A
backup battery pack is the safest and easiest way for charging without
power as other solutions include a hand crank, solar panels and a wind
turbine.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
It is not uncommon for residents of cities and
towns to go without electric power for days. This leaves phone users
with many hours unable to get across to their loved ones and business
partners.
The question most people keep asking is how to keep their phone fully charged without having to rely on electricity.
Here are the answers:
From battery packs, solar panels and hand cracks, there are dozens
of ways to charge your phone without using a typical charger, according
to experts.
Backup battery packs: these are the easiest and safest option. They will definitely charge your phone and are inexpensive and available everywhere.
Solar panel and charger: this is an affordable
option that ads more versatility than the traditional backup battery
packs because it doesn’t require electricity to charge in the first
place.
Hand crank: The Eton BoostTurbine2000 handcrank
would be a difficult way to give your phone a full charge, but it can
get you some power in an emergency.
Wind turbine: the inventors claim that when
fully-charged, the turbine can charge your phone four to six times. But
this is a pricey option at $399( about FCFA 200.000).
But Matthieu Dubarry, an electrochemist at the Hawaii Natural
Energy Institute who is an expert in batteries, told DailyMail.com that
trying to charge a phone with a 9V battery ‘is certainly not a good idea
because of the voltage.
“You don’t want to put anything past 4.5 volts”, he said.
“That’s really really bad”, he echoed, emphasizing that no batteries, even lower than 9V, should be used.
If you attempt this for too long and the battery gets too hot, the
phone can explode. Sometimes this can happen right away and other times
it can take two or three days.
“5 or 6 [phone batteries] is as much power as a hand grenade”, he said.
“There’s a risk, and we don’t want people getting hurt because they tried something off the internet without knowing about it.”
He explained the iPhone probably has a safety that prevents it from
accepting the charge from the 9V battery, which is why the ‘this
accessory may not be supported’ error message popped up.
Build a fruit battery
Several online tutorials also show how to charge a cell phone using
acidic fruits (like oranges, lemons, or apples), copper wire, and both
zinc and copper nails.
To do this, insert one zinc nail and one copper nail into several
pieces of fruit so that the nails are close but not touch. Next, connect
the copper piece of one fruit to the zinc of another using the copper
wire to make a circuit.
Then cut open the USB end of your charging cord, connect the wires
to the ends of the copper wires in the fruit circuit, and plug in your
phone. Other ways to do this involve metal plates or coins.
But beware before trying this method; know that it also has the potential to damage your phone, Dubarry said.
Backup battery packs
Battery packs are the easiest and safest way to charge your phone.
You can charge these devices ahead of time when you do have power
and then use them to charge your phone (as well as other devices) later
when you can’t reach an outlet or don’t have electricity.
They can be purchased for less than $20 (FCFA 10.000) online or in department and convenience stores.
Solio Classic2 Battery Pack + Solar Charger
Using this small, 10.1-ounce device, you can charge your phone
using solar power. Simply spread out the panels facing the sun to the
charge the device itself (which should take about 10 hours), and then
you can charge your phone.
Inc. tested the $100 (approximately FCFA 50.000) Solio device and was able to charge an iPhone
in 90 minutes. Also in 90 minutes, they got an iPad’s charge up 20
percent.
This is a somewhat affordable option that ads more versatility than
the traditional backup battery packs because it doesn’t require
electricity to charge in the first place.
The Eton BoostTurbine2000
This device is the most manual way to give your phone a charge.
It’s a $60 (FCFA 30.000) hand crank that is roughly the size of a
smartphone itself and has a retractable crank you can turn to charge
your phone.
Charging your phone this way would take a lot of labour - three
hours of cranking, to be exact. But if you need to make an emergency
call, one crank is enough to generate enough power a 30 second call.
Vindur portable wind turbine
Two electricians designed the world’s first portable turbine phone
charger that lets people charge their mobile phone using wind power
alone.
It started on Kickstarter as Trinity, a device folds together into a
12-inch cylinder and then unfolds into a vertical turbine that be used
to charge USB devices.
To open the product you’d pull out the aluminium legs and arrange
them either into a tripod or on a flat surface. At the top of the legs
is a turbine with three blades.
These capture the wind and spin, providing green energy for a
generator that can supply to 15 watts of power. There is also an
internal battery that can store energy if you don’t need it right away.
The inventors claim that when fully-charged, the turbine can charge
your phone four to six times. After raising $75,000, the creators are
now selling a new version called Vindur for $399.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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