Starting Tuesday, 25 solar-powered charging stations will sprout in parks, beaches and other outdoor spaces in the five boroughs, part of a pilot project from the wireless provider in partnership with the city. The stations — 12.5-foot steel poles with three petal-shaped solar panels fanning out on top — can accommodate up to six devices at a time regardless of wireless carrier, with dedicated ports for iPhones, Androids, BlackBerrys and standard USB charging cables.
The summer of solar is arriving, this summer we’re going to be showcasing and celebrating amazing solar project from YOU. We’ll have example, tutorials and more to get you going, so get ready, the summer of solar is coming!
USB / DC / Solar Lithium Ion/Polymer charger – v2, NEW AND UPDATED! Make your projects to go green this summer with our specialized USB/Solar Lithium Ion Polymer Battery charger! This charger is a very unique design, perfect for outdoor projects, or DIY iPod chargers. We’ve spent over a year testing and tinkering with this charger to come up with a plug and play solution to charging batteries with the sun and we’re really pleased with what we ended up with.
The summer of solar is arriving, this summer we’re going to be showcasing and celebrating amazing solar project from YOU. We’ll have example, tutorials and more to get you going, so get ready, the summer of solar is coming!
USB / DC / Solar Lithium Ion/Polymer charger – v2, NEW AND UPDATED! Make your projects to go green this summer with our specialized USB/Solar Lithium Ion Polymer Battery charger! This charger is a very unique design, perfect for outdoor projects, or DIY iPod chargers. We’ve spent over a year testing and tinkering with this charger to come up with a plug and play solution to charging batteries with the sun and we’re really pleased with what we ended up with.
One of the big problems in the world of printed solar cells is scale: it’s much easier to print a cell the size of a fingernail than one of useful size. Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) believes a process announced last week changes all that.
In celebration of New York’s Bike to Work Day, the team at Voltaic Systems mounted a 60 watt solar panel on the back of an old-school road bike and rode the streets of the city, distributing a free charge-up. It’s good for everything from phones, tablets to laptops, as pictured. Via voltaicsystems.
When we left New York City to explore what it would take to create a way of life in which we could be full time makers we had no idea that it would lead to a return to Maker Faire this time to launch a book about our experiences. The Good Life Lab is a manual for post consumer living. We did discover a lifestyle that allowed us to be full time makers. Along the way we learned to wildcraft, grow food, ferment, weld, build and home manufacture electronics. By developing mad skills we learned to live out of the waste stream and harvest from nature. When we applied technology to old problems we found new ways to solve them. Then we shared what we knew and put our work in the commons. In retrospect we noticed that jobs can be expensive. Especially if they prevent us from discovering the things we most love to do. What would you do if you could be a full time maker, if you didnt have to go to work tomorrow? If your in N. California meet us at the Maker Faire and tell us about it.
The Good Life Lab is pre-launching at Maker Faire. It comes out in stores everywhere June 5 and can be preordered on Amazon
Bios
Wendy Tremayne was a creative director in a marketing firm in New York City before moving to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, where she built an off-the-grid oasis in a barren RV park with her partner, Mikey Sklar. She is the founder of the textile repurposing event Swap-O-Rama-Rama, which has spread all over the world. She has written for Craft’s webzine and Make magazine and, with Mikey Sklar, keeps the blog Holy Scrap.
Mikey Sklar is a digital homesteader, open source hardware developer and anti-griddle master. Mikey has worked for Adafruit, Hack-A-Day and Popular Science.
Wendy & Mikey are giving three presentations @ Maker Faire, San Mateo, CA
Meet the Maker Stage
Saturday May 18, 2013 03:30PM – 3:50
Homegrown Village Stage
Sunday May 19, 2013 11:30AM – 12:20
Swap-O-Rama-Rama – Talk and Book Signing
May 20, 2013 03:20PM – 3:40
Note from Ladyada & pt @ Adafruit:We’ve known Wendy & Mikey for years, we’ve visited their place in Truth or Consequences and it was one of the best experiences ever. They shared a preview of the book with us and it’s inspirational tale for all makers. If you’re at Maker Faire this weekend, go see them and either way, pick up this book!
