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[Gabey8]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10023421-54.html?tag=mncol;title

If they can make a cell phone charger that's powered by motion, what's to stop them from making a motion-powered charger that is strong enough to power an XO?

[teapot]

Long term, the company is looking at placing self-charging devices in hybrid and electric cars. Putting a self-charging device near windshield wipers or door locks could significantly cut down on a hybrid car's electrical load and extend its driving range, Rowe said.

Something tells me, those people are bad at math. REALLY bad at math.

Everything that moves in electric car is powered by discharging its battery. Any "self-charging" device will have to add more load spending more energy from the battery it is intended to charge, and if the added load is trivial, then so is produced energy.

As for XO, it takes about 7W when running, and requires 20W*h to be recharged. My celphone battery is 4W*h, and it lasts about 4 hours of talk time. If the device provides 1 hour of talk time after 6 hours of charging, it means, 6 hours provide about 1W*h of energy. To recharge XO the device will need 120 hours or 5 days of continuous motion. At this scale a hamster in a wheel is a far superior alternative.

[jofesel]

Teapot, I like your idea about the hamster wheel.  It looks like someone has already begun the work for us on this project.  We can probably improve upon the concept and design a carrying bag for the XO and hamster wheel before any of the other promised charging devices are available.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1513938.html

[Gabey8]

Teapot, I like your idea about the hamster wheel.  It looks like someone has already begun the work for us on this project.  We can probably improve upon the concept and design a carrying bag for the XO and hamster wheel before any of the other promised charging devices are available.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1513938.html

ROTFLOL! I've joked around about various office equipment being slow because "the hamster fell off the wheel", etc, but I never expected to see someone actually USE hamster power for something. HA HA HA HA

Nice catch on that article. BTW, how could the teacher give the kid a C on that project? For shame. It's a clever idea.

[anna]

Not to mention it's fairly common for classrooms to keep hamsters as class pets.  (In the Western world, anyway.)

A hamster powered rig would be be far more lightweight and portable than Ernest Borgnine on a bicycle.

Mmm, now I have a hankering for some Soylent Green.

[teapot]

It will still take days for a hamster to charge XO -- estimates of hamster power output range from 0.4W to 0.8W, with lower estimate looking more credible.

What also means that 13 hamsters can keep XO running (but only with backlight off -- backlight is 7 more hamsters).

[anna]

It will still take days for a hamster to charge XO -- estimates of hamster power output range from 0.4W to 0.8W, with lower estimate looking more credible.

What also means that 13 hamsters can keep XO running (but only with backlight off -- backlight is 7 more hamsters).

How would an Ernest Borgnine rig do, then?  Well, not Borgnine himself, cause he's 90.

[brisalta]

It will still take days for a hamster to charge XO -- estimates of hamster power output range from 0.4W to 0.8W, with lower estimate looking more credible.

What also means that 13 hamsters can keep XO running (but only with backlight off -- backlight is 7 more hamsters).

Would that be a beowolf cluster of hamsters or a cluster of beowolfs chasing hamsters?

[CanadaDry]

I think that might be Santa's sleigh, with a cluster of 8 tiny rein-hamsters.

[Gabey8]

I'm resurrecting this old thread because I found an article about another kind of motion-powered battery charger.

http://www.intomobile.com/2009/02/26/power-your-cellphone-by-walking-around.html

I look forward to seeing any of these things becoming generally available. Battery-charging roller skates, anyone?