Supercharger solar panel promises to give Freeloader a boost

Solar Technology's Freeloader solar charger was already a pretty attractive option as it was, but the company's now looking to give the portable charger a bit of a boost, with its new Supercharger panel promising to cut the charging time in half. As you can see above, that's possible in part thanks to its larger size, but it's apparently also aided by some more powerful than usual photovoltaic cells (rated at 1.5 watts). All that should translate to a four hour charging time for the Freeloader, which can be done in any weather conditions thanks to the panel's weather-proofing (although some weather conditions will obviously be more effective than others). If that sounds like what you've been looking for, you can grab the Supercharger now for £20 (about $40), or grab it as part of a new Globe Trotter bundle (including a Freeloader, a Supercharger, and a carrying case) for £50, or just under $100.

[Via SmartPlanet]

[Hugh Newmark @ Apr 4th 2008 12:00PM]

Following Motorola with you ugly-as-sin green, I see.

[aardvark sandwich @ Apr 4th 2008 12:01PM]

Solar has promised a lot of things.

[Mr.Tech @ Apr 4th 2008 12:06PM]

It would be a lot smarter if phones just came with a pull out or push back in solar panel for recharging as a optional package.

[Acerguy @ Apr 4th 2008 12:15PM]

or a build in mini solar cell so it will charge as your day goes on or maybe during emergency use.

[freediverdude @ Apr 4th 2008 12:17PM]

I would like a solar panel for charging my iphone, but I'm not sure I could bring myself to plug my gorgeous phone into that hideous green thing.

[Collegedude10 @ Apr 4th 2008 12:24PM]

how about make something like this with a usb attachment? can power labtops, cellphones, mp3's...?

[Mark @ Apr 4th 2008 12:26PM]

the color is green.

[Anonymoose @ Apr 4th 2008 12:53PM]

hands down the most insightful observation made on earth. unless this observation was made from heaven, which would make more sense.

[vinh86 @ Apr 4th 2008 12:50PM]

only ships to uk?

[vinh86 @ Apr 4th 2008 12:52PM]

nevermind, found site.

[tbartley @ Apr 4th 2008 1:28PM]

Yes, it ONLY ships to the UK. I actually tried to get one.

[danik @ Apr 4th 2008 1:29PM]

what web site is it? i found only UK site

[vinh86 @ Apr 4th 2008 1:37PM]

Hefty £12 shipping.
http://www.ethicalsuperstore.com/

[Joe @ Apr 4th 2008 1:43PM]

A hand crank charger would we far more effective during any condition.

[johnny5 @ Apr 4th 2008 1:44PM]

People keep their phones in their pockets or purses away from the light. Sow one of these into your jeans, and we're talkin'.

[Kurtis @ Apr 4th 2008 2:07PM]

Engadget:
Here is the code on your 'Reply' link:

onclick="replyToCmt("11448919","johnny5");"

Surprisingly, you cannot use double-quotes within double-quotes, because that confuses the browser. Please change this code to:

onclick="replyToCmt('11448919','johnny5');"

You know how i figured that out? I didn't even have to use firebug. It's a nice little thing called 'View Source'. You should try it sometime...

End rant.

[Anonymoose @ Apr 4th 2008 2:36PM]

kurtis in da heezy! FACE, engadget, IN YO FACE!

[lee @ Apr 4th 2008 2:40PM]

hi all this is USB, I have the same bundle

I have a review up on my site..

Www.f650ridetheworld.com

Its in the kit reviews section, I use it mainly for my iPhone and iPods

hope the review helps if your sitting on the fence...

[Mike @ Apr 4th 2008 3:14PM]

Either that or have a solar panel built-in to the back of the phone. Let it out of your pocket when you're not using it and lay it in the sunshine. Green is my favorite color!

[Eric @ Apr 4th 2008 11:36PM]

No way there's enough voltage generated by this thing for charging a laptop battery, let alone power one.

[tekdroid @ Apr 5th 2008 1:49AM]

...or simply buy a second battery and charge it in the phone, and keep it as a spare for less dollars, and easier to carry too.

Of course once the second battery runs out, you have to run for mains power for re-juicing, but will probably cover 99% of scenarios of "oh noes, my batt is flat", unless travelling out in the remote somewhere for extended periods.

[james @ Jun 21st 2008 8:37PM]

I purchased two of these, one for myself and one for a friend. The plan was to use them on a trip to Europe to keep cell phones charge on long days out. Well both failed... and somewhat dangerously. I charged the first unit and it seemed to charge fine but when I plugged it into my iPhone to test its charging ability it failed. After about a minute of charging the iPhone, the freeloader pack made a little pop sound and then would no longer charge any devices.

After seeing the first unit fail, I decide to test my friends. Well it did about the same thing but this time I saw what made the pop sound. While charging a device, I saw a spark in the USB socket of the freeloader and smelled the odor of burning plastic. After this the freeloader would not longer charge devices.

It seems that the freeloader battery pack can overload when charging devices. I may have thought this to be an isolated problem but it happened with two different units. This could be dangerous if the pack were in a bag or something during charges.

I would not recommend the freeloader to anyone...in fact if they all have potential to fail the way mine did, then they should be pulled from the market.

[Spence @ Apr 5th 2009 5:51AM]

You can get more reliable ones now (well you can in the UK, I assume you can elsewhere!). I use my solar charger to charge my iPod and my Nokia phone, and it's great. Never had to worry about running out of battery, and I can take it anywhere. This is the one I've got:

http://www.sentientsolar.co.uk/product.php?id_product=153

It's not huge, but I think you can probably get even smaller ones now. Just waiting for the solar powered iPhone to come out!