from the doesn't-recharge-in-the-basement dept.
Solar-powered watches are nothing new, but being more power-hungry beasts, solar-powered smartwatches are a different story. A San Francisco-based startup called LunaR now claims to have bridged the divide by developing a smartwatch that never needs to be plugged in for a recharge as it draws all the energy it needs from the sun.
The LunaR... includes sleep and activity tracking, along with integration with social media and messaging apps to bring notifications to the wrist through an embedded LED array.
At the heart of what the creators claim is the world's first solar-powered smartwatch is (unsurprisingly) a breakthrough in solar technology. With a clear solar panel layered over the watch face, it's claimed the LunaR can harvest energy from both natural and artificial light. So much so, that with as little as one hour of daily exposure to light, its 110-mAh lithium-polymer battery can apparently stay fully charged.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday October 10 2017, @03:31AM (2 children)
Unless I am wearing a t-shirt, my sleeves usually are covering the watch so will not get charged.
Need a more B5 communicator type of thing on the back of the hand.
And Ivanova.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday October 10 2017, @08:03PM (1 child)
You must be referring to Lt. Cmdr Iva Nova.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday October 10 2017, @08:53PM
I see what you did there! ;)
My turn:
Lt. Cmdr Iva SUPER Nova.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Kilo110 on Tuesday October 10 2017, @03:54AM (3 children)
So one hour in direct noon-day sun.
What about a windowless cubical farm with only a faulty overhead fluorescent light?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 10 2017, @04:24AM
I hope that one hour of charging is enough for me to stream video 24/7 with it.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by ls671 on Tuesday October 10 2017, @04:28AM
For those use cases, I hear this company will sell you a kit to put in your cubicle:
https://gamasonic.com/ [gamasonic.com]
Everything I write is lies, including this sentence.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Tuesday October 10 2017, @03:57PM
Solar powered watches in general have been around for a long time. My friend has one and the only time charging is an issue is long international flights, like USA to Australia. But you can leave it under a desk lamp for an hour to charge in the absence of the sun.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday October 10 2017, @04:43AM (3 children)
I'm patenting an infrared non-transparent panel, designed for the back of the watch and the inside of the strap.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 10 2017, @05:30AM (2 children)
Error: Consumer froze to death.
(Score: 3, Funny) by coolgopher on Tuesday October 10 2017, @07:25AM
Cool!
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Tuesday October 10 2017, @07:47PM
Can you please try to reproduce the problem and see if it happens again?
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Funny) by MostCynical on Tuesday October 10 2017, @05:43AM
http://www.ariel.com.au/jokes/The_Inventor.html [ariel.com.au]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Informative) by rob_on_earth on Tuesday October 10 2017, @06:28AM (1 child)
I saw a report on a Samsung solar powered watch but could not find it so here is Casio one from 2010
http://newatlas.com/casio-green-pathfinder-pag110c-3-watch/14579/ [newatlas.com]
GeatGear from NHK was doing a report on Samsung and talking about a revival of their solar powered watch , which I am sure came out before the Casio one.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday October 11 2017, @05:07AM
First line of TFS:
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday October 10 2017, @02:20PM (2 children)
Look, there’s no better place for solar than the Mexico border, the southern border. And there is a very good chance we can do a solar wall, which would actually look good. But there is a very good chance we could do a solar wall. You have to be able to see through it. In other words, if you can’t see through that wall -- so it could be a steel wall with openings, but you have to have openings because you have to see what’s on the other side of the wall. As horrible as it sounds, when they throw the large sacks of drugs over, and if you have people on the other side of the wall, you don’t see them -- they hit you on the head with 60 pounds of stuff? It’s over. As crazy as that sounds, you need transparency through that wall. But we have some incredible designs. 🇺🇸
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday October 10 2017, @08:09PM (1 child)
Build a solar wall along the Antarctica border to keep them Antarcticans out of America. I hear there are daze where the sun never sets. Imagine how much solar power you could collect. (but it wouldn't threaten coal) Those Antarcticans are just too white and would put real 'Merikans to shame. Best to pretend they don't exist.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday October 11 2017, @02:45AM
Let me tell you, there's no such thing as too thin, too blonde, too rich or too white. Believe me.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Tuesday October 10 2017, @04:34PM
No way. The battery capacity is an unimportant stat, just a distraction. Obviously they aren't charging that in an hour of sunlight though. What they would have to do to sustain the claim is to top up the power drain from the previous 23 hours of running the sensors and radios in a single hour of energy collected through a transparent solar cell. They probably couldn't do it with a traditional cell where the best approach 40% efficiency, they damned sure ain't with a transparent one where efficiency is a percent or two.
But since it doesn't actually have a display to get in the way, it looks like they are putting a fairly normal cell behind the hands just like solar watches have done for a long time. Why bother with a transparent one when you have that much surface ready to use? They managed to make it a bit translucent so they could have a pitch for their crowdfunding campaign and harvest money from stupid people. But if it could really charge in an hour under sunlight they wouldn't have bothered with the USB recharging port, right? They would say put it under a bright lamp for an hour and go.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday October 10 2017, @07:57PM
It can't be truly transparent if it must absorb some of the photons. If it absorbs certain wavelengths1 more than others, then it colors the light passing through. So that would also not be quite the definition of transparent. If it absorbs all colors equally, it must appear to be slightly dark glass that weakens the light passing through.
It would seem that more efficient transparent panels would be "darker" as they absorb more photons from passing through.
Another application: window glass in buildings that generates electricity. Imagine a skyscraper with this kind of glass. How many smart watches could that power?
How about solar panel sunglasses to power your noise counselling headphones for a phone without a headphone jack?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
1Q. what did one color tinted transparent solar panel say to the other? A. my wavelength is bigger than your wavelength.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday October 10 2017, @08:59PM
Just give me a self winding watch with time, day and date and Im happy. Put me in the white pages and im SOMEBODY!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---