Solar Powered Radios
La Crosse Technology 810106 Noaa Solar Weather Radio
Charging solar powered radios with free energy
from the sun is perfect for camping, cookouts or an afternoon at the
beach. There are many different types and uses for off grid
radios. There are portable, personal solar chargers available
for iPods and other MP3 players, cell phones and tablets
(Internet Radio). Radios with speakers suitable for sharing
music publicly will often times have an integrated solar panel
rather than a separate cell connected by wire. Some of them
come with hand cranks in addition to solar cells to ensure power
during low light conditions or an emergency. One popular
product consolidates many devices into one small, portable unit.
The solar flashlight radios (below) contain a solar cell and hand
crank to create power to recharge their replaceable internal
batteries. It provides an FM radio, LED flashlight and
adapters to charge many types of cellular phones. The device
is especially valuable in the even of nighttime power outages or
weather related calamities. Some other combination style sets
include additional items / functionality like audible panic alarms,
clocks, bottle openers and compasses among other things.
All of the solar radios (in the strict since of
actually playing AM/FM public broadcasts) contain four standard
components...
Solar cells or panels to collect energy.
A battery of some sort to store power. (view
solar powered batteries page for more
info)
A tuner to find stations or NOAA weather band.
Speaker or headphone jack.
Top 10 Reviews has a nice site comparing different solar radios
and features for 2013.
If you already have a regular radio and are
looking for a solution to power the rechargeable batteries or the
unit directly, try the solar backpacks
page. If you would like to convert your own standard model
into a real time, solar powered radio without batteries here is a
do it yourself video.
|
