How Many Solar Powered Devices Do You Own?
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- By the end of 2026, how useful do you think agentic/multi-agent AI systems will actually be in your daily work or personal projects? Posted on March 11th, 2026 | 40 comments
TI-35 solar (Score:2)
n/t
Selenium Light Meter (Score:4, Interesting)
Like apparently pretty much everyone else who has anything solar powered I have just one thing: a Russian Leningrad-4 selenium light meter. Old age has made it less functional, but give it solar or just any light and the dial will still move, and might even be consistently wrong so that it still could be useful. No batteries needed, ever.
I wish I had more portable things that didn't need batteries. I try to keep things "mechanical" whenever I can. Currently I'm having no luck finding one of those mechanical distance meters for my bicycle - I find the idea of using an electronic meter that eats single-use batteries somewhat disgusting, particularily since I don't need the added accuracy.
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(a) Built into Windows (I even have a button on my keyboard dedicated to loading it...)
(b) Built into my Android phone
Neither of these are solar powered.
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I'm having no luck finding one of those mechanical distance meters for my bicycle - I find the idea of using an electronic meter that eats single-use batteries somewhat disgusting, particularily since I don't need the added accuracy.
I'm not trying to be a smart ass here, but what is your definition of "eats batteries"? My wife has a battery powered distance computer on her bike. She rides over 100 miles a week, 9 months a year, and she has yet to replace the battery even once in the last two years.
The mechanical version DOES sound pretty cool though.
Cheers!
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I wish I had more portable things that didn't need batteries. I try to keep things "mechanical" whenever I can. Currently I'm having no luck finding one of those mechanical distance meters for my bicycle - I find the idea of using an electronic meter that eats single-use batteries somewhat disgusting, particularily since I don't need the added accuracy.
I find the idea of giving school children calculators that waste not only battery power, but energy and chemical resources to build all those complex ICs and plastic cases disturbing and wasteful. We should use a renewable resource: trees. Trees can be farmed, logged and replanted, or trimmed (branches), depending on application. For this application, mostly the generation of extremely small beads, some dense oak or walnut would work extremely well. You could power the manufacturing plant in the usual
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Evidently you didn't read the comment you replied to.
I never thought about 3D printers causing a boom in mechanical vs. digital devices, but it is intriguing. The think that what has caused a boom in customized, personal digital devices is not the general-purpose computer, it is the handheld device formerly called a "phone". The 3D printer needs a similar enabling infrastructure - an iStore for mechanical "apps". You don't design it yourself, you download for $0.99 the plans for your distance meter, print
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". The 3D printer needs a similar enabling infrastructure - an iStore for mechanical "apps". You don't design it yourself, you download for $0.99 the plans for your distance meter, print it and attach to your bike.
Time for the first billionaire Mechanical Engineer.
I'm willing to bet the best selling plans won't be for a distance meter. when that 3d printer makes a design-your-own-dildo (tm) it will sell in the millions
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That's called a TI-36. The 35 and 36 are the same thing except for the power source.
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That's called a TI-36. The 35 and 36 are the same thing except for the power source.
Not when it's an antique [datamath.org].
Emergency Radio/Light (Score:4, Insightful)
About this "plants" thing (Score:5, Funny)
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Those are more accurately called "kindling".
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This "Kindling" thing is that what they're calling the new ebook from Amazon?
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Yes.
They're plant-based, and they're almost completely made out of renewable materials. They generate no greenhouse gases in the course of consumer use or storage. They require no power to read, if you have adequate ambient lighting. They're completely DRM-free. And, yes, if you are desperate, you can kindle a fire with these.
"e-less ebooks" are the wave of the future.
Re:About this "plants" thing (Score:4, Funny)
What about my plants that are powered from the mains?
You mean the grow lights you have in the basement?
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What about the solar plants that power the mains? In my state the voters fell for a proposition requiring increased energy prices thanks to mandating a percentage of power come from solar. Therefore all of my devices are solar powered.
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Remember the go'ment reads this! Please, no more taxes.
12+ (Score:5, Funny)
I keep telling the environmentalists that my 2-gallons-to-the-mile Hummer LH (Ludicrously Huge) is technically solar powered, but they just give me dirty looks.
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That is, of course, if you have no electricity at all coming from nuclear power plants...
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Solar, wind, wave, coal, oil, natural gas, garbage burning, that's all indirectly solar.
Tidal is an exception too. If it weren't for the sun, the oceans would be frozen solid and there wouldn't be tides, but the tides themselves are driven from the kinetic energy from the moon, not from the sun.
Human and animal powered generators are all driven by calories coming from the sun directly or indirectly.
Is there anything being used at all aside from nuclear, tidal, and geothermal that isn't
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Ah yes,! All those other stars around which the Earth had the chance to rotate. I've heard that the Sun's full name is actually Sir Sun the third.
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You don't get it. All heavy elements are the product of supernovae.
