[clug] Modern palmtop
steve jenkin
sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au
Sat Feb 13 19:59:28 MST 2010
Ben Nizette wrote on 14/02/10 1:12 PM:
>
> Possible, though afaics a fold-up solar charger of sufficient size to
> give you a few hours of use even after a cloudy few days would cost
> about the same as the netbook itself. All other electronic kit is
> standardised to AAs and there are solar chargers for them already so
> sticking with that would be good but yeah, not absolutely essential.
>
> --Ben.
>
> On 14/02/2010, at 1:00 PM, Andrew Janke wrote:
>
>> Option 3: Roll up solar charger?
>>
>>
>> a
>>
>> On Sun, Feb 14, 2010 at 12:57, Ben Nizette <bn at niasdigital.com>
>> wrote:
>>> Option 2 is to get the most frugal netbook which can be found and
>>> build a big ole external AA battery pack, does anyone have any
>>> experience with this?
Here's a recent review of Solar-powered cell-phone chargers:
<http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11288_7-6427792-3.html?>
They also reviewed "hand-wound" cell phone chargers.
My take: don't bother... "Fingers got sore after 2 minutes" [into a dead
battery]
Vanuatu might have good hours of sunlight - should be able to check out
the weather.
Will your father be travelling in cars/vehicles?
Worth taking a 12V recharge kit?
Another approach to consider, get a 4Amp-Hr 12V 'gel cell' to connect to
car, plus enough bits to connect the gel-cell to a 12V recharger.
You might get enough charge in a 30-min trip to last a good time...
Other people/place to try:
- AusAid regularly sends people to the third world.
- Howard Lowndes of Albury has spent time volunteering in
3rd world countries: <http://lannet.com.au/>
- NGO's that send volunteers or deliver aid will face these problems
and have solutions.
- The Vanuatu consulate might be able to help directly, give you
phone numbers over there to call, or help with NGO contacts.
The caveat is that this might already be a well-solved problem locally.
Micro-businesses spring up in response to demand: like selling time on a
mobile phone.
Which implies recharging the phone...
HTH
s
--
Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist.
0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915)
PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA
sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin
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