My nearly year-long project starting with a design concept and finishing with a prototype is almost done. There’s more tweaking to do, but I’m happy to announce this week I’ll be posting several articles on the building of my Solar Outdoor Robot here on Polyideas. I’ll be posting four different articles, each focusing on a different part of the build.
AS SEEN ON SHOW AND TELL! - Each Saturday night at 9:30pm ET is the electronics show and tell on Google+! Keep an eye on Ladyada’s G+ page and drop a comment on the weekly announcement to show your project on the on-air hangout!
This is continuing the design of the previous stereo with some major design changes. The differences between this model and the last are that this one has a larger (3.4W) solar panel that is on a hinge to better capture the sunlight. Due to size constraints, I decided to take out the phone charger for this model. Using the 6600mA lithium ion battery, you will maximize your music playing times. This stereo LOVES to jam out in the sun but is also happy just chillin on your desk. Enjoy!!!
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!
Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!
The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!
Fascinating paper on thin film solar cells available at Nature.com:
Fabrication of thin-film solar cells (TFSCs) on substrates other than Si and glass has been challenging because these nonconventional substrates are not suitable for the current TFSC fabrication processes due to poor surface flatness and low tolerance to high temperature and chemical processing. Here, we report a new peel-and-stick process that circumvents these fabrication challenges by peeling off the fully fabricated TFSCs from the original Si wafer and attaching TFSCs to virtually any substrates regardless of materials, flatness and rigidness. With the peel-and-stick process, we integrated hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) TFSCs on paper, plastics, cell phone and building windows while maintaining the original 7.5% efficiency. The new peel-and-stick process enables further reduction of the cost and weight for TFSCs and endows TFSCs with flexibility and attachability for broader application areas. We believe that the peel-and-stick process can be applied to thin film electronics as well.
Think green with some last minute holiday shopping with these neat solar powered gifts. This is a list of my favorite gadgets and gizmos that either help you power something with solar.
Voltaic Systems Medium 6V 2W & Large 6V 3.4W Solar Panels – These panels come to us from Voltaic Systems, makers of fine solar-powered bags and packs. These are waterproof, scratch resistant, and UV resistant. They use a high efficiency monocrystalline cell. They output 6V at 330 mA & 550 mA via 3.5mm x 1.3mm DC jack connectors. The substrate is an aluminum / plastic composite, specifically designed to be strong and lightweight. They can easily stand up to typical outdoor use including being dropped and leaned on. They’re very high quality and suggested for projects that will be exposed to the outdoors. Adafruit also carries a smaller 6V 1W panel, and a larger 6V 3.7W panel.
USB / DC / Solar Lithium Ion/Polymer charger – Take those awesome solar panels and put them to work. Make your projects go green this summer with our specialized USB/Solar Lithium Ion Polymer Battery charger! This charger is a very unique design, perfect for outdoor projects, or DIY iPod chargers. We’ve spent over a year testing and tinkering with this charger to come up with a plug and play solution to charging batteries with the sun.
Snap Circuits® Green – Learn about energy sources and how to “think green”. Build over 125 projects and learning about environmentally friendly energy and how electricity works. Includes full-colored manual with over 100 pages and separate educational manual. Features-Hand Crank-Solar Cell-FM Radio-Energy Compartment-Rechargeable Battery-Windmill-Clock and Analog Meter. Compatible with the Snap Circuits family of electronic learning kits.
Solarbotics Zendulum – The Zendulum is a do-it-yourself, simple solderable kit. It features a spherical neodymium rare earth magnet, which emulates Newton’s cradle when infrared irradiation is applied. In English? There’s a magnetic ball that rolls back and forth when powered by a solar cell. Assemble the kit and let it live on your table or windowsill – a simple desk lamp or sunlight can provide enough juice. When powered, the ball will seemingly roll back and forth on it’s own, almost as if it’s throwing the laws of physics and gravity to the wind.
