Newhouse Farm

[Minamoo]

Hello folks!

They've launched the first ever commercially available, solar powered mobile phone in Kenya. I thought you guys might find it interesting! It is made from recycled materials and has an in built solar panel on the back of it. They cost £45 and I thought it would be a small price to pay to stop my mum from frekaing out when she can't get in touch with me when I go camping and have no electricity access! linky here

It's SUCH a good idea for somewhere like Kenya though. So many people who have mobile ohones have to go to electricians/shops/etc to get their phones charged. This means that anyone, anywhere, can be connected to others regardless of whether or not they have electricity available. And the fact that it's made from recycled materials is just an added bonus. SO exciting!
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I do charity wild food walks and preserving courses in Leeds. Pm me or check out "Nuru Shelter and Education Centre" Facebook group

[justme]

Get a £19.99 phone & a solar charger for £3.98 inc del & save £21.03
linky
(you can also get hand winders to do the same)

The thing is most people keep their phone in a pocket / bag, see where I am going with this?

I wonder how long it takes to fully charge a bat & how long that charge lasts?

[Minamoo]

I may save 21 by by buying the solar charger gizmo you posted the link for, but I would rather buy the mobile phone. The more people who buy these kinds of new sustainable technologies, the more likely they are to enter the mainstream. Me buying one of these phones here from a little kiosk in River road or wherever means that the money I spend is going to support my community, and the fact that it's made from recycled materials means that the impact it has is far far less than buying a brand new phone and a separate solar charger for it. As far as it being in a bag/pocket goes, don't you think that the designers would have thought of that before launching it commercially? These kinds of phones have existed for years but not on anything like this scale. Why would they sell a defective phone?
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I do charity wild food walks and preserving courses in Leeds. Pm me or check out "Nuru Shelter and Education Centre" Facebook group

[justme]

[jimll]

Is it weather proof? The reason I ask is that I got given a Freeloader (solar unit that charges its own Li-ion battery and then you can use that to charge random phones, cameras, etc) and it can't be left outside in the wet. This means that you either need to keep an eye on the weather or use it in a window sill indoors. The latter works, but the glass interferes with the passage of sunlight and means that charging up the battery takes much longer. On a couple of sunny summers days I can just about fill the Freeloader enough to charge the phone, but in the winter it can take far longer - in some cases longer than the standby time of the phone battery! I guess Kenya has better insolation than we do but even so I hope they've waterproofed it.

of course the smart money over there would be building Freeloader knock offs from recycled materials and then capturing the market for folk who already have mobile phones, digital cameras, PDAs, MP3 players, etc, etc. As Justme says that's more flexible, it would still recycle/reuse materials and would still let the local economy keep your cash.
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Jim'll - the lean, green spam digging machine!

[retrotecchie]

I got a Freeloader for my birthday about three weeks ago and it happily sits out in all weathers. The only downside is, it won't charge my phone!!

Shame really, as that's what Mrs RT bought it for!! It charges everyone elses phone....just not mine

I'm desperately trying to find something else I can use it for, but as I don't own a walkman, personal CD, MP3 player or any other battery powered devices (other than 18v cordless tools!), it's sat there on the roof of the shed fully charged and looking decorative, and only used to charge visitors phones for 'novelty conversation value'.
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I wish I could be what I was when I wanted to be what I am

[jimll]

[Minamoo]

Hmm.........I don't know how waterproof it is. I'll check it out when I go to buy it tho. Thanks for the heads up.
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I do charity wild food walks and preserving courses in Leeds. Pm me or check out "Nuru Shelter and Education Centre" Facebook group

[retrotecchie]

According to my phone call to the manufacturer, they aren't 'waterproof', but they are 'shower-proof' or 'splashproof' so long as you dry them out. The major issue is that if they get water sat in the mini-USB connector or the 3.5mm output jack, it will discharge the battery. I sit mine so that the USB and power connectors are pointing down and the LED's pointing up.

For anyone contemplating one of these for charging a phone, they will NOT work on any phone that has a battery voltage bigger than 3.7v. The phone will say it's charging, but will cut out again after about 10-15 seconds. That pretty much rules out all Nokia E-series and N-series phones that have the larger batteries - mine's an E71

It does charge the lad's Sony Ericsson and my older Nokia 5140 though
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I wish I could be what I was when I wanted to be what I am

[MikeBoxwell]

I like the idea of a solar panel built into the mobile phone for no other reason that I won't leave the charger behind. I so rarely use my phone (other than it being on standby) that I could leave it on a window ledge next to my desk at home or at work and never have to worry about charging it up or forgetting the sodding charger again!

The solar phone only has a small solar panel, however, which means that for anyone using a mobile phone a lot, the panel isn't going to be enough to keep the phone going - except in Africa where the sun is shining all the time. Solar phones in Kenya make a huge amount of sense - 90% of mobile phone users in Kenya currently have no access or limited access to electricity.

I've recently been providing some consultancy work to a community in Kenya who want solar power for their village. Thanks to superb solar insolation figures and very modest power requirements, the cost per household is going to be considerably less than $200 per household. Mind you - that is an absolute fortune for a family in Kenya.

However, I've gone off the point... Most of the small portable solar chargers are just too small to be of any earthly use unfortunately. I've got a 'Scotty' charger, but they're hopeless except in the middle of summer. To charge up two AA batteries from flat takes five days in the summer, and about three weeks in the winter

Kodak have recently launched a similar thing which is just as bad.

I've recently bought a solar battery charger from Maplin that can charge AA, AAA, C and D sized batteries and can charge up a set of four 1aH AA batteries in about seven hours of sunlight. It also includes a charging cable for a mobile phone and the whole lot cost under £7.

It's absolutely brilliant and I'd recommend it to anybody. I'd still like a solar mobile phone though...
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