The PowerPot

[dmax]

Has anyone tried this USB charger? It weighs around 10-12oz. Can be used anytime day or night. All you need is a heat source, cooking, fire, sun.....

[flemdawg1]

No, however, for the weight penalty of that pot, you could just as easily carry an external battery for your gadgets.

[hobbs]

I think Trailspace did a Review on it ..I think you would have to search alittle about it..

[leaftye]

Has anyone tried this USB charger? It weighs around 10-12oz. Can be used anytime day or night. All you need is a heat source, cooking, fire, sun.....

Huh???

All you need is a heat source and water. The Powerpot works by having a temperature differential. Water makes sure the cool side is never warmer than 100°C. 1A max output means it'll take an hour and a half to charge an iPhone, but I wouldn't expect max output. I haven't seen any reviews where the current has actually been tested, which is a shame when a tester is so inexpensive.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/121167915145

The battery for my newest headlamp has a 3400 mAh capacity. Even if the output of the Powerpot was truly 1A, it'd still take three and a half hours to fully charge that battery.

I can't imagine it being worth the time and hassle to use a Powerpot unless I was camping at one location for multiple days, and ideally I'd be using it to melt snow. It'd be even better if used in a hot tent with a lid on the pot, the pot on a wood stove, and a copper coil from the lid to a water jug to condense the purified water vapor.

If things aren't ideal...camping several days in one spot, no snow, no hot tent, not much water to spare and no condenser, no time to waste tending a fire for hours...a solar panel might be worth using instead. I recently got a Strongvolt Solar 7 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B2SGO90/) and it seems to put out at least 500 mA during the middle of the day, and it's supposed to put out 1A like the Powerpot. I ordered the current tester I linked to above, so hopefully I'll have hard numbers soon.

[Wise Old Owl]

10 ounces and requires a boil for 2 hours. hope ya bring enough gas.

[Slo-go'en]

The problem with these thermal electric generators is they don't provide a very quick charge. If you need to put a significant charge back into a battery, you could be tending this thing for hours and hours. I suppose if your going to have a camp fire anyway, it wouldn't be inconvent to keep water in the pot and coals under it.

But, what you can do is use it to replenish the battery charge in your device every day. Any time you cook, you charge. You might not be able to replace all of the days power usage, but it would put off when you have to find an AC outlet for a while.

I recently saw a thermalelectric generator design on kickstarter which looks really neat. It folds up into a large pocket sized box. I should have saved that link.

[Wise Old Owl]

Not arguing - they are are the same as a Iphone wall charger. 1 amp and can be doubled up. depends on what is installed.

[Xristos]

Cool idea regardless. Not worth the weight penalty for me though.

[Wise Old Owl]

Given time they can be made in Ti - the Teg has to be under 10 pounds of pressure between two plates and that requires a thick plate and connections between the two... it would remove about 3-4 ounces.