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In the UK, where the BBC is hosted, solar-powered headphones are mostly a waste of time. It rains a lot and you spend a lot of time avoiding being outside. Most

by bArray 4y ago

In the UK, where the BBC is hosted, solar-powered headphones are mostly a waste of time. It rains a lot and you spend a lot of time avoiding being outside. Most people are at work when the sun is highest in the sky. As others point out, most people can get through the whole day on one charge. It would be much more efficient to put solar-panels where they can maximize their potential energy output and instead just charge normal headphones from renewable sources. Bare in mind that the creation of the solar panels themselves has a carbon offset that the application of headphones is unlikely to recoup.

alpaca128 4y ago
I think I've only seen two kinds of devices where an integrated solar panel actually made sense: calculators as their power draw is so low the one I bought almost 20 years ago for school still works with the original (non-rechargeable) battery. And more recently a GPS sports watch which can extend the battery life with solar for hours, or days when GPS isn't used. Other than that I agree, if you compare the power output to roof-mounted ones it seems quite pointless. Even relatively large, unwieldy USB charging panels you need to unfold can't hold up considering their area.
- ajb 4y ago
  Looks quite handy on a USB power bank: https://www.revk.uk/2022/09/battery-pack.html?m=1 https://www.revk.uk/2022/09/battery-pack.html?m=1 "Obviously these various battery packs were now all flat. One of the reasons for a battery back is for when you suddenly find you need portable power for something like this. All flat, except one! I can only assume it was getting enough light from my office lights, even in a clear plastic box, to actually stay charged." That is, not to charge the power bank (which would take ages) but to keep it charged during storage.
  - yurishimo 4y ago
    I have one of these. It looks nearly identical but mine is green. I went motocamping for 3 weeks with somewhat limited access to electricity at times. I think my longest stretch was 3 days of camping with no access to plug in and recharge the pack. I was charging my iPhone 11, AirPods, and an Apple Watch. My phone was plugged into my motorcycle to charge/maintain while riding. The battery was positioned in a tank bag exposed to the sun for 8+ hours of riding per day. When I eventually used the battery's full capacity, any charge from the sun was basically useless until I was able to plug into line power again. I think after nearly a full day of riding after waking up to an empty battery, I might have gotten 3% on my phone when I stopped for the evening. When I returned home from the trip, I experimented with recharging the battery out on my apartment's veranda on the top floor with lots of sunlight all day. It took 3 or 4 days for the battery indicator light to move up 1 segment. Too long to be useful in any meaningful way. My point in all of this, is that these cheap "solar charging" battery banks are worthless unless you can live with waiting 2+ weeks to maybe charge your device. The panels are likely larger versions of the stuff used on calculators and should not be relied on. It's a marketing gimmick.
- gruturo 4y ago
  You reminded me of something I was considering years ago: screens have incredible resolution (DPI) now, and still growing. Some technologies are based on a backlight and a mask which blocks it in the right spots to form the picture (LCD, LED Backlight) while others actively emit the right colors at every location (OLED, MicroLED). At some point it would be pointless to keep increasing DPI due to being higher than any healthy person can resolve at a typical distance - but what if we do keep shrinking the emitting elements but arrange them more sparsely (same amount of pixels, but each one is super tiny) - and use the rest of the space for what is effectively a solar panel? Completely stupid, or did I think of something reasonable? I could see this as a benefit especially on phones, tablets and watches (maybe glasses, absorbing invisible frequencies). My usual beer clause applies: If anyone builds it successfully and makes millions with it, and this post ends up the earliest mention of the idea, you owe me a beer.
maratc 4y ago
Or maybe someone could invent headphones that are powered by the sound-outputting device and don't have any battery at all. The signal could be transferred by a wire, for example.
- closewith 4y ago
  I'm sure there are plenty of wired options for those who want them, but for me, at least, the experience of good wireless headphones is so much better than I'll never go back.
  - 0x38B 4y ago
    I used AirPods and loved them, but have gone back to wired EarPods plus Shure IEMs. I’m happy with this combo, perhaps because I don’t use earbuds very much. Plus, the EarPods’s mike is much better than wireless earbuds for calls.
- LandStander 4y ago
  I like this idea. To take it even further, I propose this wire terminate to a sturdy cylindrical plug which can rotate 360 degrees. Furthermore, if the signal were to be analog, it would allow universal compatibility with all other analog sound devices. I think this could be revolutionary.
  - maratc 4y ago
    That wouldn't let us also pass the microphone sound over that plug. I'm in doubt if this could ever be solved ... or could it?
    - LoveMortuus 4y ago
      Dang, I know you're reading this, can we get a subpage for humour? HN has from time to time extremely good jokes!
      - 4y ago
dzhiurgis 4y ago
Given how much money we spend on frivolous tech (and other) products… we should be by now producing 300% of our power via solar.
ChrisRR 4y ago
The UK isn't very rainy, it's only the 74th rainiest country. The issue is how many days are overcast
ben_w 4y ago
I have no idea how much headphones normally draw, so I googled and the first replacement battery I found was for the Bose QuietComfort 20, and the product listing for the battery said 240mAh/3.7V (which is 0.888 Wh) while the product listing for the headphones said "lasts 16 hours", implying 55.5 mW. At 10% efficiency, a 3cm by 10cm PV in direct sunlight will produce 0.3 W, enough to fully charge that in about 3 hours, and the potential for charging faster than it drains whenever ambient light is at least 18.5% of direct sunlight. Indirect sunlight on a clear day is about that at best; Overcast days are about 1% of direct sunlight; Normal office lighting is about 0.3-0.5% of direct sunlight. So, a 1 hour lunchtime walk on a sunny day while using them, would likely be somewhere between neutral and recharging by 4 hours 20 minutes. That said, I have no reason to expect Bose (first random search result) to optimise for minimal power draw, given how small and light the battery is and still gets 16 hours, and I don't know if there's room for improvement with these in that regard.

