination of both can mean more power. Try this; take the guts from a dozen solar garden lights and disconnect the LED lights leaving just the solar cell and the batteries. Divide into two groups of six, connect each group in series then connect the two groups in parallel, now you have a 9V solar power generator than might even run a pond water pump for a pretty display in your garden. Not bad for less than I say.

I've even seen some modifications using red LED's and a clever arrangement of a lens to make a DIY solar projector which you can use to throw up little projections onto walls outside. Spell out words or simple pictures with your solar projector for a bit of arty fun.

The best part of all these little solar projects, is that once you have put them together, they cost nothing to run and you can leave them going all the time to continue to inspire you to bring solar power goodness into your life.


Simple Solar Power Projects For DIY Fun at Home

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Friday, October 7, 2011

Portable iPhone Charger: What Are The Options?

!±8± Portable iPhone Charger: What Are The Options?

There is nothing worse than a smart phone with superb, with little or no battery. Will be seeing the dreaded "20% of the state of charge of the" pop-up once you leave for the day I will ever see. It can hold almost a portable charger charges your iPhone iPhone when it counts. There are several portable chargers to keep the iPhone that your iPhone can be charged when you are away from the USB port or wall outlet, but what is the best? Here are four general categories of iPhone mobilechargers to help you make your decision easier.

Standard Car Charger
Car chargers have been around long before the iPhone and continue to be a popular choice. Often times accessory packages include a car charger, which means in most cases users have a car charger for their iPhone from the start. While the car charger is a staple in portable chargers, its functions are quite limited. It's most obvious restriction is the fact you have to be in or around your vehicle to power up.

Battery powered charger
Battery powered mobile device chargers simply transfer the power from standard batteries (such as 2 AA) to your iPhone. Generally they are relatively cheap to buy plus easy to keep charged. Simply pop in the 2 AA (or similar) batteries and you're ready to go. One tip for if you plan on using a battery-powered charger regularly is to use rechargeable batteries. This will save you countless trips to a store as well as save money over time.

iPhone charging case
Charging cases are easy to use and provide ongoing power to your iPhone. Charging cases are basically an iPhone case that has a battery inside. The case surrounds all or most of the iPhone, and it charges an iPhone by connecting to the charging outlet at the bottom of the device. The case can be charged by plugging its charging cord into your computer's USB port (usually a micro or mini USB). Along with an improved battery life, iPhone charging cases also protect your iPhone from being damaged.

iPhone solar charger
iPhone solar chargers are great for anyone who is regular outdoors or by a window. There are two main categories of iPhone solar chargers- solar charging cases (resemble standard charging cases) and off device solar chargers (connect to the iPhone via a charging cord). Most solar chargers are also capable of charging up from a USB which is a great way to charge the device faster as well as if there is no sun. With solar chargers you can continuously add power to your charger without the need for batteries or an outlet.


Portable iPhone Charger: What Are The Options?

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