chargers

Japan's Nichicon says it has developed "the world's smallest and lightest quick chargers" with two units that take 35 to 60 minutes to charge.

The Kyoto-based capacitor maker says the NQC-A202 charger is about 5 feet tall and 13 inches wide, weighing 330 pounds.

It has an output capacity of 20 kilowatts. The NQC-A302 unit has a 30kW capacity but weighs 375 pounds. The output voltage is 50 to 500 volts DC.

The company says the chargers are half the weight and size of existing models but still meet standards set by CHAdeMo, a rapid-charge association led by Tokyo Electric Power Company and Japanese automakers.

The chargers will be aimed at car dealerships and other customers. They will hit the market in October and will sell for 1.89 million to 2.1 million yen ($24,500 to 27,220), the Nikkei newspaper reported.

As of last month, there were nearly 800 CHAdeMo rapid-charge stations on the road, with the vast majority in Japan.

Nichicon has also produced on-board chargers for the Mitsubishi i-MiEV as well as the Nissan Leaf. Both cars can be recharged with Nichicon's latest chargers.

(Via Nikkei) … Read more

If you've been looking for a way to get video from your iPod, iPad, or iPhone to your vehicle's rear seat entertainment system, Scosche may have a solution for you with its SneakPeek auto. This combination cable and charger adds an iPod input to any in-car video receiver with RCA connections.

Externally, the SneakPeek auto's construction is rather simple. The 9-foot shielded cable features a 30-pin Apple dock connector on one end and a trio of analog gold- and nickel-plated RCA connections at the other. Somewhere along the line, there's a black box that handles the … Read more

SolarCity said today that it will begin to offer installation services for solar-powered EV chargers compatible with any electric vehicle currently on the market.

To do so, the company is partnering with EV charger manufacturer ClipperCreek, which will supply chargers that use the standard SAE-J1772 charge cable.

Installation of a 240-volt Level II charger, which typically charges an EV battery to full capacity in about four hours, for a home or business will start at $1,500 including the price of the charger, according to SolarCity.

SolarCity said the offer is not just an add-on for customers who have the … Read more

NEW YORK--The idea of harvesting the energy from motion to charge gadgets looks like it's ready to take a step forward.

Tremont Electric plans to start taking new orders for its kinetic energy charger called the nPower PEG (personal energy generator). The cylinder-shaped device, which is about twice as long as a smart phone, costs $159 and will be available for sale online in a month or two, company executives said last week at the CEA Lines Show. It's currently back-ordered.

The company is aiming the portable charger at backpackers or people who are the move but who don't have consistent access to charging, such as college students. While a person is walking, the charger, which weighs 11 ounces, generates as much power as an iPod Nano uses, said CEO Aaron LeMieux. Twenty-six minutes of walking is enough to top off a 3G smartphone for one minute of talking through a USB port, according to the company.

The nPower PEG charges a battery when a magnet, placed between two springs, moves up and down. The device is "tuned" to the frequency of motion of walking, LeMieux explained. It can also charge the internal lithium ion battery by shaking.

This on-the-go charging category has attracted several companies, including portable battery and fuel-cell makers. In fact, the nPower Peg was introduced at least two years ago. But the category of portable charging for consumer electronics has not yet materialized in a significant way.

… Read more

I think most people would agree that a solar charging back cover for their mobile phone is a good idea. Not only will it bathe you in rays of eco-friendliness and goodwill toward humanity, but a sun-powered backing could also top off an ebbing battery.

That is, of course, if the charger lives up to the hype. The worthiness of a solar boost boils down to how much the charger costs, how quickly it transmits a charge, and how well it soaks in the rays.

The Samsung Replenish for Sprint, for instance, is an environmentally minded handset with an optional $… Read more

Oregon is planning to install Level 3 DC fast-charging stations along a portion of Interstate 5, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced today.

AeroVironment was chosen to be the supplier for the electric-vehicle charging stations which will be sprinkled throughout a 150-mile stretch of highway.

Interstate 5 is the main interstate highway that runs north and south through the western U.S. The electric-vehicle charging stations will be placed starting at the California-Oregon state line and up to Oregon's Willamette Valley.

The 480-volt Level 3 chargers are CHAdeMO (Charge de Move) compliant, a standard that is compatible with the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, and Subaru R1e. It's capable of fully charging an electric-vehicle battery in about 30 minutes, according to AeroVironment.

The exact locations for the stations have not yet been chosen.

AeroVironment has also been tasked with researching the best spots in conjunction with local utilities, based on an analysis of things like area traffic patterns and vehicle range. The stations should be in place and available to drivers by the end of this fall, according to the company.… Read more

I am not the type who's well-prepared (my fridge is almost always empty), nor do I want to scare people into getting things that they don't really need.

However, I ran across the American Red Cross Axis from Eton the other day and thought it was a really handy device to have around the house, or in your car.

It's hard to classify the Eton Axis as one specific type of device because it's many things in one. It's a radio (AM/FM/NOAA Weather), a flashlight, and a cell phone charger. Best of all, … Read more

OK, universe, you think you can beat me? You think you can make every single item I post sell out within a few hours? Maybe with one deal, maybe even with two, but five? Take your best shot.

That's right: today I'm swinging for the fences, with five deals instead of just the usual one. Some of them are today-only offerings, meaning they will indeed be gone by tomorrow (if not sooner), but hopefully we'll get through the day--and maybe even the weekend--with a few "survivors."

1. Multifunction goodness! Today only, Amazon has the Epson Stylus NX625 wireless all-in-one printer for $59.99 shipped. … Read more

Led by such companies as Powermat, inductive charging has been around for a few years. In case you don't know what we're talking about, the idea behind inductive charging is to relieve you of the burden of connecting your phone (or another device) to a charging cable that has to be plugged into a wall outlet. Instead, you simply rest your phone on a special pad, and--presto!--the battery starts charging.

For this week's giveaway, we're offering up Energizer's Qi Inductive Charger. As part of the giveaway, Energizer is also throwing in a sleeve (normally … Read more