News By Ryan Whitwam Nov. 24, 2013 11:01 am
There’s nothing like being out in nature, listening to the birds chip, the river babble, and the wind rustling in the trees. It could only be made better by posting it all on Facebook, right? If only there were a way to keep your phone charged in the wilderness. Actually, that aforementioned babbling river might be of use. A new Kickstarter campaign aims to make a water-powered charger called the Hydrobee a reality so you can generate electricity anywhere there’s flowing water.
The Hydrobee is a floating arrow-shaped contraption about a foot long. At the back of the craft is a propeller, but it isn’t used to generate thrust — it’s generating electricity from flowing water. The heart of the Hydrobee is a turbine battery that plugs in and is charged up by the spinning propeller. When you need to charge your phone, GPS device, flashlight, or whatever else, just pull the battery out, and plug your cable into the USB port.
The idea is that if you’re camping near a stream or on a boat, you can place the Hydrobee in the water to get a charge. It’s more efficient than a hand-crank and faster than solar chargers. You don’t have to be in the great outdoors to make use of the Hydrobee, though. All the power generation hardware is in the little turbine battery, so you can attach it to almost any faucet or hose and get some juice. That could be helpful in the event of a power outage.
The whole floating body and turbine battery can be picked up for a $78 donation to the campaign. If you don’t need the floating part and just want to attach the Hydrobee to a faucet, the turbine itself can be had for $49. The device is supposed to be delivered in March of 2014, but only if it can make about $40,000 more in the next 17 days.
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The Hydrobee is a floating arrow-shaped contraption about a foot long. At the back of the craft is a propeller, but it isn’t used to generate thrust — it’s generating electricity from flowing water. The heart of the Hydrobee is a turbine battery that plugs in and is charged up by the spinning propeller. When you need to charge your phone, GPS device, flashlight, or whatever else, just pull the battery out, and plug your cable into the USB port.
The idea is that if you’re camping near a stream or on a boat, you can place the Hydrobee in the water to get a charge. It’s more efficient than a hand-crank and faster than solar chargers. You don’t have to be in the great outdoors to make use of the Hydrobee, though. All the power generation hardware is in the little turbine battery, so you can attach it to almost any faucet or hose and get some juice. That could be helpful in the event of a power outage.
The whole floating body and turbine battery can be picked up for a $78 donation to the campaign. If you don’t need the floating part and just want to attach the Hydrobee to a faucet, the turbine itself can be had for $49. The device is supposed to be delivered in March of 2014, but only if it can make about $40,000 more in the next 17 days.
Now read:*Chemistry set Kickstarter looks to recapture the wonder of days gone by
More...
