Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

This smells like some attempt at getting money out of bloated aid agencies.

A car battery and an el-cheapo solar panel can be had for the same price (or less - used batteries that may not hold enough charge might still be suitable to power some lights can be obtained for free) and has the advantage of being a simple system, understandable by everyone, repairable in the field with easy to obtain parts and way more rugged & reliable than what seems like a plastic, proprietary contraption with intricate moving parts and electronics.



I’m not an expert but I believe the recommendation is to use deep discharge marine (i.e. boat) batteries instead of car batteries.


If you have the resources to get those, sure. But even a standard car battery will do, at least for some time, and if you can get more use per dollar out of those (and I assume end-of-life car batteries can be obtained very cheaply as they are essentially waste and no longer usable for their intended purpose) it will still work out better than paying extra for the "proper" battery.


12V car batteries are recycled. You actually get money back when you return one to a store.


This assumes you are in a location where said recycling infrastructure is present (or close enough that the cost of shipping them there is less than what you get back). This may not be the case in areas where access to electrical power is a major issue, and thus end-of-life batteries are essentially worthless and can be obtained for free.


In poorer areas of the world, there is no shortage of people able to cut a car battery open, melt down the lead plates, reform them into new lead plates and refill the battery shell with drain cleaner (sulfuric acid). This only takes labor, which is cheap, so dead and new car batteries have very similar prices.

Video of it being done:. https://youtu.be/9I0IAwOIwXo


That man is incredibly skilled. I did not even know a battery rebuild was possible. Thank you for sharing the video.


Where is the basic PPE???


It also produces a tiny amount of light they say 15lm on the page - by comparison my cheapo IKEA ceiling light does 1800lm at 45W. I can't imagine this being an optimal lighting or power solution for anyone.


It's supposed to compete with kerosene lamps. It's an enormous improvement.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: