Solar charging station on a dog
The solar dog prototype charger from Erik Schiegg is a solar panel attached to a dog sweater. I’m not sure how efficient it is, but I could see this being handy.
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iPhone controlled solar powered Arduino tank
Using TouchOSC on an iPhone alongside Processing and an Arduino, Chris Rojas made this awesome Xbee controlled tank that runs on solar power. He lists all of the parts required for the project on his site and even provides the code to get you up and running with your very own iPhone controlled tank!
Homebrew solar light
To give his pepper plants some extra light during the winter months, João Silva decided to set up a solar-powered light that would charge during the day, then light a lamp after dark.
Tiny solar-powered brass engine in a wineglass
This is the work of Szymon Klimek, whose work has been honored by the Internet Craftsmanship Museum. [via The Automata / Automaton Blog]
Novel edge-collecting solar panels
This is a solar panel. Really. If you’ve observed that it looks a lot like a piece of live-edge fluorescent acrylic, you’re more than halfway to understanding how it works. Light entering the panel from the sides is absorbed by dyes and converted, by some fancy top-secret nano-metal whatnot ingredients, into a kind of internal re-radiation that is collected by conventional silicon applied only at the edges. Fair warning: Full science-hype disclosure rules apply here.
Flashback: Solar-powered bike GPS
“During the summertime, I’ll disappear for hours on long rides to nowhere and back. But I have to admit on some rides I’ve gotten so lost I have trouble finding my way home. Happily I was able to build a solar-powered GPS mapping machine, mostly from old computer parts and software I had sitting around my office.” Author Brian Nadels words in the introduction to his DIY Outdoors piece, “Solar-Powered Bike GPS,” from the pages of MAKE Volume 10, are further testament to the fact that necessity is the mother of invention.
Flashback: Solar Herb Dryer
Oftentimes, the bounty of the season is, well, bountiful and more plentiful than can be used immediately. In my garden, the mint, parsley, and cilantro are thriving, and while I love using these fresh herbs in my cooking, I still have way more than I can use fresh. Enter our flashback for this week: a […]
