JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - As the push for renewable energy sources begins, companies are compelled to improve the existing technologies. Such push enabled Suntrica to launch three portable solar chargers for mobile devices: the SolarStrap, the Solar Badge, and the Solar Badge Pro.

As the name suggests, the SolarStrap unit comprises of a device that can strap around an accessory, by folding. One section of the strap contains the photo-voltaic cells, while the other one has the battery and an output port. In order to fit in any phone, many adaptors are provided with the package.

The device is light and flexible. The fact that it can attach itself to any accessory made it highly portable - we decided to attach it to our camera's bag. (The bag does not come with the SolarStrap; it is there merely for illustration purposes).

The electrical component of the unit has battery capacity of 3.7Wh/980mAh. We charged the battery of the SolarStrap for an entire day against a clear blue sky's sun, and let a Nokia N95 unit's battery (950mAh capacity) drain completely. The result showed that the SolarStrap was not able to fully charge the device, which only achieved 5 out 7 bars, and it did the charge at a slow pace.

Official specifications also note that the SolarStrap is able to harvest 50mA of energy under a blue sky, 35mA under slightly cloudy, and 20mA under cloudy. The device cannot be charged from any other power than the sun, according to the information and equipment available.

Our simple test demonstrated that the SolarStrap should not be used as a main power source/charger (unless it can fully charge one's device), but it should rather be used as a backup. The unit can be connected to most mobile phones in the market, as a vast number of adaptors is provided, as noted earlier.

Regional availability and pricing has not been announced yet.

Advantages: Portable; flexible; renewable-energy-powered charger. 

Disadvantages: Does not charge a Nokia N95 (test unit) fully; needs clear sky to operate efficiently.

Rating: 9.8/10

 Print This Article