Horizon MiniPak personal fuel cell charger hands-on (video)

Our dreams of a personal fuel cell that can charge our gadgets on the go are coming closer to fruition, and if the people at Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies continue what they're doing, our dreams might come true sooner rather than later. A handheld box a bit larger than an iPhone, the MiniPak handheld fuel cell charger uses Hydrostik cartridges filled with solid hydrogen particles to keep your gadgets juiced. It comes with one Hydrostik, which can be refilled with the companion product, the HydroFILL. The HydroFILL gets filled up with water, and when connected to a power source, it breaks the water down to hydrogen and oxygen, filling up the cartridges. We'll admit that we're not exactly up on our molecular chemistry, so check out the video after the break to see a Horizon rep explaining it more clearly.

Horizon MiniPak and HydroFill personal fuel cell charger hands-on

[BigD145 Posted Jan 8th 2010 5:27PM]

Where's my solar version?

[MiketheVee Posted Jan 8th 2010 5:34PM]

@BigD145
right behind the charger

[traceroute Posted Jan 8th 2010 5:37PM]

@MiketheVee

lol

[Hazdaz Posted Jan 8th 2010 6:16PM]

While I think overall it's pretty darn cool, at the same time I think my prediction about this device from the other day is probably spot-on...

for it's size and/or cost, you might just be better off having a spare battery (or two).

[sydcinema Posted Jan 8th 2010 6:16PM]

@letstakeawalk Not helping... I'm saying this could be a fantastic concept if it were approached differently. Personally, I see a redundancy in the process. Somehow eliminate that, (I'm not an engineer) and this could be a game changer. Overall the concept is good, and it's where I'd like to see renewable energy head... Hydrogen (Or similar) fuel cells.

[sydcinema Posted Jan 8th 2010 6:23PM]

@(Unverified) oops... Posted twice. Can this be deleted?

[Stiksi Posted Jan 8th 2010 7:45PM]

Let's put this inside an iPhone, it'll be a blast! We could call it the iHindenburg.

[lecti Posted Jan 8th 2010 9:05PM]

I wonder how many times the cartridges can be refilled?

[letstakeawalk Posted Jan 8th 2010 10:21PM]

@lecti

Wouldn't that have been a nice question for Engadget to have asked?

[Guurak Posted Jan 8th 2010 11:44PM]

Now here's a question I have, they say it's about the same as 7-8 AA batteries, but what kind of mAh would each battery have?

[glennS Posted Jan 9th 2010 2:02AM]

Granted, I am pretty rusty on my chemistry, but what does he mean by "a solid form of hydrogen". Hydrogen is pretty much a gas, except under extreme cold temperature. So does he mean hydrogen bonded to some other atom to form a solid molecule?

Also, did he actually call the fuel cell 'chemical free'? Isn't is nothing but chemicals? Just not the 'bad' ones that he mentioned?

I'm calling BS on this one.

[beestar Posted Jan 9th 2010 7:28AM]

@glennS

"Solid hydrogen" sounded wrong to me too. You only get solid hydrogen at the core of a star. It must actually be a chemical hydride (where hydrogen is in the form of something like sodium borohydride) or a metal hydride, where the hydrogen gas is adsorbed to a particular metal alloy like FeTi.

[Michael Pollard Posted Jan 11th 2010 9:31PM]

@glennS
He said that they are "toxic chemical free - so there's no lead or cadmium." (I missed some of his words - the background's too noisy.) This was at the end of the video.

[Timerider Posted Jan 9th 2010 8:33AM]

When I see "portable fuel cell" I think meh, it probably requires buying fuel cartridges. But if you can make your own fuel at home, it gains my interest.