Solarbotics PumLantern Kit – a solar-charged, night-time activated light-pulsing lantern. This kit charges all day from the SCC3733 solar cell, and pumms the four ultra-mega-super-bright LEDs to cast artistic silhouettes against the walls of the lantern. The LEDs themselves are a random grab of white, blue, red, orange and green.
Thames and Kosmos Physics Solar Workshop – Physics Solar Workshop explores the topic of solar energy, focusing on photovoltaic cells. By building 12 models and conducting 30 experiments, you will learn how solar cells transform light into electrical energy, and how motors and mechanical devices can optimize the work done by this energy. You will build different types of vehicles and machines to demonstrate how gears can convert and transform power for different needs.
SHIPPING DEADLINES
Here are your 2012 shipping deadlines for ordering from Adafruit. Please review our shipping section if you have specific questions on how and where we ship worldwide for this holiday season.
UPS ground (USA orders): Place orders by Friday 11am ET – December 14, 2012 – No guarantee that your package will arrive for Christmas.
UPS 3-day (USA orders): Place orders by Wednesday 11am ET – December 19, 2012 – Arrive on 12/24/2012.
UPS 2-day (USA orders): Place orders by Thursday 11am ET – December 20, 2012 – Arrive on 12/24/2012.
UPS overnight (USA orders): Place orders by Friday 11am ET – December 21, 2012 – Arrive on 12/24/2012.
UPS International: Place orders by Monday 11am ET – December 17, 2012. Can take up extra time due to worldwide delays and customs. Should arrive by 12/24/2012 or sooner.
Please note: We do not offer Saturday service for UPS.
Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012, Christmas, no UPS pickup or delivery service.
Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013, New Year’s Day, no UPS pickup or delivery service.
United States Postal Service, First Class and Priority (USA orders): Place orders by Friday – December 14, 2012 – Arrive by 12/24/2012 or sooner.
USPS First class mail international (International orders): Place orders by Friday – November 23, 2012. Can take up to 30 days ore more with worldwide delays and customs. Should arrive by 12/24/2012 or sooner, but not a trackable service cannot be guaranteed to arrive by 12/24/12.
USPS Express mail international(International orders): Place orders by Friday – December 14, 2012. Can take up to 15 days or more with worldwide delays and customs. Should arrive by 12/24/2012 or sooner.
Glad to hear you guys are back up and running. If you come across any specific individuals that have need for small-scale solar and/or battery power, we are happy to help with deep discounts and or direct donations. Our warehouse in NJ got power back Friday and we are trying to be helpful where we can.
Jeff Crystal http://www.voltaicsystems.com/
They have deep discounts they can do direct donation as it makes sense. Please write to sandy@voltaicsystems.com for details if you’re still in need of power.
We all know, we should use more renewable energy. Here is my contribution. Use solar power if you want to cut 20mm wooden rods. And plan ahead because it may take a while.
Make your projects to go green this summer with our specialized USB/Solar Lithium Ion Polymer Battery charger! This charger is a very unique design, perfect for outdoor projects, or DIY iPod chargers. We’ve spent over a year testing and tinkering with this charger to come up with a plug and play solution to charging batteries with the sun and we’re really pleased with what we ended up with.
german born, barcelona-based architect andré broessel has sent us images of his latest development of a spherical glass solar energy generator. the project uses the advantageous strategy of implementing a ball lens and specific geometrical structure to improve energy efficiency by 35%. in contrast to its traditional photo-voltaic ‘dual-axis’ counterparts, the device incorporates a fully rotational weatherproof natural optical tracking device that is adequate for functioning on inclined surfaces and curtain walls, empowering any building surface. the new solar generating concept has capabilities that concentrate diffused daylight or moonlight for a more effective site context application.
Printable catalog (PDF)
FEED
