If you're tired of replacing the batteries on your remote control and you would rather have the TV remote charge by itself, grab a few solar cells, rechargable batteries, and a few extra odds and ends. With this mod to your remote, you can let light charge your remote and never buy another battery for it again!
Want to stop wasting energy charging your USB devices? Transform some cheap solar-powered garden lights into your very own solar USB charger. For step-by-step instructions on replicating this hack yourself, watch this video tutorial. Just watch to see how to build your own solar-powered USB charger with a few solar panels from those garden lights and some floppy disk wiring.
Charge your cell phone, mp3 player or other USB-equipped device with the power of the Sun! All you need is a 6-volt solar panel and a female USB cable. Solder them together (this video demonstrates how), and then you have a solar powered USB charger!
Check out this Greener Business Show video tutorial on how to make a portable solar powered USB charger with an LED flashlight inside an Altoids tin can. You will see in this episode how to modify a solar path light into the Altoids tin so that you can have a nifty LED flashlight and so you can charge your iPod or cell phone in the gleaming sunlight.
Vavrek shows how to build a twig-powered cooking stove from scratch.This demonstrates a basic portable solar cooker.
Video tutorial showing how to make your own solar-powered wireless security camera using an off-the-shelf solar panel and any wireless webcam. See creator site for more detailed graphics.
Build your very own solar water distiller to discover how nature filters water via the sun and evaporation. The correct term for this is distillation.
In this tutorial, we learn how to operate the solar powered vent system in a 2010 Prius. Prius models that come with a moon roof also have a solar powered roof. The control switch is on the left hand side of the steering wheel. With the ignition on and the switch turned on, you can exit and allow the ventilation system to start to clean the air out of the car. Since this doesn't rely on power, it will not drain your battery. This is not only eco-friendly, it's also great for your health and c...
Use solar energy, wind energy, and recycled water to saved energy in your home. Learn about saving energy in your home with natural or solar power in this free video.
Power the clocks at your home with the sun! With a solar cell that costs around $5, you can convert a clock to solar power and avoid buying batteries or running up the electric bill. Instead, connect a rechargable battery to the solar panel with a few wires and some adhesive and soon you'll have enough energy to power your clock for as long as it lasts.
Installing clean, reliable, inflation-proof solar power is easier than ever thanks to the invention of thin-film photovoltaic (PV) laminates that can be bonded directly onto metal roofing panels. Unlike crystalline PV material, there's no need for obtrusive racks and heavy, expensive glass. Instead, unbreakable thin-film PV is produced using amorphous silicon, encapsulated in Teflon and other polymers. Watch this video to learn how to install PV laminates on your own roof.
Start with just a few hula hoops, and then get some polyethylene film and a small soldering iron. Fit the film to your hoops, then gently mod your soldering iron and make a few spot welds. Be careful not to melt anything! Make a few vent bubbles, and you now have a pool warmer!
Nowadays, people are more aware of what's going in with the world today and are trying to change the way they eat, dispose of trash, etc. This "green" movement is being practiced from people all over the planet and it;s a great way to save on money and be friendlier to planet Earth. In this tutorial, you'll find out how to make a solar powered water heater from scratch. Good luck and enjoy!
This is a simple "take home" solar energy lamp project, based around a dirt cheap solar garden lamp, which suits enthusiastic ten-year-olds (with modest adult help).
Everyone should have an electric fan installed in their attic, but who wants to waste electricity on something like that? That's where the 1010TR Solar Powered Attic Fan from U.S. Sunlight Corporation comes in. If you have just gotten yourself one of these energy saving roof fans, you have two options: professional installation or self-installation. This video will walk you through the steps of installing the solar-powered fan yourself, and for more help, download the official installation in...
As sheltering at home orders ease up, we still have to remain respectful of social distancing. Camping is one of your best options. You'll avoid the crowded beaches and trails while still soaking up nature. Right now we can all use some fresh air and sunshine.
Artist Michael Jones McKean has harnessed nature with his DIY rainbow machine, a mechanism that uses reclaimed rainwater and solar power to shoot man-made rainbows across the sky at whim. High powered jets and fountain nozzles shoot a heavy wall of rainwater into the air, creating a faux rainstorm. Sunshine does the rest.
Solar panels are an amazing invention. Catching energy from the Sun before it even enters Earth's food chain, photovoltaics are like an all-natural nuclear power plant. Unfortunately, the constituted parts of a solar panel are rare, valuable, and subject to the coercive forces of market competition.
Glastonberry Solar Concept Tent
Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills.
Learn how to charge a 12 Volt Battery using a Solar Power Battery Maintainer by watching this how-to video. This method can be used to charge 12 volt batteries of any kind - cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles, tractors, lawn equipment - any kind of 12 volt battery you can think of!
