If you've got some 60 x 60 solar panels, a few diodes, some scotch tape, and a little time on your hands, you may never need to plug in your DS ever again. According to "dark sponge," a poster over at
Instructables, you can convert the Lite into a solar-powered wonder that will obviate the need for your standard PSU, and make your green leaning friends, er... green with envy. The mod involves slapping panels on both the bottom and top of the device which -- when wired in parallel -- get 6 volts of power at 80 mA, which is apparently perfect for a trickle charge. The only downside is you'll have to leave the device face down for a bit, and it's advised to keep it out of the sun all day. Still, it's an excellent mod that doesn't seem too difficult to execute, and ends up saving hassle
and energy... and who can knock that?
[Via
SlashGear]
posted Feb 12th 2009 5:04PM
That's pretty slick. I wonder how long until these devices start coming with solar panels.
Once they start making sense. At peak power, this device will charge the battery in something like 5 hours. That's in direct sunlight. On a cloudy day, it will take 5x longer. Indoors, it will take 50x longer.
Once solar cells start making enough power that the amount of power produced in less than optimal conditions amounts to jack squat (compared to the device drain), devices will start coming with them.
This seems like a horrible waste of solar cells. If they were mounted elsewhere, you might be able to charge or power something else while your DS was fully charged.
People, do the math... this only adds a couple of MINUTES while playing. This is not a power cord replacement by any means; not if you are on the move.
it's a fun project that does little in the long run, a radio shack time waster.
by data :
DS Lite work 5-19 hour on 3.7v 1200mAh (So it's using 3.7v 240mA to 63mA).
Charge 6v 80mA is big significant. Especially when you set light to low and play less than 20 hour a day.
3v 40mA is about $4. I think it's consider inexpensive.
And by add 2 diode make standard charge work.
Gives new meaning to the word "Lite".
did you mean out IN the sun all day?
F*cking brilliant!!
Where do I get mine?
Awesome. Living in a sunny area pays off!
While I agree that we should try to save power whenever possible, I believe that we're going about it in the wrong fashion. Why use the slow trickle of sunlight to charge our electronics when we could be putting our efforts into finding a way to charge them off babies. Have you seen how many extra babies we have on earth? You could power a DS Lite for about 3 years off one good Matrix-esque baby battery tower. Join the cause: repopulate for power!
You have to feed a baby. Feeding a baby makes it stink. Not feeding it also makes it stink. That makes for a bad battery.
either way the babies will generate methane that you can burn.
I always had this idea, never got around to doing it though. Pretty nice :)
guess u can't do that with a PSP...
Why not?
You could put 3 of these on the back couldn't you?
Where you hands go?
...
your*
There have been times when I certainly could have used this mod.
Wouldn't you need some sort of charge controller for the batteries? I don't have a DS, but I'm assuming it uses lithium batteries. Those don't charge the same as lead acid. It probably can charge the batteries, but you would risk damaging the life of the batt, or worse, making it rupture and leak.
Good idea though.
I'm guessing the DS has a charge controller inbuilt, since I have a USB cable that charges mine (don't ever use the included charger anymore), and it's been fine like that for 2 years now.
So you have to lay on your back or hold this up to the sun to charge while playing?
Also, if you aren't playing with it, would the DS heat up a lot from sitting in the sun?
Is your shadow a black hole, or something? Even things in shadow are getting some light.
The DS doesnt need a solar panel!
It needs BETTER GAMES!!!
The DS doesn't need better games, it already has some of the best games (especially when you take price into account) of any current console. What it needs is less shovelware.
We Are!!
I wonder if laying a copper sheet underneath the panels will dissipate a significant amount of the heat generated by leaving it under the sun.
Well, it would either accomplish that or simply bake the DS in a matter of minutes.
need to make that into a replacement cover for ds
But can it play Boktai?
Hello! I'm the author of the original instructable:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make_a_Solar_DS_that_you_will_Never_Need_to_Rechar/
For all of you people saying "This will not replace the power cord", you're wrong. Ever since I've done this, I've never had to charge it. Ever. And I play it with the backlight all the way up. This is not a time waster at all!
That's like saying your car has an infinite range because your wife tops off the gas tank when you're not looking. It'll extend the battery life, but if you play an all night session of mario kart with friends, you're going to be reaching for that AC adapter sooner or later.
:)
Don't get me wrong, though. I dig it.
This and that Blue phone might make me a better person than all the "environmentalists" out there.
This circuit has a risk of over charging and damaging you battery. Even though the solar cells don't output too much current, if they feed the battery when it is nearly full, they will damage it. See more detail in my comment in the Instructable. Nevertheless, still a great concept. Nintendo should do this tomorrow, and they should give you a lifetime supply of their new products for the idea.
Why not have the panels hinged so that they can be opened out into a more 'useful' position whilst the DS is in use.
Pretty sweet and looks great, still, I'll stick with my USB cable hack - since I already have a slew of stuff that needs to be charged via USB.