3 posts tagged “solar energy”

A common problem Leo finds with camcorders is the quality of the built-in microphones, and that includes his Canon EOS 5D Mark II (Episode 742) which he uses to take HD video.  He uses a good quality microphone made by Rϕde Microphones, called the Stereo VideoMic.  It has a standard camera shoe-mount for fitting on to camcorders and cameras.  It is a stereo X/Y condenser microphone, with a low noise circuitry, 2-step high pass filter, powered by a 9V battery (with a battery indicator), and is connected to the camcorder via a mini-jack.  Comes with a windshield for the mic.  It may not be as effective as a unidirectional mic as a shotgun mic, but as a super-cardioid mic, it accepts sounds from the front and sides but very little from the back of the microphone.  Leo uses it on his 5D Mark II and his Canon VIXIA HV30 (Episode 552) camcorder.

If you already have a good quality XLR connection microphone, Leo recommends the Beachtek DXA-2S Audio Adapter.


Car Battery Maintainer
John Slanina from California, better known as jammerb on the TWiT Army and the chatroom, recommends the Solar-Powered Battery Saver Plus, from 4lots.com.  Ideal for people who use their cars only rarely, this 1 Watt 12V car battery maintainer which you can put above the dashboard uses solar engery to trickle-charge your car battery to keep it from going flat.



Listen to Episode 792
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Dick covered the original Solio back in Episode 108.  The Magnesium Edition (with magnesium casing) is their top model which outputs a maximum wattage of 9W.  Its 1800mA Li-ion rechargeable battery can be charged using solar energy, or via  AC, with a universal AC adapter.  It comes with a USB connector for charging your USB-enabled devices, and 5 iGo power tips for the Motorola Razor, the LG Chocolate, Nokia, Samsung and Blackberry phones.  Other power tips are available.  Check the list here.


Finally, you get a Solio wooden pencil, to prop up the solar cells to get the optimum angle for receiving sunlight.  There's a review of the gadget at reuk.co.uk, from which the 2 photos above are taken.

TWiS
TWiT should be This Week in Thrift instead, or TWiS, This Week in Scrooge.  The lengths Leo would go to in order not to pay his dues.

Match Game Cards
Walt Hoffman, of Glendora, California, thanks Dick for his set of Match Game Cards.  As a child, Walt used to watch the filming of Match Game.



Spirit and Opportunity
No doubt inspired by Match Game, Walt grew up to work as an engineer at JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), NASA, at Pasadena, on the operations team for the Mars Exploration Rover Programme.  Dick and Leo have talked about gadgets' own time scale, the gadget years (Episodes 120, 420).  Walt points out that NASA's 2 Rovers (called Spirit and Opportunity - which could be Dick's and Leo's middle names) have outlived their life expectancies.  Originally thought to last for 90 sols (a sol is the local cycle of light and darkness on a planet, which for Mars is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds), both rovers have lasted more than 1,650 sols.

Walt offers to give Dick and Leo, if they're ever in Southern California, a nickel tour.  Bring a nickel please.  No Visa.

Follow the Phoenix
Leo points out that you can follow the Phoenix Rover on Mars, on Twitter.  Dick points out that you can follow him at twitter.com/thegizwiz, and at TWiT Army (also the gizwiz) - but the TWiT Laconica service is down at the moment after Leo's server problems over the weekend.  Alfred E Neuman (alfredeneuman) is on both services as well.


Listen to Episode 663
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The HYmini is not a fan, but a windmill which converts wind power into electrical engery and stores it in the internal rechargeable battery.  The wind has to be at least 9 mph.  When the wind is fast enough, a green LED lights up to indicate that electrical energy is being generated.  You can also charge the battery using conventional AC power (adaptor included), or using the computer via USB.

You can also charge the battery via USB by buying a solar panel using solar energy, called the miniSOLAR.  There is also a bicycle attachment to harness the wind power, and an arm-band for people who jog.

You can use the HYmini to charge your 5V portable devices.  It also doubles up as a flashlight.

Sit Up!
Leo is back on his GopherSport Anti-Burst Fitness Ball (Episode 322), while Dick is slumped on his chair in a comfortably bad posture.

VCR Plus
Sharon from PoCo (Port Coquitlam) in BC, Canada loves the VCR Plus episode (Episode 560).  She tells Dick that TV guides in Vancouver still print the VCR Plus codes.  Her parents have been using the codes for 7 years.  Jim Nelson also writes in to say that he still uses the codes.

Regis
Leo thinks Regis is great and does his work without anyone knowing it.  For a photo of Regis in his office, go to Leo's Flickr.

It's A Gas
Dick and Leo mentioned the Mad recording "It's A Gas" yesterday, and again today.  A listener James Baldwin has found the recording on YouTube and emailed Dick the link.  Dick has embedded it on his home page, or listen to it here.



Listen to Episode 568
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