This week, while cleaning up my car, I came across a solar panel that I had purchased to trickle-charge my car battery. It didn’t seem to do much so it was set aside and unused. The thought crossed my mind that with a 12 volt multi-socket adapter I could couple the solar panel to my iTouch with it’s own 12volt adapter and I would hopefully be able to charge it. Nope! It didn’t work. Although it produced 12 volts, it didn’t produce the amperage required to charge the iTouch.

I was disappointed at the results but I remembered that I had a hand-crank dynamo flashlight that had a 12 volt output attachment. I plugged in my iTouch with it’s adapter and voilà! the charging icon appeared and it worked. However, as is the case with so many devices like this, the batteries no longer hold a charge and so it’s lights and charging ability only work while cranking the handle. I’ll try to find a similar dynamo with new batteries to see if it has enough milliamps when fully charged to be able to charge the iTouch while it is in static mode.

There are continual improvements in technology that enable products to “run faster and jump higher”, but until I upgrade to better equipment, I know that I CAN be mobile with my phone and other small electronic devices with this hand-cranked dynamo.