From: graham <DIYSolar@...>
Subject: Re: [mendenyo] DIY Solar and next steps
To: mendenyo@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, November 14, 2008, 1:39 AM

Hi Andrius,

 

You are right that it is better if people have extra batteries with a solar charger

and I recommend importing them from China.

In fact this is another reason why a $3 mobile battery charger can be better

than a 'proper' phone charger!

 

Cheap Li-ion battery 'controls' do sometimes fail which results in the battery swelling up.

This can damage the phone if the battery is inside the phone. With us you just find another $2 battery.

 

As you will know using a cheap battery using mains power charging can result in a fire!

Risks are 1 in a million but many people are scared by such stories!

 

Peter and I have had email discussions and I will be sending him more pv modules so

he can try out various designs for the battery charger.
  I'm in hope, no tests to done, business would be successful.

Yours

 

Graham

 

Peter, Graham,
I'm glad for your work together on the battery charger. I'm writing a post
about that at http://www.includer .org
Peter, please could you write your opinion, what is the best application
for Graham's technology where you live?

  After several effective monitoring  of 0.38 modules for mobile battery chargers,  the module is  working well. I hope people are likely to love it or choice to own it mostly in the large under developed rural areas where we do not have electricities...this would reduce or save for them the distance and time spent or covered traveling to charge their battery phones. This would also reduce the cost of charging their phones from the main electricity by paying in high percentages.

You mention that it can take all
day to charge a phone (and then I think the phone can't be used). So it
seems that one would need an extra supply of batteries to make it useful
or people would each need to have their own solar panel. What are the
applications for individuals and what are the business possibilities?  Since Grahams technology is working well,  I see business possibilities and that might be our next project if it would be possible to get micro finance support for it. What
might be the next project that we might take?
Please let me know. I take the liberty to share Graham's letter from
November 5 - I am thankful and optimistic for the value of our work
together.
Also, I would like to provide about $200 a month for our lab's work to be
decided by all of the participants, perhaps based on our activity as a
community currency of sorts that we would pool. I appreciate our ideas
for projects and how we might pool resources.

Andrius Kulikauskas
Minciu Sodas
ms@...

Hi Andrius,

I asked Peter to respond to your request for information about the charger
and bed net projects
but though he has said something about bed nets he as not commented on the
battery charger,
so far as I know.

I had great hopes that we would get somewhere with this as Peter, unlike
most of my African contacts,
is prepared to explain his ideas but we don't seem to be getting anywhere.
I was not reassured when he started off by comparing a tiny solar charger
to a mains unit but hoped
he would come to see that the 'market' is very different.

He then pleaded for some extra finance as his 'people are hungry'.
I, rather reluctantly, sent him some larger pv modules instead though he
does not seem to have sold any of them.

YES. I've not been able to sell all the modules. I've only sold 3 modules....this is likely because the modules are few such that I have to be making individual approaches to convince people to buy them. These are new products and nobody is sure of their effective services. Some people have been waiting to get comments from those who have secured or bought them from me before they buy  also. I take this as a great step, a start for people to know that there are small Solar modules of low costs which can serve their specific interests before they can raise big moneys to the multi purpose Solar Panels. Another thing which I'm to mention here which I had mentioned to Graham, due to low economic  income stress, people have been tending to go for something which would serve them in more than one or more services. Yes, this is a challenge which I felt  likely to face  in the future in this business but after great consultation with Business people I've got great encouragement that I shouldn't be worried about it, I may not know by now who would choice to buy the items while outside there, there are people who might have been looking for them and I  do not know at this time because I have not displayed them in the  markets. So I would propose a go ahead for the business.

        Peter Ongele.

Regarding the battery charger he has an idea that you want him to do
'proper' testing, as in his day job,
though I would have thought the best sort of testing is to loan out
several samples and get back reactions!

He seems preoccupied with other problems and I don't want this piece to be
seen as any sort of judgement !!

Graham
 
--
Minciu Sodas
http://www.ms. lt
ms@...
+1 312 618 3345

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