Solar charging

[gfish]

Turns out my dad has a nice 10 watt folding solar panel that I can borrow. (I really shouldn't be surprised.) So the cost for charging digital camera batteries just went from $120+ to $8.92 for a 12v charging unit. I like it when projected costs drop by an order of magnitude.

Comments

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

very cool!

You know, when I ride the exercise bike at the gym, it claims I'm putting out 115-130 watts. I have no problem doing this for half an hour at a time (okay, it's sweaty work, but it isn't painful or even difficult).

Now, obviously for a canoeing trip a bicycle charging setup isn't practical. But I am beginning to wonder in what other aspects of life a spare 100 watts or so would be useful. Would it "pay back" for the electricity of watching TV, perhaps? I have seen a washing machine set up to be run by bicycle; I wonder what else this could be used for.