Solar Vox on Kickstarter

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By Gareth Branwyn
Posted 2011/01/03 @ 3:47 pm
Category Computers & Mobile, Energy, General

We covered the work of Eric Strebel in the lead-up to Maker Faire Detroit. He contributed to our “Making Detroit” series. Now he and partner Jim Nogarian have brought their design for the Solar Vox personal USB solar charger to Kickstarter. They’re looking for $35,000 in funding to bring their product to market.

Solar Vox is small, rugged and optimally designed to recharge all your USB supported handheld devices. The unit’s design enables four optimum solar angles of 0Â°, 30Â°, 70Â° and 90 degrees, making it versatile any time of the day anywhere on globe. It uses standard rechargeable “AA” batteries found in stores through out the world. The Solar Vox is USB enabled and compliant.

Solar Vox personal USB solar charger

More:
Designs on a greener planet by Eric Strebel

BY Gareth Branwyn

Gareth Branwyn is a freelancer writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture, including the first book about the web (Mosaic Quick Tour) and the Absolute Beginner's Guide to Building Robots. He is currently working on a best-of collection of his writing, called Borg Like Me.

In the Maker Shed

3 Responses to Solar Vox on Kickstarter

Dave on January 3rd, 2011 at 5:01 pm said:

Kickstarter is an awesome catalyst for creativity. Also like their DIY Desktop CNC Machine http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/421256045/diy-desktop-cnc-machine?ref=category

Now if I could have a solar-charging CNC machine….

Cool stuff!

Reply ↓
- JWB on January 4th, 2011 at 9:47 am said:
  
  Don’t forget to check out these excellent DIY CNC projects:
  http://jgro.110mb.com/cnc.html (of CNCZone fame)
  http://buildyourcnc.com/default.aspx
  http://diylilcnc.org/
  
  The category at Instructables: http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-CNC/ (which has numerous projects),
  
  and the wealth of information at:
  http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy-cnc_router_table_machines/ (don’t forget to checkout their forum index)
  http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/guerrilla_cnc1.shtml (volumes 1 and 2)
  http://www.cncroutersource.com/ (decent builders guide)
  http://www.techno-isel.com/CNC_Routers/technical_section/technical_Section.htm (for some technical information from a commercial supplier)
  
  Reply ↓
mpechner on January 3rd, 2011 at 9:28 pm said:

I think this device is not a unique or original product. There are plenty of solar liOn chargers that provide a 5V 1500mA or 2000mA power source. Under $60.

solar vox only provides a 2.4V 2000mA power source.

More interesting is a solar charger for the new NiZn 1.6V batteries.

For backpackers, there are very small 2xAA chargers. Granted they are $100 because of the type of solar cells.

I do love kickstarter, but some project make me scratch my head.

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