An emergency battery charger for your mobile phone comes in handy, but it's not the ultimate solution; once it's dead it's useless (what a waste). If you want to really get off the metaphorical grid, you can follow the steps in this video to construct a more robust circuit that will not only bail you out of an inconvenient situation but also recharge in between uses. The simple addition of a low voltage solar panel and rechargeable batteries makes this possible. Enjoy!
Check out this science video to see how to make a solar-powered miniature car. To make this solar-powered mini car, you'll need some balsa wood, a small motor, two steel rods, four wheels, four washers, a straw of any color, two gears, a solar cell, hot glue gun, a tape measure and a knife.
Watch and learn how to make this awesome DIY toy car that runs off solar power. This makeshift mini-vehicle is made from a plastic bottle, small motor, tires, supports and a solar panel. See if you can replicate this interesting solar toy, or see if you can come up with a better and cheaper design!
Finally! This tutorial shows you how to get the solar arrays up and working, after accomplishing everything else you needed to do first. Of course, it gets worse... this walkthrough by NextGenTactics shows you how to survive this part of the game.
It's hot this summer, but it's not that easy to cool down when you're on the go. You can't take an air conditioner with you, and a handheld fan will just tire you out, so you'll need to find more creative ways to cool down when you're on the go. One of these ways is a DIY solar-powered fan baseball cap.
You can do a lot more with playing cards than you'd think, like turn them into gift boxes, fling them like throwing stars, and make them levitate or disappear. You can even make them recharge your batteries. Instructables user Shawn Frayne was sick of having a bunch of dead batteries lying around, so he developed a cheap and easy way to always have a charged one within arm's reach by turning a normal playing card into a super simple solar-powered battery charger for rechargeable AA and AAA ba...
Omniscience is not required to make some really cool shit happen. Yes, it took a while, but we can make fuel from the Sun! Solar panels are basically our answer to God. And now that we can make solar electricity, finding the most efficient way to harvest it is tricky.
Aside from being completely adorable, Fijibot is a completely autonomous robot that automatically seeks out light sources to charge his solar-powered battery. He's built from a 1.5 liter Fiji water bottle, packed with an Arduino Uno, 6 volt solar panel, and an Arduino Proto Shield. His other parts are all off-the-shelf gear you could grab at RadioShack, while the wheels are from a discarded RC car. Fijibot isn't a particularly useful robot, but it's still fun to watch him navigate from light ...
There's nothing worse than when you come up with a brilliant idea while you're busy with other things and then promptly forget it. Whether it's the perfect ending for your novel or a comeback you should've said during that argument with your roommate last week, it's always annoying.
Do you have two dollars and a water bottle? Then you can put together this simple but awesome solar-powered lantern that will provide more than enough light to read by at night.
In this video, I show you a technique for hacking a four foot mega magnifying lens out of your old projection TV. Not only are these TVs everywhere, they can be found easily—for FREE!
With over 1.5 billion people on this planet without electricity, it's hard for those of us in developed nations to even fathom how anyone can read, write, repair, or do anything else that we take for granted without any lights. While some of our First World problems pale in comparison, they remain issues nonetheless, one of the biggest being constant battery drain from portable electronics.
What's the first thing you would do once you realized you were lost in, say, a desert? If you're like me, you would immediately pull out your cell phone and start dialing every number. But what if you have no service? What if your battery is dead?
One of the most annoying things about summer is mowing the lawn. Depending on how big your yard is, it can mean spending hours out in the hot sun while you could be doing something a lot more fun like watching the Olympics or making giant soap bubbles. Reclaim your summer with this remote control lawn mower that does all the hard work for you.
No matter if you've used one or not, you've got to admit that 3D printers are pretty darn awesome, especially the self-replicating ones that extrude molten plastic and the shoebox-sized versions that use mesmerizing stereolithography to build tiny objects layer by layer. But what's even cooler? A solar-powered printer that uses the sun's energy to melt sand and make 3D objects out of glass.
Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills.
Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills.
A smartphone is pretty much useless with a dead battery. When you're out and about, it can be hard to find a place to plug in (if you remembered your charger, that is). But this DIY solar panel backpack made by electrical engineer Theodore Protasiewicz will help you use the scorching sun to your advantage and make sure that your gadgets are always ready to go. Theodore started with just a normal backpack, some solar panels, 18 gauge wire, and a USB port and hacked it into a traveling solar ch...
If a solar-powered air conditioner that requires no electricity or moving parts sounds to good to be true, well, then you're not as ambitious as this clever high school student. Instructables user Fozzy13 put together an awesome DIY tutorial on how he built his own air conditioning unit in his car that works using the principles of evaporation, convection, and capillary action. This air conditioner works by using sunlight to heat air at the bottom of the unit. The hot air rises, allowing the ...