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Apparently, you didn't get my point either^^
Of course these elements we find on Earth are products of exploding stars. On day, some other planet somewhere may also be composed of heavier elements coming from the Sun and other stars.
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Considering that all the atoms in the solar system were created in a supernova, power plants are "solar" powered too. Or maybe big-bang powered, for that matter.
Technically stars that have gone supernova are not our sun and therefore not "solar". You could argue that geothermal power is solar, but nuclear power comes from other stars. The hydrogen in the sun comes from the big bang, but so does everything else, so that point is a little moot.
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The Sun is fusion powered. It uses gravitational confinement.
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I bet this generates a lot of energy.
Anything that goes on 5V and up to 700mA... (Score:4, Informative)
Got me a Voltaic Backpack. [voltaicsystems.com]
An older model, with three non-detachable plates - but with a bit more juice as it has 3 x 1.5 Watt plates instead of 2 x 2 Watt plates like the new, detachable model.
Devices? (Score:2)
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My solar is in the cloud (Score:2)
My solar is in the cloud. Or rather, behind the clouds, most of the time. I'm guessing it wouldn't be worth it economically for me to purchase solar panels for my house given that it rains so much. I'd love to have some way to heat my pool economically, though (right now the sun does that, but the swimming season is too short because of this).
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I think solar thermal panels are economical even in more extreme latitudes. They're cheap compared to PV systems. UK websites tell me it would take 7-10 years for the investment to pay off for a normal house, presumably it would be quicker if you have a pool, or if you live somewhere less cloudy.
Eight garden path lights (Score:2)
We have 8 garden paths lights in the front garden, so I suppose that counts as "8". Not sure I would classify a simple light as a "device" for the purposes of Slashdot, but there you go.
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Isn't it ironic, don't you think? (Score:2)
I submitted this poll, and was sure most people would be in the 12+ range, and very few in the 0-1 range (hell, everyone owns at least 1 solar calc, after all). I have over a dozen solar powered lights for my walkways at the house, several solar calculators (always keep one in the car, briefcase, office), and some other misc devices (12v charging panel) etc., and I am one of those dirty Libertarian types. (consider myself a conservationist)
I figured with all the tree hugging and global warming discussions
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Well, I live in a appartment. So I do not have a walkway to put lights in. I do not have use for solar calculator provided I have a mobile phone. I walk or ride a bike to work. So even by think of what I own that could be solar powered, I don't really see what could be. I guess the appartment complex could be solar powered...
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Railing against evil Micro$oft
Gushing about Apple
Decrying copyright and patents as inherently evil (but in a different way than Micro$oft is evil)
Correcting each others' grammar
Complaining about people who correct others' grammar
Making trivial corrections in others' posts that don't affect the content or meaning in any way
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Making trivial corrections in others' posts that don't affect the content or meaning in any way
I believe that at the end of a list, you're supposed to use a period.
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Solar cells - the bare ones - have gotten sufficiently cheap that here in scotland, the payback period if I am willing to make panels from scratch is ~10 years.
This is without subsidy.
This assumes I could legally net-meter.
Alas, I can't.
Without installing expensive approved panels, through an expensive approved installer, the best I can achieve is about 1/4 the rate of what I buy power for.
If I did get the expensive approved installed, the price I get back is annoyingly around 10* higher than this. But the
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If you can use the grid as a perfect battery, it becomes marginally worthwhile.
If not. less so, for the obvious reasons above.
I don't use any significant loads in the midday summer - maybe the occasional 1kwh of the washing machine - but that's only ~weekly.
Otherwise, it only looks like a good alternative if you actually cannot get the grid.
Panasonic (Score:2)
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I'm not even sure where to start here. We put in an off-the-shelf PV array two years ago. At the rate we've been saving money over those two years, it will have paid for itself in another three and a half years. The panels themselves have a 25-year warranty, and the inverter has a 12-year warranty. We'll get five times what we paid for it out of the system before the panel warranty expires. It's not "only ten times more" than other power sources, it's "somewhere between half as expensive and one-fifth
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It depends where you live, around here solar is way too expensive because our typical source of electricity is more or less the lowest in the US at most times. Consequently, it's not particularly cost effective without the ability to pay out of pocket to cover the whole project. In other parts of the country with more sun and more expensive electricity, I'm sure it makes more sense.
Solar powered dock lights (Score:2)
Flower (Score:2)
I have a small plastic flower from China that moves its leaves when the sun shines on it.
Two bike lights, one "sun in a jar", two cals. (Score:2)
The lights for my bike are a pair of Blackburn Flea Solar [blackburndesign.com] lights (one front, one rear, I charge them at work in the window, which, even on a cloudy day, is enough to charge them to run for two days commute both ways.)
I have a ThinkGeek Sun-in-a-jar [thinkgeek.com] that was given to me as a gag gift for Christmas last year.
I also have a couple ancient generic solar calculators.
Plus, of course, all the gag answers...
It's all solar powered (Score:5, Insightful)
The food you eat and the gasoline/diesel you burn is stored solar power. Coal is stored solar power. We're burning up the savings at a prodigious rate.
