Would a solar powered flashlight be useful?
Question:
Answer:
Sure they can be useful. If you're camping where you don't have access to electricity, for instance.
There are problems of course. A bright flashlight uses a lot of power and there isn't enough surface area for solar cells to capture much energy throughout the day. So you get a few minutes of use from a whole day of charging. The newer LED flashlights go a long way to fixing that, though. And usually it's not a problem because you don't usually need flashlights every night for long periods of time.
Also you really would want to charge the flashlight outdoors because there isn't very much energy in indoor light. Sure it's enough to charge a tiny calculator battery, but flashlights need a lot more. But leaving it outdoors exposes it to the heat/cold/rain/snow/wind/thiev...
Don't store it in the toolbox. :)
hah...yeh, that's pretty pointless!
Sure. I've seen them. They use solar panels to charge a battery during the day, then you use the flashlight's battery at night.
It could be useful to charge the batteries during the day for use at night.
OK but not very practical,you need to charge it during the day and use it when you need them at nigh.inconvenience but practical because you do not need to buy normal batteries
I work in the solar industry. Solar lights exist on the market already. Think of the solar as the "battery charger" that uses the sun. The batteries need a power source to charge them and it is a good alternative to your home utility becasue is eco-friendly and the power requirements are not that big, so its affordable.
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