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So after literally months of talking about it, browsing websites for products and specs, and talking to people about their thoughts on various models, I finally just decided to dive straight in and experiment with taking my mobile phone off the grid once and for all.

It started with my discovery last night that there was in fact a Maplin electronics store roughly a 25 minute walk from where I live. As I was heading into town for groceries today anyway, I figured I'd duck out a little early and try to find the place. Maplin, in addition to being a general electric stuff Radio Shack-esque kind of place, also has a decent selection of solar products.

I had toyed with the notion of simply getting a solar mobile phone charger initially. However, after looking around and talking with people, I decided that this wasn't necessarily the most practical option. First, some panels can't take juicing up more up to date phones (granted my phone is a dinosaur, but my wife's is a more high-tech model). Furthermore, this approach would necessitate bringing the panel wherever we went in order to charge the phone when travelling which, even though the panels are not massive, is still not the best option given how light we like to travel.

The best solution came from, surprise surprise, my friend Vinay (who is largely to blame for turning me on to this scheme in the first place a few months back when he challenged me to take at least one light in my house, or one electronic item, off the grid).

What I did was buy a solar battery charger which charges multiple AA batteries. The one I bought is multi-use and can charge 2 AA, AAA, C or D batteries in roughly 3-4 hours. The panel only cost £6.99. Even the more expensive ones didn't go for more than £20 or £30, but I wanted to experiment for now, so I may eventually pick up a different one if I find that this doesn't work as well. Even though, sadly, our balcony in our flat is facing the wrong direction, the office I work in at the museum has a sun-facing floor-to-ceiling window. So I'll just bring it to work and plunk it on the sill to juice up while at the office, then bring it home.

A 4 pack of rechargeable AA batteries was on sale for only £2.99. The ultimate goal is to stock up on a good quantity of these so that, at any given point, we have a good supply of fully charged batteries while the panel charges up the ones that have been used.

Finally, the piece de resistance, a tiny battery-powered mobile phone charger powered by a single AA battery. I had used one of these the other week and it took my phone from dead to fully charged in just a couple hours. The charger comes with 5 adaptors that fit most mobile phone models. Cost? £2.99 again. So I picked up one for me and one for Adrienne.

So totalling things up, the cost for the necessary equipment to take 2 mobile phones off the grid comes to £17.96; less the 20 quid!

The benefit to using batteries as opposed to plugging electronics straight into the panel to charge is that, with a bunch of ready-to-go batteries, you have a large, mobile power supply that stores longer than the energy stored in the panel's unit (which loses its charge quickly if not used).

I'll post pictures as soon as I can. In the meantime, if this project interests and inspires you, there are loads of sites online that sell this stuff for incredibly reasonable prices.

Happy Hunting!

Views: 25

Comment by Simon Anthony on March 20, 2010 at 2:05pm
I like it. I'll look for the battery thing that can charge a mobile in a minute. What's the Maplin order number please?
Comment by Kelly on March 20, 2010 at 2:30pm
I love this idea. To me it represents one step on the road to sustainability. Great job.
Comment by James Hester on March 20, 2010 at 4:22pm
@Simon, Here's the link to the mobile charger that I picked up.
Comment by Shakwei Mbindyo on March 20, 2010 at 4:37pm
+1 Resourcefulness. If I was to take 1 thing off the grid it would be the TV. But I live with big, strong men who would choose soccer over me any day :)
Comment by James Hester on March 20, 2010 at 4:46pm
@Shakwei, Thanks. In the long-run, my other off the grid projects are 1) house lights by kitting out each room with battery-run LED lights and 2) our laptops, which would require either a larger solar panel or a larger battery-powered charger. The search goes on. But this is a start at least.
Comment by Peri Rehm on March 20, 2010 at 4:54pm
I like this alot. I was really surprised at how inexpensive this was, it sounds like something alot of people could manage.
Comment by James Hester on March 21, 2010 at 11:35am
@Peri, Absolutely! That is, for me at least, more than half the beauty of it. I get the impression that a lot of people simply aren't aware of how cheap and simple it is.

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