Waka Waka

[WildBill]

I ordered a Waka Waka solar powered light and phone charger.

I hope it lives up to it's claims.

Charges cells phone in about two hours. Provides light at full power for 20+ hours.

Recharges in sun light 8 hrs or less depending on latitude.





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[jmra]

Look forward to your product review.

[tbrown]

Look forward to your product review.

Me too although I confess I was expecting a review of the new Muppet movie.

[youtube][/youtube]

[rotor]

I find it hard to believe. Fully charge with ac power in 5 hours or fully charge with solar power in 8 hours. That little tiny solar cell is half as effective as an ac plug? Let us know how it works.

[The Annoyed Man]

Bill, which one of the two did you get? Neither say 20 hours of light. One says 16 hours, and the other says 40 hours.

....Oops.....nevermind. I figured it out. I am intrigued, but I have also been looking at these:
http://www.biolitestove.com/campstove/c ... /features/


The Biolite stoves are also being marketed in the same manner, and for the same purposes, as the WakaWaka lites - international charitable giving. These are "wood gas" stoves which have a small fan that helps the efficiency of the wood burning, making it so that a very small amount of wood can produce a large amount of heat to cook by. I have such a stove in my bugout bag, but mine requires an AAA cell to power the fan. But the Biolite wood gas stoves are different in that they harness the heat produced by the burning wood to generate an electrical charge which both powers the fan AND can be used to recharge a phone or other electronic gadget via a USB port.

Buying these stoves funds the distribution of a larger version of the stove, called a "HomeStove", to underdeveloped areas. The need is that much of the cooking in these areas is done over smokey fires, inside a primitive dwelling, and the smoke from the fires harms the health of the dwellings' occupants. These stoves work in pretty much the same way as the smaller camp stove, and it generates power for the family. It's just scaled up for family cooking. So buying the smaller camp stoves funds the distribution of the larger home stoves in need parts of the world.

Personally, I really like the idea of harnessing the power of capitalism to do good things for what Jesus called "the least of these".

[clarionite]

One of my coworkers bought a Biolite. It's very cool. He loves his.

[WildBill]

I find it hard to believe. Fully charge with ac power in 5 hours or fully charge with solar power in 8 hours. That little tiny solar cell is half as effective as an ac plug? Let us know how it works.

I will do a review after I have time to check it out.

A 5V USB 2.0 charger produces about 500 mA, so it would charge the 2200 mAh battery in about 5 hours.

I don't know the output of the solar cells, but the specifications say that they are 22% efficient.

I don't know the output of the sun, but in Houston in the summer, it is a lot of energy.

[Syntyr]

Me too although I confess I was expecting a review of the new Muppet movie.

[youtube][/youtube]

The comedienne is bear! No he is not he's a wearing a neck a tie!!! WAKKA WAKKA WAKKA

[Mahzik]

We saw the new Muppet Movie on Sunday. Save your money and wait for it to hit Netflix, HBO or Cinemax. Don't think we'll even spend the money to buy the Blueray. Not nearly as good as Muppet Treasure Island.

Not to hijack the thread, but which Muppet are you? I was Sam Eagle! http://blogs.disney.com/oh-my-disney/si ... t-are-you/

[jimlongley]

I "invested" in Waka Waka on Kickstarter and have the light and battery. I like them and have not had any issues with them, although I hardly put them to much use.

[WildBill]

I received my Waka Waka Charger/Light. It is a nice compact package and appears to be well constructed.

It arrived with a 75% charge. Even at 50% power, it gives off enough light for these old eyes to read.

I can easily read a book that is two and a half to three feet from the light source.

I will leave it on overnight at full power and check it in the morning to see how it holds up.

Today is rainy and overcast so I won't be able to check the solar charging function.

[WildBill]

So far the Waka Waka doesn't meet up to its claims - at least in my experiments so far.

That doesn't mean that I don't like them, but here are a couple of observations.

I got only about 6 hours of continuous light at the highest power setting. That is disappointing.

I am wondering if the 20 hour claim is using the light for shorter time intervals.

The battery fully charged from a USB charger in about 5 hours.

The fully charged unit charged my Blackberry from 25% to 100% in two hours.

I fully charged the unit by the sun [sunny day with no clouds] in 8 hours.

I will have to do some more experiments to measure the light output at the reading level.

The good news is that the LEDs are bright and I can read a book at the lower power setting.

I think that the spectrum of light from LEDs is better than most light bulbs.

My main concern is how long the light will last. If I have a couple of units that isn't too much of a concern.