Orange's pump charger puts your two left feet to good use
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted May 21st 2009 3:07PM
posted May 21st 2009 3:07PM
You've little over a month to get your plans sorted for this year's Glastonbury Festival, and as any techno-pagan worth his salt knows, finding power for all those gadgets as you dance your ass off in a big field for five days can be a challenge in and of itself. Luckily, it looks like the fine folks at Orange UK have taken it upon themselves to serve this niche market every year, as evidenced by the likes of last year's Dance Charge and this year's Power Pump. It's pretty straight forward -- the foot pump drives a turbine, which powers a tiny generator. According to the company's groovy PR, the turbine will generate enough energy to power 5 minutes of call time in the time it takes to inflate your pillow. No word yet on retail availability, so look out for it at the company's tent. Rave on!
[Via Oh Gizmo!]
[Via Oh Gizmo!]
This looks like it could actually be useful for the camper/hiker types.
can anyone lend me a blower? i need some juice!
Insert mom joke here... :)
That looks cool, yet it could get really tiring. How many times do i have to step on that thing to charge my iPhone?
Too many
Charges about as quick as a solar phone charger then.
I think the solution for events like this is them little chargers you can run off AA batteries.
Being "environmentally friendly" is great, just not when there is a much easier solution.
Charges about as quick as a solar phone charger then.
I think the solution for events like this is them little chargers you can run off AA batteries.
Being "environmentally friendly" is great, just not when there is a much easier solution.
this is why we need a delete/edit function. sorry.
Hmm... if this thing will give 5 minutes of talk time in the same time that it would inflate a pillow, that seems WAY faster than a solar charger (unless we're talking a large solar charger). Having a foot pump that can serve double duty seems like a great option.
just how fat are we getting?
Wouldn't it be more efficient to drive the generator from the foot pedal by mechanical means? It's a nice idea, it just seems odd to use a mechanical force to create a pneumatic force which then gets converted back into a mechanical force.
To say nothing of the little mouse inside on the treadmill chasing a piece of cheese...
I though so to, but apparently this charger is just an accessory to people who already have the foot pump.
As they use this pump to inflate air mattresses for camping etc.
@ Tony: I saw the practicality in that hypothesis, but the thing's nearly the size of a foot-pump anyway.
Yeah that and you can't even inflate anything with it?!
Wtf... I posted almost this exact same thing here right after this was posted. Clicked "Add Comment," it showed up, and yet... it's gone.
One of life's little mysteries, I suppose.
THANK YOU!!! It just seems like it would make more sense to find a way to use the stomping force instead of the air from the pump.
She is soooo excited about charging her phone.
If I can strap my kid to this so I can watch tv at the camp site it would be a buy
cool. that lady is quite a bitty too ;)
:D
Bez Bez Bez!!! Dance U Crazy Manc!!!
shoes will have mpg ratings pretty soon
NEXT you going to make all the farm animal pumping that things for energy.
Now if these could be converted into some sort of shoe, it might actually be practical for using 'dancing your ass off' as a charging source.
Why, oh why, is there no pull string flywheel charger device.
Wouldn't this product be more efficient if they skipped the whole wind part?
In theory you are loosing energy when you convert mechanical energy to wind power and back to mechanical.
Why not a foot petal through gears/pully to the generator?
Supposedly they chose it for those who already have a pump handy, and the turbine looks to be very inexpensive.
I would still prefer a hand crank, but cudoes for thinking outside of traditional chargers.
Tony
Tony @ May 21st 2009 5:09PM
I though so to, but apparently this charger is just an accessory to people who already have the foot pump.
As they use this pump to inflate air mattresses for camping etc.
shaun ryder & bez on engadget...very nice
congrats.
mechanical -> pneumatic -> mechanical ->electrical NIIIICCCEEE
At that rate instead of having wires, why don't they just have LED's hooked up to solar cells in a long line to transmit the electricity instead...
solar powered ig bag at glade FTW
Osiris G Bag
Glade Festival
lmgtfy.com
You guys are in SF right? Then skills 12th ETD.POP is this saturday!!! Rave one woo. Ferry Corsten and Deadmau5
Perfect for my shaky leg syndrome! Now I can finally put all that wasted energy to good use.
Saw something else on this here: http://beatthat.com/blog/a-short-history-of-telephones