View Full Version : Interesting Idea for Recharging Electronics on Trail
http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/gadget-charger-harnesses-walking-power-20110106-19gjp.html
Pretty interesting.....
I wonder what the recharge rate is per mile.
Really cool idea. That'd be really handy if you could use it to recharge a phone or something.
http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/gadget-charger-harnesses-walking-power-20110106-19gjp.html
Pretty interesting.....
I wonder what the recharge rate is per mile.
From the product's site (http://www.npowerpeg.com/personalenergy/specs):
26 minutes of walking provides approximately 1 minute of talk time on an iPhone 3
Rain Man
01-06-2011, 16:54
Too bad it weighs 11 oz, though. Otherwise, it's a great start and would be wonderful if built into the frame of a pack. Maybe some day packs will come with not only ports for water tubes, but also USB ports for charging electronics?!
Personally, I'm waiting on something built into the soles of hiking shoes to do this! :-?
Rain:sunMan
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BaconTime
01-06-2011, 16:55
It's a cool idea except for the fact that you get a minute of talk time on your phone per 30 minutes you walk. At an 8 hour hike you really would only be seeing 16 minutes additional on your phone. Not horrible, but also not worth $160 in my book.
BT
Too bad it weighs 11 oz, though. Otherwise, it's a great start and would be wonderful if built into the frame of a pack. Maybe some day packs will come with not only ports for water tubes, but also USB ports for charging electronics?!
Personally, I'm waiting on something built into the soles of hiking shoes to do this! :-?
Rain:sunMan
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I had that thought about the frame too, but it probably wouldn't cut down much on weight. It has a battery in it, what it does is charge the battery up, then you plug stuff into it later. The battery and magnet generator thing are probably 95% of that 11oz. Building it into a pack's frame would only remove whatever negligible amount of weight the case adds.
Batteries suck no matter how you package them.
Doc Mike
01-06-2011, 18:11
sounds perfect to me. I don't plan on using the phone 16 minutes a day so over 3 days that 48 minutes of talk time. That should get you between towns. Plus you can charge it in town by plugging it in which should give you about a full charge whenever you need it.
Doc Mike
Yeah, but what does it do when it get wet every day for a week?
Cosmo
sounds perfect to me. I don't plan on using the phone 16 minutes a day so over 3 days that 48 minutes of talk time. That should get you between towns. Plus you can charge it in town by plugging it in which should give you about a full charge whenever you need it.
Doc Mike
"Plus you can charge it in town by plugging it in which should give you about a full charge whenever you need it."
The 11 oz weight already makes this a non-starter for me; I could carry a lot of spare batteries for 11 oz. But the plug to recharge it in town would add yet more weight, I'd guess in the 2 - 3 oz range. From experience with a solar charger (that also has a built-in battery), better to bring the recharge plug for your phone rather than one for such a unit that charges indirectly.
Nor would I count on a full charge to your device even if you recharged this thing fully in town. The referenced link doesn't address this, but I think the built-in battery is 1000 mAh or something along that line, not necessarily enough to recharge any given device even if 100% of that battery power were transferred.
I very much like the concept and hope that future advances will make this practical for lightweight backpackers, but IMO this isn't there yet.
I hope, however, that some folks *do* manage to take these along on long distance trips and then write up detailed feedback on how well it works for them.
sounds perfect to me. I don't plan on using the phone 16 minutes a day so over 3 days that 48 minutes of talk time. That should get you between towns. Plus you can charge it in town by plugging it in which should give you about a full charge whenever you need it.
Doc Mike
Considering most phones get much more than 48 minutes of talk time per charge, it would be a needless waste of money and extra weight.
Slo-go'en
01-06-2011, 22:44
This looks like a souped up shake to charge flashlight gizmo. Those can be had for a reasonable price and might work almost as well as a charger with some adaptations.
Cabin Fever
01-06-2011, 22:57
What if you took the guts of this and put it in a shake weight? Instant charge!
I'm an engineer by trade, and this is a problem I've been pondering for a couple years. Even building something like this in to a pack frame is the limited amount of motion. These work by sliding a big neodymium magnet back and forth inside a coil of wire. The problem is you need a lot of motion.
The crank generators are a much more efficient means of generating electricity. There is the Freecharge 12V that can generate 12v at up to 400mA sustained. These take time and effort though, and completely occupy your hands. What I'd like to see is someone come up with a way to create one of those crank generators that can be driven with kinetic energy collected as you walk. I haven't figured out a practical way this could be achieved just yet though.
-Smalls
Bags4266
01-07-2011, 01:15
Too heavy compared to an extra batt. and charger
fredmugs
01-07-2011, 10:31
Not sure if this practical or not but it only weighs 82g.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/usb-gadgets/ceca/
CajunHiker
01-07-2011, 11:31
I'm interested in see how this one develops.
http://www.biolitestove.com/CampStove.html
Wise Old Owl
01-07-2011, 11:51
Bacon Time has hit upon somthing I was trying to look up and this did not show up in the reviews, If I can build a UL solar panel that generates 2.5 watts for $50 and only weighs a few ounces then the power of the above mentioned mpeg is moot.