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December 9, 2007
Portable Wind-Powered Charger
First I've seen of wind power harnessed on a small scale.
Eviana Hartman wrote about it in today's Washington Post, as follows.
- Hymini Portable Wind-Powered Charger
Portable solar chargers are fairly common, but this is the first on-the-go device we've seen to power cellphones, MP3 players, personal digital assistants and digital cameras using the breeze.
A built-in fan harnesses wind energy, and you can buy small solar attachments to increase the device's generating capability. Optional mounts allow it to be secured onto bike or motorcycle handlebars, or to your arm while you're running, skiing or driving. An included AC/DC plug adapter allows it to be used as a conventional portable power source.
Here's the website for the device, which comes in Green, Black, or White.
Note to the hymini design team: add a transparent version and you'll sell a bunch more.
December 9, 2007 at 11:01 AM | Permalink
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Comments
I've given up on their awful Flash Web site, but not before discovering that this device will unquestionably work perfectly well... because there's a battery in there, which you can charge from USB or mains power. Which is what you'll have to do, if you ever want to get more than trivial power out of the device.
Andrew is correct about the limited utility of small wind or solar charging devices; I wrote about this a while ago.
You can still buy those solar battery chargers with room for four AAs inside and a lid covered with solar cells. Eight hours in full sunlight may as much as half-charge a set of (modern) AAs, but 30% is more probable. The Hymini's solar panel looks no bigger, which means it won't work any better.
And small wind power devices are, typically, even worse. Yes, they'll work just fine if you hang them off a motorcycle or out a car window, but in that case you can of course just tap the darn vehicle electrical system for 12V and forget about the goofy Ram Air Turbine idea.
Posted by: Daniel Rutter | Dec 10, 2007 11:44:37 AM
This is a cool idea, but I have to wonder how common it is to have 9 mile an hour winds available, which is what's necessary to power these things. It seems like the practical applications would be very limited.
Posted by: Andrew | Dec 9, 2007 2:57:42 PM
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