<html> <head> <style></style> </head> <body class='hmmessage'> phil, i have a hand crank flashlight (and battery/radio) gadget. i dont know if just need to replace the batteries or didnt' use it enough, but it didn't seem to charge/store well. (you want it?) what's the electricity consumption for tablets? if it's low enough your idea could work...   if i remember right, a person working moderately hard on a stationary bike can sustain and standard light bulb (60 watts). your aspirations for hand crank 1 min = 10-15m of battery time (and associated losses by converting to a battery) might be too ambitious.  ???? maybe the merry go rounds or see saws used to pump water could be set up to be power generating stations.  (though you always seem to lose a lot when converting mechanical power to electricity.  but using see saws to pump water is very good conversion. (not so much to run a generator to charge a battery to run a pump motor.) play/pump water: http://www.playpumps.org/ and oh, someone already did the electric version: http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1519/ (and someone put up some math saying it wasn't very efficient.) how much solar panel do you need to charge a tablet? -sat jiwan ~ ~ ~ ~ please use my permanent email address: satjiwan@alumni.brandeis.edu ~ ~ ~ ~ Some of my recent projects:  SEE: <a href="http://www.Truthful-Living.com">http://www.Truthful-Living.com</a> (NEW website updated 9/09) Now (Low-volume) Blogging at: <a href="http://truthful-living.blogspot.com/">http://truthful-living.blogspot.com/</a> (as of 6/09) Green Building Consulting Services - Green Homes Tour Oct 3, 2009 (request guide now) - (and free monthly column, green home building resource and energy guide) Annotated green house renovation photos - Save Our Sky - corn stove cooperative - Takoma Park Green Building Group > Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:31:51 -0400 > From: pshapiro@his.com > To: Ubuntu-us-dc@lists.ubuntu.com > Subject: [DC LoCo] hank crank recharger for new ubuntu tablet > > hi ubuntistas, > > after sending info last week about that upcoming ubuntu tablet > that uses eight AA batteries i got to thinking about cool ways of > recharging those AA batteries. so on a whim i searched the web for > "hacking a hand crank flashlight" and came across this excellent video. > > http://tinyurl.com/o76qf2 > > then i went looking for a vendor for a hand crank flashlight and found this > > http://www.jr.com/mark-feldstein---associate/pe/MFA_ETO100C/ > > which looks a lot like the flashlight shown in the above video. > > is anyone on this list good with a soldering iron? this might be > a fun project for the dc loco to take on and create a video about. the > big question is -- how many minutes of tablet usage do you get for > each minute cranking the crank? my prediction is that it might be in > the 10 to 15 minutes range of tablet usage for each minute of cranking > the tablet. > > a bicycle battery recharger would harness human muscle power > better, but the hand charger is cheaper to build and more portable. > and if you have three hand crank chargers then you have more > recharging going on. > > coincidentally, i know a nice woman in takoma park who is going > back to mali, africa, to build a second school in the village where > she grew up. this village does not have electricity. it would be ideal > for testing out a hand crank ubuntu tablet. > > here is a web site i helped her set up that shows some photos > and videos from her village. http://tinyurl.com/ycmaxvk > > phil > > -- > Phil Shapiro pshapiro@his.com > http://www.his.com/pshapiro/briefbio.html > http://www.twitter.com/philshapiro > http://www.his.com/pshapiro/stories.menu.html > > "Wisdom begins with wonder." - Socrates > "Learning happens thru gentleness." > > > > -- > Ubuntu-us-dc mailing list > Ubuntu-us-dc@lists.ubuntu.com > Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us-dc <hr />Hotmail® has ever-growing storage! Don’t worry about storage limits. <a href='http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/Storage?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_Storage_062009' target='_new'>Check it out.</a></body> </html>