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Mr. Buzz is a solar powered USB charger in a cup! The lightweight and flexible PowerFilm solar panel charges up the 2400mA battery pack so you can recharge your USB device even without the sun.
What's so cool about Mr. Buzz?
What's so cool about Mr. Buzz?
- Uses flexible solar panels that are extremely light, unbreakable and can be mounted on nearly anything.
- Rechargeable batteries in the cup let you charge / power your device even if the sun isn't out.
- Total power storage of around 2,500 mA, more than enough for a full iPhone recharge, or multiple recharges for smaller devices, like a shuffle.
- Has a USB 'Type A' jack, the same jack that's on your computer, so you can connect to any USB device.
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What is Mr. Buzz?
Mr. Buzz is a solar powered USB charger. A flexible solar panel (PowerFilm) is used to charge Nimh batteries, so Mr. Buzz can charge up your USB device even if there isn't any sun.
What can I charge with it?
Mr. Buzz uses a 'Type A' USB Jack, the same style USB jack that's on your computer, so it will physically connect to nearly any USB device. That said, some devices don't like being charged by a battery pack or solar panel.
Usually, if you plug your device into your computer and it needs to install software before it begins charging, it will not work. Here's what I've tested:
WORKS:
Apple iPod: Mini, Nano, Shuffle 1G/2G, Classic, Touch, iPhone
Creative Zen Micro
Nintendo DS (with an adapter cable)
Microsoft Zune
ATT Fuze, aka Touch Pro
Motorola S9-HD
PS3 Bluetooth Headset (in holder)
Verizon PPC 6700 (HTC Apache)
Creative Vado
Creative Zen Stone
DOESN'T WORK:
So far, any device that doesn't work with my usb wall charger will also not work with Mr. Buzz. I've tried;
PS3 Wireless Controller
Xbox 360 Wireless Controller
How long to does it take to recharge?
It should take the same amount of time as if it were plugged into a wall charger or any other device. To charge my phone from dead to 75% takes 90 minutes (same as a wall charger).
How much juice does it have?
Total power storage is about 2,500 milliamps. This is enough to charge my phone (which has a 1,300 mA battery) about 2 full times. An iPhone's battery is 1,200 mA, so you should about 2 charges, too. Smaller devices (like a shuffle) will recharge many, many times.
What batteries should I use?
You should only use rechargeable AA batteries (Nickel-Metal Hydride). With 4 batteries, Mr. Buzz provides 4.8v-5.2v.
Do I have to use batteries?
Yes - the solar panel slowly trickle-charges your batteries, and they aren't large enough to directly power your USB device.
Mr. Buzz was designed by James Long at Lil' Brother SMT Assembly. A kit or bare PCB are available at Gadget Gangster.
Mr. Buzz is a solar powered USB charger. A flexible solar panel (PowerFilm) is used to charge Nimh batteries, so Mr. Buzz can charge up your USB device even if there isn't any sun.
What can I charge with it?
Mr. Buzz uses a 'Type A' USB Jack, the same style USB jack that's on your computer, so it will physically connect to nearly any USB device. That said, some devices don't like being charged by a battery pack or solar panel.
Usually, if you plug your device into your computer and it needs to install software before it begins charging, it will not work. Here's what I've tested:
WORKS:
Apple iPod: Mini, Nano, Shuffle 1G/2G, Classic, Touch, iPhone
Creative Zen Micro
Nintendo DS (with an adapter cable)
Microsoft Zune
ATT Fuze, aka Touch Pro
Motorola S9-HD
PS3 Bluetooth Headset (in holder)
Verizon PPC 6700 (HTC Apache)
Creative Vado
Creative Zen Stone
DOESN'T WORK:
So far, any device that doesn't work with my usb wall charger will also not work with Mr. Buzz. I've tried;
PS3 Wireless Controller
Xbox 360 Wireless Controller
How long to does it take to recharge?
It should take the same amount of time as if it were plugged into a wall charger or any other device. To charge my phone from dead to 75% takes 90 minutes (same as a wall charger).
How much juice does it have?
