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How come they have so many solar/crank radios but no mp3ers?

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How come they have so many solar/crank radios but no mp3ers?

Unread postby Narz » Sat 15 Mar 2008, 19:25:40

Or maybe I just haven't found any yet.

I meant Mp3 player sterio by the way. Headphones are great to drown out the world but music is better shared.

I want to mount one to my bike or just roll around town with it blasting from my milk crate. :)
“Seek simplicity but distrust it”
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Re: How come they have so many solar/crank radios but no mp3

Unread postby JRP3 » Sat 15 Mar 2008, 20:37:04

Headphones take less power to run, and not everyone may like your music, so you may want to reconsider using headphones.
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Re: How come they have so many solar/crank radios but no mp3

Unread postby jlw61 » Sat 15 Mar 2008, 20:39:43

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', 'O')r maybe I just haven't found any yet.

I meant Mp3 player sterio by the way. Headphones are great to drown out the world but music is better shared.

I want to mount one to my bike or just roll around town with it blasting from my milk crate. :)


Demand... It's easy to convince someone to buy a flashlight for $14.95 that uses no batteries and (with no small effort) give your cell phone a 10 minute charge. It's a few extra dollars and a little effort for a 30 min LED flashlight charge.

However, I believe MP3's use a little more juice than an LED flashlight and are pretty expensive too boot. How are you going to tell someone that they have to keep cranking to listen to an MP3 player? Nope, not going to happen. To create a hand crank generator big enough to provide a real charge would make it prohibitively large. IMHO it will not until MP3 players fall below the $20 mark and can run on the same amount of juice that 3 LEDs use.
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Re: How come they have so many solar/crank radios but no mp3

Unread postby green_achers » Sat 15 Mar 2008, 20:43:14

I always thought of a hand-cranked radio as primarily an emergency device, in concept. In an emergency, you're going to want to know what's going on in the world, not to listen to your favorite pop tunes.
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Re: How come they have so many solar/crank radios but no mp3

Unread postby wisconsin_cur » Sat 15 Mar 2008, 20:44:15

Simple,

if you are reduced to using a crank you should be more interested in getting news and information not jamming to your last download.

try batteries.
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Re: How come they have so many solar/crank radios but no mp3

Unread postby WisJim » Sat 15 Mar 2008, 21:22:34

I have 2 hand crank radios, one with an external solar panel and the other with the PV panel built into it. I think I got the first one at Big Lots store for under $40, and bought the other smaller one, with a pv panel in the top of the case, online for around $80. We use them all the time, when not in the house near a regular radio, such as in the garden, or working on something in the driveway or yard, if there is something on the radio that we want to hear. They both are made by Freeplay, and the older one also has a power jack so that you can plug something else into it, although I have never used that option. But I think that plugging your MP3 player or cell phone into it would work, providing voltages were correct. But I haven't seen one made or marketed with that in mind, although it would be a good idea I would think.


Freeplay does make a hand crank power supply (called "Weza"), with a battery built in, list price about $300, along with numerous other hand cranked and/or solar devices.
http://www.freeplayenergy.com/products
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Re: How come they have so many solar/crank radios but no mp3

Unread postby Narz » Sat 15 Mar 2008, 23:24:35

I think I'm going to go ahead and get some of these (portable speakers).

I don't like wearing headphones while riding my bike because it makes me paranoid I will not be able to hear upcoming cars.
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Re: How come they have so many solar/crank radios but no mp3

Unread postby SheikYarbhouti » Sun 16 Mar 2008, 04:28:38

Funny you should ask... CNN broadcast a little segment about just this topic a couple of days ago. Here's what they featured (I think):

Solar: eMotion

Hand crank: ePod

One minute of crank for 40 minutes of play time is not effin bad, IMO.

Ask and ye shall receive, Narz.
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Re: How come they have so many solar/crank radios but no mp3

Unread postby SheikYarbhouti » Sun 16 Mar 2008, 04:29:39

D/P (arrgh!)

BTW, anything you can connect headphones to you should be able to attach external speakers to. Might require a trip to Radio Shaq.
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Re: How come they have so many solar/crank radios but no mp3

Unread postby mos6507 » Sun 16 Mar 2008, 05:25:48

Because they think you'll only use the handcrank when you're stuck in the middle of some natural disaster, so you're more interested in hearing news than playing MP3s.
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Re: How come they have so many solar/crank radios but no mp3

Unread postby Terran » Sun 16 Mar 2008, 17:28:06

You can always get a solar charge for your Ipod. I got one of those myself, but it takes forever to charge on solar energy.
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