Solar and Wind Powered Portable Charger Debuts at CES
Not to be mistaken for a solar powered desk fan (which is what I thought it was), the crafty Kenisis K2 is a solar and wind powered 2-in-1 charger for all your USB needs.
It can power a typical cell phone 5-times over on a full charge! Um, where do I sign up?
And while it’s designed to harvest the power of nature, it’s also quite practical. It also includes an AC adapter for when Mother Nature isn’t cooperating.
You can stand the device up or hang it from your bike. I like that idea since I sit next to a big sunny window at work – though I wish the wind turbine would also operate as a fan.
The device is expected to run for about $100. Engadget has a nice video of the device from CES here. LED indicators let you know how much juice the device has, and it has internal storage for multiple adapter tips.
Image: Kinesis.com
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January 10th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
If this product had a hand crank capacitor it would be perfect!
January 11th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Looks funny but a bit bulky. Please do buy one and tell us if it really works. There are no technical info to be found on the company site.
http://www.kinesisindustries.com/products.php
Based on the photo for the solar PV area my estimate is that it can produce about 1W in optimal sun. It could take a long time to charge a mobile phone.
Wind turbine, how little wind to make it produce just 1W? How much wind is too much before the whole standing device blows over?
For an alternative solar field charging device see ME2Solar, which do list their tech spec:
http://mobile-energy2.com/product_foldable650.php
January 11th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Man that’s cool I want one.
January 11th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
how much oil to produce this ‘green’ gadget and after millions are sold they’re in the landfill forever.
January 11th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
This will be great for camping. Got to have movies while you camp, even if your tenting.
January 11th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Just spin the blades with your finger!
January 12th, 2009 at 3:38 am
Doesn’t it cost as much oil to make a charging device that doesn’t use the sun or wind to produce it’s energy?
If this can charge an iPhone I would be very interested in getting one.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:05 am
I purchased a Solar Monkey on a China Airlines flight in the summer. It is a solar charger with many adapter ends. It works great to keep my Blackberry charged, works on 2 of my 3 daughters cell phones. We love it. If I recall correctly the price was about $75 U.S.
January 12th, 2009 at 8:02 am
Saw this product at CES and my impression is that it’s a wannabe Solio product with a gimmicky wind vane on it. The wind generator doesn’t make any sense since it would take between 36 to 72 hours to recharge the battery. If you know anything about wind energy, you would know that wind speeds are very slow at ground level. Part of the reason why wind generators are so big is so that they can extract the energy out of fast high altitude winds. Can’t get this product in retail stores yet as they company doesn’t have any distribution. Don’t know if anybody picked it up.
January 12th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
It would sell a lot better if it were a USB powered desk fan that happened to have a green washing solar cell on it.
But, then again, I’m sure that there are probably a few people out there stupid enough to buy this and a subset of those that actually believe that this shite provides some benefit to the environment.
January 12th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
amount of CO2 used to produce this gadget > the amount of CO2 this gadget would save.
save $100. don’t buy crap.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Would be perfect with a hand crank aswell!, possabilities of charging a netbook?
That would be great for travel around the world =]
January 30th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Man I wish I had this on my recent trip down the grand canyon. Often you would not be able to get sunlight to a solar charger cos you were you know…. in a pretty grand canyon that doesn’t always have direct sunlight…. this is an awesome looking device
January 12th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
[...] chargers that do not rely on conventional fossil fuels and batteries, such as windup chargers, solar chargers, and many others. The idea is that small gadgets don’t need much of a charge, so any human [...]