Total power storage is about 2,500 milliamps. This is enough to charge my phone (which has a 1,300 mA battery) about 2 full times. An iPhone's battery is 1,200 mA, so you should about 2 charges, too. Smaller devices (like a shuffle) will recharge many, many times.
What batteries should I use?
You should only use rechargeable AA batteries (Nickel-Metal Hydride). With 4 batteries, Mr. Buzz provides 4.8v-5.2v.
Do I have to use batteries?
Yes - the solar panel slowly trickle-charges your batteries, and they aren't large enough to directly power your USB device.
Mr. Buzz was designed by James Long at Lil' Brother SMT Assembly. A kit or bare PCB are available at Gadget Gangster.
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Solution: Using Surplus Solar Cells You can get pay back in 1-2 years
There is an Engineer from Chicago his name is John Sommer
He explain it All in his diy solar panels Blog Search for him using Google
Type "top diy solar panels" Open the first Result.
Note: Ignore the adds at the top.
Putting it in your car cup holder wouldn't charge it...so that's not a reason for it to be in a cup.
Off the top of my head a solar charger that can screw onto a Gorilla tripod that I could clamp onto a roof rack while driving, clamp on a table near the window etc. would be something I might use.
that being said, the whole point of this website is imagination - if you don't like the coffee cup, put it in an altoids tin or heck, an empty pasta box if you want.
I put it in a cup because it was the first thing I thought of , but I use it on a window sill (and it works fine there).
But you can mount it on just about anything - a hat, directly on a window, or not even mount it at all - up to you.
If you use a larger panel and it's also 6V, you'll be fine. If you want to use a higher voltage panel, you'll need to add a regulator.
There's a space for it on the board, but the regulator isn't part of the kit. You can use this one.
Yea i left this project for a while until i found it sitting on the side
Well its the summer time to finish my solar bag build
Of course this would drop the voltage a bit so we'd need a slightly higher voltage panel. Maybe a 6 volt panel like the Powerfilm MPT6-75 would work.
Who can recommend a panel and diode to perfect this elegant charger?
The solar panels won't charge anything by themselves (they only produce 50mAH @ 6V). But they'll trickle charge your battery, so your battery can do the charging.
But for thos who are wondering Wtf we are talking about READ BELOW!
i think im going to get either two of these and solder them parallel so i get 200mah
POWERFILM,MPT6-150 rating at 6v and 100mah each
or
POWERFILM,P7.2-75 rating att 7.2v and 100mah
what do you think is better?
Ill be ording this some time soon!
What are the capacitors for?
What do they do?
Milliamps are not a measure of energy, they are a measure of current.
Neither are milliamp-hours a measure of energy, unless multiplied by a voltage. I don't know if that's the ~6V AA pack or the 5V USB output.
You also can't compare milliamp-hours between different batteries with different voltages. Your iPod battery is a lithium at 3.7V, for which 1200mAh is less energy than 1200mAh in your 4 AAs.
(Technically "power storage" is wrong as well, you store energy, but in this case it's obvious what you mean)
Please don't think I'm just criticising out of pedantry- it's because what you have written is incorrect and very ambiguous. If it was just given out of interest it wouldn't be so bad but it's actually important for what you are building. It's like giving dimensions for how to build something in feet instead of square feet- I could assume you mean square feet, but that isn't what you said and I might be wrong.
On top of this, I have seen people do completely the wrong calculation for LED resistors or battery capacities by using the wrong quantities, and coincidentally not blow anything up because they were in the right area. I'd hate to wreck an iPod by trying to charge it with 1300 mA :)
It's pretty close to a 5V AA pack, actually. These are NiMH batteries, not alkalines, so they're rated for 1.2V, not 1.5V. 4*1.2=4.8V, and slightly more when fully charged. It still needs clarification, but the total energy storage won't change a whole lot.
I thought it was a solar powered coffee cup
Cheers
L
I didn't notice a significant performance difference when the cup was flipped upside down, and I like how the USB cable comes out of the cup spout. It probably depends on the sun's position, ambient light, etc.
But it can be mounted to nearly anything, I tested a hat brim, backpack and a laptop bag.
L
www.powerfilmsolar.com
Or on the PowerFilm Solar store at Amazon.
They have many other types of flexible solar modules.