Voltaic Systems designs portable power systems to power electronics: from cell phones to laptops (and even Minty Boosts). We’re looking for someone to help with a wide range of technical responsibilities.
I opened up a cheap phone charger and examine how the circuit works. In the process, I find that the manufacturer cut a lot of safety corners, and it’s nowhere near US safety standards. There’s a reason that name-brand chargers cost a bit more.
Previously there was a very popular Instructable on making your own “Solar MintyBoost” – before you needed to get parts from various places, now you can get them all in one spot – at the Adafruit shop! So – if you want to make solar MintyBoost, here’s how — (read more).
I’ve mentioned before the importance of having the MintyBoost available during a major power outage last October in New England. This allowed me to have my toys working. But since the outage extended for a long time it was obvious I was going to go through a lot of batteries. Thus, the need to upgrade to the solar version.
Attached is a photo of my finished upgrade. It is quite a neat installation. I love it. Thanks Lady Ada.
Just letting you guys know that I bought the MintyBoost v3, and that it charges my Motorola Droid X. I bought 3 kits, one for me, and two for my friends who own a Samsung phone, and a BlackBerry phone. I’ll let you guys know if their devices charge, if they’re not already on the compatibility list, once they get around to assembling theirs. I want to thank Adafruit Industries for providing such a great and useful kit with very easy and clear instructions. Keep making more kits so I can keep buying them. Thanks, A Very Satisfied Customer
Celebrated Christmas early this year – this is what my mom made me. Pretty bad ass, my phone dies all the time and I rarely have my charger with me. (imgur.com)
That’s our MintyBoost kit and best of all, we’re starting to see the celebration of making things get out to more and more places. Thanks Nick!
Hey guys, we’re looking at sending one of your mintyboost kits to space. Well, 100,000 anyway. We’re going to launch a weather balloon with some electronics aboard. We’re considering using the mintyboost to ensure the batteries don’t run out before recovery. But weight’s an issue. Can you tell me what the weight of the mintyboost is?
Does the MintyBoost work with the iPod 4S and iOS 5? YES! Every time there is a new OS or phone we make sure to test right away, we’re pleased to report the MintyBoost is happily charging our iOS 5 phones and the new iPhone 4S.
I finally stopped playing around with all the parts (monitoring setup above) and wrapped up the 6V 3.7W panel, Minty, and solar lipo charger in a nice fluorescent blue acrylic housing. Along with a 6600 mAh battery, I can now charge the heck out of USB powered gadgets. See http://www.ransomhall.com/Pages/solbooster.aspx for more details of this build. I am going to create an Instructable for this and enter it in the Epilog laser cutter contest. I’ll post links when that is ready.
Thanks to this nice tutorial http://ladyada.net/make/solarlogger/ I’ve done a substantial upgrade! Now I can monitor and save the following data:
Voltage: Panel, Battery, Load
Current: Panel and soon battery (waiting on parts)
Temperature: battery, in case it gets too hot.
We have a lot of new folks to electronics making kits now, it’s great! – and with that there are a lot of tips, hints and check lists we are working on to better assist with questions in the customer support forums. Here’s one for the MintyBoost. The MintyBoost can power so many devices, used with so many batteries, cables, etc, etc in so many configurations we have a handy check list to help you when you need help making this kit! It’s a mini-FAQ our support team put together. Enjoy! Before you post about a MintyBoost issue… Read this!
Printable catalog (PDF) or (EPUB)
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