I heard about Apple applying for patents to put PV in their products. Doesn't it say in all electronics manuals and warranties, keep out of direct sunlight!

I wish that folding solar charger was designed to double as a laptop case. You are already (partially) unfolding a laptop case anyways, and well designed solar panels look slick. The solar laptop cases I have seen are too clunky and not powerful enough.

Putting a fan on your handlebars shouldn't create any drag because right behind it is your huge body that is creating a massive amount of drag! If you installed it in such a way where it increased the frontal area of your profile then yes, but otherwise no.

While putting a energy generating brake on your bike would certainly slow you down.

And a side note, some one needs to make an ipod for solar power. Right now designing a small system requires pro setup or lots of research.

This brings up a topic I'd like some more information on.

I really like the notion of running my laptop off of a portable solar cell, but cannot find any in-depth "here's how to get started" information on the topic.

Plainly it's more complicated than just plugging a solar cell into my laptop's power input and happily computing away.

So, for someone who's fairly ignorant about how this stuff works (including things like voltage), is there a primer I can go read to get up to speed on how all of it works?

Chris:

Sorry, but physics says otherwise.

The wind generator might create negligible drag compared to the body behind it, but it still adds drag. If you were to actually measure the force going into drag instead of relying on human perception, then it would be pretty clear.

This brings up a topic I'd like some more information on.

I really like the notion of running my laptop off of a portable solar cell, but cannot find any in-depth "here's how to get started" information on the topic.

Plainly it's more complicated than just plugging a solar cell into my laptop's power input and happily computing away.

So, for someone who's fairly ignorant about how this stuff works (including things like voltage), is there a primer I can go read to get up to speed on how all of it works?

Chris,

Why shouldn't it? It's kind of like sticking you hand out the window of a moving car. The frontal area of the car is huge by comparison, but your hand is pushed backward isn't it?

When it comes to energy, just keep repeating "you don't get something for nothing". The resistance may well be much smaller than the wheel based systems, but this just means that it is probably generating much less electricity.

And FYI if you GOOGLE "solar charger for ipod" you will get a bunch of commercially available solar charging products.

Ok, fair enough, "any" drag is wrong. But compared to a friction based device on the wheel, a small fan placed directly in front of the rider charging a battery should require much less work if you are riding in a non-aerodynamic fashion to begin with. But you are right, no power is free!

MediaGeek, the feature explains how to get started, and lists the products I used to run the laptop. Take a look at the link at the bottom of the post.

"someone should take the old-fashioned generators that rubbed on the wheel of the bike and hook that up to a detachable battery pack"

You're referring to bottle generators. They're still made but they're a lousy choice. For starters, they tend to skip when the tire gets wet. You also have to worry about the generator getting knocked out of alignment.

A better option is a dynamo hub. Shimano makes a couple of different models as does Schmidtt, a small German outfit. Traditionally these are used to power lights and are favored by people doing long distance (200-800 miles) rides where riding in the dark is a reality and battery lights don't last long enough and stopping to recharge isn't really an option. They put out 6 volts and typically power 3 watt bulbs. A clever person could probably use them to recharge various gizmos.

Love the Article Matt,

I used to have a bottle generator on my folding shopper before I cut it up to make a chopper. It was a cracking piece of kit for such an old piece of technology (possibly 1970s???). I went really fast down a hill once though and blew both bulbs in the lights!!!!! As soon as the circuit goes all the resistance in the generator does as well, so I got home much faster all be it in the dark!

In hub generators are pretty efficient these days though, I think they use low resistance magnets so essentially the hub outer functions like the magnetic coil in an electric motor / generator with the axel being the core. The beauty of modern technology is that low energy LED lights need much less juice to run. So a trickle of charge all day will happily run your lights all night.

A really cool example of dynamo hub power used well is the new Shimano Coaster system. Power from the front hub powers a 3 speed automatic transmission! Brilliant! :)

As for running another type of electrical item off of a dynamo front hub, I see no problems so long as the device can handle the low power. Shimano devices power 9.6v 5w lights which should be plenty of juice to charge most portable items. All you need to do is change the connector and maybe add some sort of breaker so you don't over charge things.

All in all very exciting stuff!

I tend to agree with most of what he says. It is too difficult right now, and hand-crank power units was almost destined to failure. We need to find something passive, and this is where wind power and solar power will take the lead.

However, if portability is the challenge, then maybe there is something to be paid in human-generated energy. Like that generated from walking?