New Solar-Powered Phone Unveiled
by Justin Thomas, Virginia on 03.20.07
At CeBIT 2007, Chinese electronics maker, HTW, introduced a cell phone that can be charged by the sun. It gets 25 minutes of talk time from just 40 minutes of charging in sunlight, it can be charged with indoor light when no direct sunshine is available and even candlelight. Called the 'Light-Energy Mobile Phone', it is a relatively slender clamshell with an 84 x 47.6 x 0.8mm solar panel built into the flip side. As for the practicalities of putting such a handset on the market, Hi-Tech says the panel is encased in toughened glass and would stand up to all the rigors of a regular mobile. :: Via: Trusted Reviews
When they say charging by candle light that kind of destroys any credibility they might have.
The problem with this is that most people have their phones in their pockets or a bag. Not much light in there. I would feel nervous laying it out, especially outside.
wow. i was just reading about the bags that have solar panels on them that you can plug your phone into to charge, but this takes the next step - so much better.
my concern is this: would the small bouts of charging wear the battery out more quickly than one time charge from dead to full when plugged into the wall?
i want it.
No problem. Just keep a small flashlight in your pocket, and leave it on.
The real problem is that this panel is too small to generate a meaningful amount of electricity.
This is a common problem with solar devices. The cells are expensive so the manufacturers use less to keep costs down. In the process they fail to deliver enough power to charge the devices in a reasonable amount of time.
The charge light still comes on so people assume it is doing the job. The question is how long will it take to do the job. Even when charge time information is available it is often exaggerated. The best basis for comparison is the watts generated by the cells. Unfortunately this information is most often conspicuously absent.
At this size, even if you assume it has highly efficient cells, this area of cells will generate about 0.5 - 0.7 watts of power. For a typical cell phone this will mean a charge time of 28 hours in direct sunlight.
They also claim to charge from indoor light and even candle light. This may be technically true, but what they fail to mention is how much less power you get from those sources. Scratch 28 hours and make that 300 + hours because typical indoor light will produce less than 10% of that generated in sunlight.
Unfortunately people buy these devices and quickly conclude that they are useless. They are useless, but don't blame solar energy, it can be very effective as a mobile power source, instead blame the real culprits, unscrupulous manufacturers and marketers.