Charge Your Mobile Device With Fire 126
Iddo Genuth writes "If you love to go on camping trips and want to charge your mobile phone, tablet or even camera there is a new solution on the way which can do that anywhere day or night and all you need to do is light a little fire and have a few drops of water. The FlameStower efficiently captures excess heat from a gas burner or campfire to charge almost any USB-powered device: cell phones, GPS units and even cameras by using the thermal deferential between the fire and water and the whole thing is already collecting money on Kickstarter (and if you are really handy you can even make a DIY version yourself)."
If you want one right away... (Score:5, Informative)
There's at least one similar product out that has been available for well over a year: BioLite Camp Stove - http://www.mec.ca/product/5031-449/biolite-campstove/?f=10&q=USB%2Bstove
BioLite (Score:5, Informative)
Terribly inefficient (Score:4, Informative)
Peltiers are terribly inefficient in the best case. The only one I've seen that makes sense is a wood-stove heat circulating fan, since the fan does double-duty.
If you want to recharge your batteries or phone off-grid, you really can't do better than solar. Here's a $20 charger that'll charge batteries from and to USB, or from solar. Only thing it's missing is a tiny white LED for backup flashlight use:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042Z14FO/ [amazon.com]
Or you can go a little cheaper if you don't want the USB functionality, and prefer more flexibility:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0098SWJUE/ [amazon.com]
Both will give 4 AA batteries an 80% charge in a day of sunlight, which is enough to charge your phone from zero. If you need faster charging than that, you'll need to spend a bit more. Something like this 7 watt panel should suffice:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CJJ4OUW/ [amazon.com]
Many advantages of FlameStower over BioLite (Score:5, Informative)
You can use the Flamestower where you're not allowed to gather fuel, when there's nothing to burn, or when everything is too wet to burn. One or more of those things is true in tons of national parks, wetlands, deserts, mountains, etc.
The FlameStower is starting at $80 and could still come down; the BioLite is $129.
I've seen at least 3 posts that just said: "Why, you could just get a BioLite?", 1 that pointed out the advantages of the BioLite, and none that pointed out advantages of the FlameStower.
I'm quite disappointed that a group of people who laud critical thinking and informed opinion are so unimaginative about this device's usefulness, and speak as if quite uninformed about the practical necessities of backpacking / survival equipment.
Re:If you want one right away: Biolite (Score:5, Informative)
Cooking using the biolite leaves a lot to be desired, IMHO. It's a nice novelty product, but it's not as practical as thought it would be.
Well, I used Biolite for 6 weeks (total), drawbacks are :
- need *dry* wood (using not so dry wood pieces needs full power position and dry pieces mix)
- need *small* pieces of wood (set up a workshop aside the kitchen to cut wood)
- need to be fed constantly, 30s-45s intervals is a good timing, each time lift the saucepan to drop the wood
- can't simmer, power is medium or high, not low
- efficient mobile phone charging can be optimized but this is tricky
However I'm fine with that and I continue to use it, it's still fun and usefull.
We already talked about that on /. [slashdot.org] a few weeks ago.
Re:Or just a battery. (Score:5, Informative)
Although you're posting as AC, you make a decent point to which I would like to see a riposte.
Have you ever climbed Denali or Everest or Chimborazo? I can bet that the folks who do today will love having longer-term charging power.
The folks who do it today have things like this: http://www.amazon.com/Innovative-Digital-Hand-Crank-Emergency-Charger/dp/B0089QB2KY/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_0_2 [amazon.com]
They're more reliable than fire in a strong wind (strong winds occasionally happen on Everest, and I should know, I've climbed it 16 times).