Hand Recharged iPod Shuffle

randomErr writes "In one for the first article on the new O'Reilly MAKE magizine we see how to recharge your iPod with a crank. The "Torronesque" project was based on the idea of coming up with a project and buiding it even if it has no immediate purpose. Imagine getting a little power charge every time you press a key or open your phone or laptop."

Comments

Re:Done before, but still cool

[eobanb]

But think about how much more power an iPod or laptop, or even a phone uses compared to a watch. A watch uses hardly any power at all. It has to move a little dial around very slowly over the course of the day, whereas the iPod has electrostatic controls, a backlight, a hard drive, volatile memory, a powered line out jack...all of these things, especially combined, use up a lot of power. It's a nice idea, but there's simply no way that an iPod could power itself by movement alone, nor with a hand crank (unless you wanted to crank a good part of the time). Consumers just wouldn't respond well to it.

Sorry but this won't work so well

[yudan]

We all know that LiON batteries have limited recharge cycles (~1000). Imagine that you will open doors four times per day, then your iPod Shuffle will die in one year. Keep in mind the operating cost....

Re:Bag of liquid?

[Walker_Boh_Druid]

So, you expect people to carry around bags of liquid? Im sure that in theory this would be a great idea that would work well, but I just don't think that people will carry bags of liquid with them wherever they go. A nice idea, but one that i dont think would ever work.

Is the battery life that bad?

[CastrTroy]

Is the battery life that bad that you actually need to recharge it by hand. My MiniDisc goes 50 hours on a single AA, and it has moving parts. It's amazing how long the battery lasts.