Sometimes you see an invention and it’s abundantly clear that you are looking at the future, today. That’s the case with these solar powered rechargeable batteries. It’s a solution that’s elegant yet simple- attach a solar cell to the outside of batteries. When your batteries run out of charge, just leave them by a window or a light fixture to charge up. Great for travel.
These are a homemade prototype called SunCat batteries, created by wrapping a flexible photovoltaic cell around a standard battery. Right now it’s simply attached with a flat wire which trickles the energy, so it barely provides enough juice to power the battery in any sort of timely manner. However, this is just a prototype proof of concept type product, so we should expect further innovations and advancements to it soon. I can totally see this being produced in the future.
knut via ohgizmo
you sir, are a genius
I agree. Batteries don’t have enough heavy metals in them already.
I guess that warning of leaving batteries out to exposed sunlight does not apply anymore! lol
With a capacitor and a way to bleed off excess charge these should work out great for smaller, travel items and the like.
OK, it looks like an nice concept. However, the numbers don’t add up. Batteries that size contain ~3-4 Ah. A solar cell of that size wrapped around it will deliver 4mAh on a lucky sunny day. So you only need to put it in the sun for 1000+ hours to recharge it. Except that the battery will discharge itself two times over in the same timeframe.
What is wrong with the concept of a separate charger? You could buy green electricity if you feel so inclined.