Do-It-Yourself Guide For A Solar-Powered DS
Like a real life Boktai, one hacker has fixed his DS with solar panels for constant portable playing.
Do-it-yourselfer "Dark Sponge" took rechargeable batteries and gaming the alternative energy route by configuring his Nintedo DS to be powered by sunlight.
Mr. Sponge, an alleged 14 year-old boy, attached two 60-by-60 millimeter solar panels to both the top and bottom covers of a DS, then wired the cells to the lithium ion battery inside the hardware. Each solar-sucker outputs three volts at 40 milliamperes (a unit of measurement for electrical currents). In order for the unit to receive a full charge, all four panels must be directly exposed to the sun, which would require the system to be open with the dual screens facing the ground. While slightly odd, this method of charging doesn't take away from the system's portability and has thus far proven to build battery life without outlets.
Anyone intrigued by alternative energy solutions to current problems, global or personal, can read how to install their own solar panels onto the DS with Sponge's 17-step process [http://www.instructables.com/id/Make_a_Solar_DS_that_you_will_Never_Need_to_Rechar/], covering from the basic materials and wiring to soldering.
If a teenage kid can apply alternative energy sources to solve simple problems, can we expect manufacturers to start implementing more clever and user-friendly variations of solar energy? It's anyone's guess what power supplies will fuel future handhelds but there's no doubt that more powerful systems will require equal improvements in batteries.
Source: Hack-A-Day [http://hackaday.com/2009/02/12/solar-charging-your-ds/]
Permalink
Like a real life Boktai, one hacker has fixed his DS with solar panels for constant portable playing.
Do-it-yourselfer "Dark Sponge" took rechargeable batteries and gaming the alternative energy route by configuring his Nintedo DS to be powered by sunlight.
Mr. Sponge, an alleged 14 year-old boy, attached two 60-by-60 millimeter solar panels to both the top and bottom covers of a DS, then wired the cells to the lithium ion battery inside the hardware. Each solar-sucker outputs three volts at 40 milliamperes (a unit of measurement for electrical currents). In order for the unit to receive a full charge, all four panels must be directly exposed to the sun, which would require the system to be open with the dual screens facing the ground. While slightly odd, this method of charging doesn't take away from the system's portability and has thus far proven to build battery life without outlets.
Anyone intrigued by alternative energy solutions to current problems, global or personal, can read how to install their own solar panels onto the DS with Sponge's 17-step process [http://www.instructables.com/id/Make_a_Solar_DS_that_you_will_Never_Need_to_Rechar/], covering from the basic materials and wiring to soldering.
If a teenage kid can apply alternative energy sources to solve simple problems, can we expect manufacturers to start implementing more clever and user-friendly variations of solar energy? It's anyone's guess what power supplies will fuel future handhelds but there's no doubt that more powerful systems will require equal improvements in batteries.
Source: Hack-A-Day [http://hackaday.com/2009/02/12/solar-charging-your-ds/]
Permalink