by bArray 4y ago

alpaca128 4y ago

I think I've only seen two kinds of devices where an integrated solar panel actually made sense: calculators as their power draw is so low the one I bought almost 20 years ago for school still works with the original (non-rechargeable) battery. And more recently a GPS sports watch which can extend the battery life with solar for hours, or days when GPS isn't used. Other than that I agree, if you compare the power output to roof-mounted ones it seems quite pointless. Even relatively large, unwieldy USB charging panels you need to unfold can't hold up considering their area.

ajb 4y ago
Looks quite handy on a USB power bank: https://www.revk.uk/2022/09/battery-pack.html?m=1 https://www.revk.uk/2022/09/battery-pack.html?m=1 "Obviously these various battery packs were now all flat. One of the reasons for a battery back is for when you suddenly find you need portable power for something like this. All flat, except one! I can only assume it was getting enough light from my office lights, even in a clear plastic box, to actually stay charged." That is, not to charge the power bank (which would take ages) but to keep it charged during storage.
- yurishimo 4y ago
  I have one of these. It looks nearly identical but mine is green. I went motocamping for 3 weeks with somewhat limited access to electricity at times. I think my longest stretch was 3 days of camping with no access to plug in and recharge the pack. I was charging my iPhone 11, AirPods, and an Apple Watch. My phone was plugged into my motorcycle to charge/maintain while riding. The battery was positioned in a tank bag exposed to the sun for 8+ hours of riding per day. When I eventually used the battery's full capacity, any charge from the sun was basically useless until I was able to plug into line power again. I think after nearly a full day of riding after waking up to an empty battery, I might have gotten 3% on my phone when I stopped for the evening. When I returned home from the trip, I experimented with recharging the battery out on my apartment's veranda on the top floor with lots of sunlight all day. It took 3 or 4 days for the battery indicator light to move up 1 segment. Too long to be useful in any meaningful way. My point in all of this, is that these cheap "solar charging" battery banks are worthless unless you can live with waiting 2+ weeks to maybe charge your device. The panels are likely larger versions of the stuff used on calculators and should not be relied on. It's a marketing gimmick.
gruturo 4y ago
You reminded me of something I was considering years ago: screens have incredible resolution (DPI) now, and still growing. Some technologies are based on a backlight and a mask which blocks it in the right spots to form the picture (LCD, LED Backlight) while others actively emit the right colors at every location (OLED, MicroLED). At some point it would be pointless to keep increasing DPI due to being higher than any healthy person can resolve at a typical distance - but what if we do keep shrinking the emitting elements but arrange them more sparsely (same amount of pixels, but each one is super tiny) - and use the rest of the space for what is effectively a solar panel? Completely stupid, or did I think of something reasonable? I could see this as a benefit especially on phones, tablets and watches (maybe glasses, absorbing invisible frequencies). My usual beer clause applies: If anyone builds it successfully and makes millions with it, and this post ends up the earliest mention of the idea, you owe me a beer.

maratc 4y ago

Or maybe someone could invent headphones that are powered by the sound-outputting device and don't have any battery at all. The signal could be transferred by a wire, for example.

closewith 4y ago
I'm sure there are plenty of wired options for those who want them, but for me, at least, the experience of good wireless headphones is so much better than I'll never go back.
- 0x38B 4y ago
  I used AirPods and loved them, but have gone back to wired EarPods plus Shure IEMs. I’m happy with this combo, perhaps because I don’t use earbuds very much. Plus, the EarPods’s mike is much better than wireless earbuds for calls.
LandStander 4y ago
I like this idea. To take it even further, I propose this wire terminate to a sturdy cylindrical plug which can rotate 360 degrees. Furthermore, if the signal were to be analog, it would allow universal compatibility with all other analog sound devices. I think this could be revolutionary.
- maratc 4y ago
  That wouldn't let us also pass the microphone sound over that plug. I'm in doubt if this could ever be solved ... or could it?
  - LoveMortuus 4y ago
    Dang, I know you're reading this, can we get a subpage for humour? HN has from time to time extremely good jokes!
    - 4y ago

dzhiurgis 4y ago

Given how much money we spend on frivolous tech (and other) products… we should be by now producing 300% of our power via solar.

ChrisRR 4y ago

The UK isn't very rainy, it's only the 74th rainiest country. The issue is how many days are overcast

ben_w 4y ago

I have no idea how much headphones normally draw, so I googled and the first replacement battery I found was for the Bose QuietComfort 20, and the product listing for the battery said 240mAh/3.7V (which is 0.888 Wh) while the product listing for the headphones said "lasts 16 hours", implying 55.5 mW. At 10% efficiency, a 3cm by 10cm PV in direct sunlight will produce 0.3 W, enough to fully charge that in about 3 hours, and the potential for charging faster than it drains whenever ambient light is at least 18.5% of direct sunlight. Indirect sunlight on a clear day is about that at best; Overcast days are about 1% of direct sunlight; Normal office lighting is about 0.3-0.5% of direct sunlight. So, a 1 hour lunchtime walk on a sunny day while using them, would likely be somewhere between neutral and recharging by 4 hours 20 minutes. That said, I have no reason to expect Bose (first random search result) to optimise for minimal power draw, given how small and light the battery is and still gets 16 hours, and I don't know if there's room for improvement with these in that regard.