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Maximise your solar charger using this reflective window caddy: Hang it in the window, put your solar charger on it, and double-up on all that glorious green power from dawn till dusk!
DESCRIPTION:
Recycling is big at our house (and in our steampunk jewellery store (apologies for the shameless plug, but it does happen to be true - it's all recycled stuff)), and not only for environmental purposes. We love the idea of saving money through ingenuity and a little bit of effort, which is why we're always on the lookout for great ideas on Instructables. Ideas like JoshuaZimmerman's recent Altoids tin solar charger . A superb idea, which I knocked up in minutes from an old emergency charger - I just didn't use the Altoids tin. I simply stuck the small solar collector directly to the back of the existing device.
Building on this great little solar charger, I thought I'd show you a method I use with various solar charging devices for improving their efficiency. I call it the Solar Charger Window Seat.
Did you know that a stationary solar collector -- positioned in a south-facing window (north-facing in the southern hemisphere, natch) -- only gets about four hours of direct sunlight on an average day? By mounting your solar collector on a reflector, you can maximise the amount of sunlight it captures during those essential hours, and pump all that glorious green power into your batteries.
That's what my Solar Charger Window Seat aims to do. You hang it in your window where it's going to start collecting up sunlight from dawn till dusk, sit your solar charger on it, it angles the collector so it's pointing at the sun, and it adds a reflector underneath the solar collector to throw extra sunlight at it.
I haven't recorded my own data on the subject, but I've read that a reflector can increase the efficiency of a solar charger by between 20 and 50 percent. What I have noticed is that some chargers that aren't active on their own (on a slightly cloudy day), begin charging when they're placed on a reflector, so they must be doing something right.
Oh, and this is something you can easily make for free, in half an hour (and that's if you take your time) and is built from easily recycled materials. We like free, don't we?
DESCRIPTION:
Recycling is big at our house (and in our steampunk jewellery store (apologies for the shameless plug, but it does happen to be true - it's all recycled stuff)), and not only for environmental purposes. We love the idea of saving money through ingenuity and a little bit of effort, which is why we're always on the lookout for great ideas on Instructables. Ideas like JoshuaZimmerman's recent Altoids tin solar charger . A superb idea, which I knocked up in minutes from an old emergency charger - I just didn't use the Altoids tin. I simply stuck the small solar collector directly to the back of the existing device.
Building on this great little solar charger, I thought I'd show you a method I use with various solar charging devices for improving their efficiency. I call it the Solar Charger Window Seat.
Did you know that a stationary solar collector -- positioned in a south-facing window (north-facing in the southern hemisphere, natch) -- only gets about four hours of direct sunlight on an average day? By mounting your solar collector on a reflector, you can maximise the amount of sunlight it captures during those essential hours, and pump all that glorious green power into your batteries.
That's what my Solar Charger Window Seat aims to do. You hang it in your window where it's going to start collecting up sunlight from dawn till dusk, sit your solar charger on it, it angles the collector so it's pointing at the sun, and it adds a reflector underneath the solar collector to throw extra sunlight at it.
I haven't recorded my own data on the subject, but I've read that a reflector can increase the efficiency of a solar charger by between 20 and 50 percent. What I have noticed is that some chargers that aren't active on their own (on a slightly cloudy day), begin charging when they're placed on a reflector, so they must be doing something right.
Oh, and this is something you can easily make for free, in half an hour (and that's if you take your time) and is built from easily recycled materials. We like free, don't we?
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Signing UpStep 1What You Need
The Solar Charger Window Seat is very simple (just like its creator) and can be made from household items. You'll need:
>A piece of cardboard approximately twice the height of your solar collector, laid on its side.
>Scissors.
>Kitchen foil.
>Two paper clips.
>String.
>Tape.
>A piece of cardboard approximately twice the height of your solar collector, laid on its side.
>Scissors.
>Kitchen foil.
>Two paper clips.
>String.
>Tape.
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Apr 9, 2012. 3:57 PMgeorion
says:
yeah !! gotta try this out--late today--gonna tryit tomorrow Thanks
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