It may look like an over-priced flash drive at $23 but you have to give technology some allowance in making it happen. This solar cell USB key called the Sun Drive comes in various capacities (2.1G, 2.2G, 2.3G and 2.4G). As you would guess, it solicits its power from the sun (solar power) which should become an ideal alternative for mobile phone power (100 minutes of talk time) or as a power source for MP3 players (35 hours). It may seem bulky but this is because of the solar cell and the battery. Overall, this is should be a handy gadget, especially for the ones who have all kinds of gadgets on the go.

(Source) Oh Gizmo

Tags: 1g, 2G, 3G, 4G, Accessories, flash drive, gadgets, handy gadget, mobile phone, MP3 Players, Portable Devices, power source, solar cell, solar power, sun drive, talk time

Prolonging the life of batteries of devices is a great boost to avoid additional costs for certain devices. But the actual practice of prolonging them is sometimes overlooked.

In fact, there is no real way of properly evaluating their state but with this new Solar Power Battery Charger Evaluation Boards from IXYS, battery life extensions are bound to improve.

These evaluation boards show how the ‘Solar Bit’ can be used to increase battery life, help design solar cell based products, provide customer convenience and reduce the disposal of batteries. The boards are designed to assist customers in understanding the features of the IXYS Solar Cells in the form of Solar Bits.

The Solar Power Battery Charger Evaluation Boards are as follows:

EVIX-CX3AA – Showcases three different IXYS components which are used to create a battery charger. This demonstrates an entirely ‘off-grid’ design which automatically disconnects the battery from the solar cells in low or no-light conditions thereby preventing inadvertent discharging with no additional circuitry required.

EVIX-10 – This highly configurable evaluation board provides 10 ‘Solar Bits’ which can be individually set to series or parallel configuration with the other cells. In addition, several EVIX-10 boards can be connected together, also in either parallel or series. This allows users to customize the configuration precisely to a specific need. Changes to the configuration take only seconds and are made via simple jumpers.

EVIX-USB – As USB devices become more prevalent, the use of the USB connection to charge batteries while away from a computer increases in value. The EVIX-USB demonstrates how the innovative design of the ‘Solar Bit’ can be used to create a simple USB charger. By utilizing the IXYS ‘Solar Bit’ in this application users can develop products that substantially extend the usable time for USB charged products while away from a computer and utilizing the power of the sun rather than an AC power source.

EVIX-LED – With the advent of several emerging technologies we are now able to provide completely battery-less power sources for remote applications. The EVIX-LED demonstrates how the IXYS ‘Solar Bit’, combined with super-capacitor technology, can be used to provide a burst of energy for a short period with a rapid recharge time. This solution is completely off-grid and does not require a battery. In this case it powers a bright LED for over one full second and recharges in full sun in just a few minutes. Designers now have the capability of using the IXYS ‘Solar Bit’ to provide battery-less solar power sources for applications requiring an intermittent burst of energy.

EVXOB17-12X1 – This simple evaluation board connects 10 IXOLAR ‘Solar Bits’ in series for general experimentation and use in a small footprint, as a Solar Panel to charge batteries, for portable devices, like MP3 players, cell phones, PDA’s, test instruments, portable medical devices, etc.

(Source) Press

Tags: Accessories, application users, battery charger, battery life, Cell Phones, disposal of batteries, evaluation board, evaluation boards, grid design, innovative design, power battery, solar cell, solar cells, solar power, usable time, usb connection

In case you’re worried about the environment and want to do something about it, in a positive way, maybe you should try to buy the Shiro SQ-S. Why? Because the MP3 player comes with a solar cell, which means you’ll save energy and money in the recharging sessions.

The Portable Media Player comes from Asia, more exactly Singapore, and is compatible with a big number of different format files - video and audio. Here is a small playback list of supported formats: FLAC, APE, OGG, and WMA. Good enough? Don’t forget MP3 and WAV.

The Shiro SQ-S sports 16GB of internal memory and has a long-life battery of 35 hours on audio, or 7 hours on video - not bad at all. The solar cell is located on the back, so just turn the PMP to the direction of the sunlight whenever the battery starts failing.

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Tags: MP3 Player, MP3 Players, shiro, solar cell, sq-s