Ultimately every element that exists above the level of hydrogen was formed in a sun somewhere so nuclear power is stellar power.
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The early universe was 75% hydrogen, 25% helium, and a trace of lithium.
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You are correct but as I noted, the Earth wouldn't even exist without the higher elements produced by supernovae. And of course gravitation is what drives a star to ignite in the first place so maybe it's all gravitation. I think as a general statement saying it's all solar power is reasonable.
Torch (Score:2)
Plants (Score:2)
I voted "Do Plants Count?" Then I remembered I don't have any of those either. :-(
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I voted the same, but only because plants deserve a lot more credit than they get.
Sure, it's the token "funny" answer, but plants are indeed devices that we use every day. That large shade tree on the southwest corner of your house costs very little in maintenance (once established) to provide significant cooling the summer.
It takes solar energy and effectively converts it to a cooler home. It's pretty tough to beat that in terms of efficiency.
Solar Devices Suck (Score:2)
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...those insensitive clods!
Hell, they should have been more specific in their definition of solar powered also... The sun is technically a "nuclear reaction" (and other things) so technically I have many nuclear powered devices.
Also those damn sidewalk solar powered lights do suck... LCD is much better, you're right.
Underwater robot (Score:2)
And our house has 4kW of solar power, so sometimes it powers all our stuff.
Horologist's Dream (Score:2)
I said 2. (Score:2)
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Just some food for thought.
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Fencing: this is usually the first line. The fences have to be fairly tall, but not necessarily all that sturdy. Often times using less visible fencing is the most effective, as the deer run into it and get startled rather than approaching cautiously. Remember, deer eyesight is focused more to the sides and they rely heavily on scent and hearing, so this isn't as ridiculous as it seems. Fencing really depends on the property, neighborhood, what y
Solar hot water (Score:2)
The only REAL one so far (Score:2)
Depends... (Score:2)
I have the usual collection of small toys - calculator, garden lights, so forth...
And I have around 1200W in solar panels on the roof. One 135W panel supplies my ham radio bench w/ 12V AGM battery. A (cheap, junky, but still functioning) Harbor Freight 45W panel set is used to charge random 12V batteries or maintain the car in the garage. The rest (8 x 135W) are tied to a battery bank and inverter that feeds a dedicated set of circuits in the house. I can in theory run almost anything in the house off t
Solar, digital, but not electrical (Score:2)
Does a digital sundial [digitalsundial.com] count?
Log scale please (Score:2)
For the fourteenhundredth time, please use a log scale. Something like
0 (=Cowboyneal)
1
2-3
4-7
>=8
12+ (Score:2)
...because we have a bunch of solar powered garden lights. Then a few calculators. My son has a solar powered reading light in his room. We have a few solar powered toys which we built from kits. One of them is configured as an air boat at the moment. Some times we use it in a pond in a local park. Easily more than 12.
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Yeah. 20 bucks at Ikea.
Why aren't 0 and 1 a separate choice? (Score:2)
More than half the ./ polls that involve a numerical scale, have some problem with the range choices.
As far as PV devices go (Score:2)
My Casio watch is solar powered.
If the ROI on PV for my home exceeds my utility co there would be more for me to share.
Lighting, servers... (Score:2)
Most of my outdoor lighting is solar. Handy to be able to see the keyhole in the dark.
I run a SheevaPlug based server from solar with mains backup. 90% of the time it is solar powered (with battery for overnight, charged from solar). Max power draw is ~2.5W, not hard to get from a couple of panels.
My next goal is to make a radio powered clock. A radio antenna produces a small amount of current, which is how crystal radio sets work without a battery. Given a large enough antenna and a powerful enough signal
Everything...? (Score:2)
Do plants count (Score:2)
After they've been buried underground for a few million years?
Only a caluclator (Score:2)
...A calculator I don't even use anymore.
I've tried to move my PDAs to solar-only a few times in the last few years, but every time I shop around, the solar chargers just can't justify their cost and inconvenience. I almost went for it last time, I'll probably make the switch this year or the next since I should be able to find a solar charger with a li-po backup battery built in. I think the presence of the small, light and high-capacity li-po is why I went with a usb battery backup without solar - all of
All life is solar powered (Score:2)
I Have A Soar Provider (Score:2)
Everything in my house is "solar" powered in the sense that I have elected a solar provider as my power supplier. (Through de-regulation, supply and delivery are de-coupled in NY and can be purchased separately).
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Here in Israel it is law that all houses must have a solar hot water heater. It works great about 9 months of the year, the other 3 we have an electric boost.
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My electricity comes mostly from a nuclear power plant, you insensitive clod!
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From a supernova. Definitely not from Sol.
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Tidal power is ultimately from the angular momentum of the spinning collapsing proto-stellar mass that formed the solar system.
This power came ultimately from nuclear sources, either stars, or the hydrogen and helium formed by the big bang.
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Well, ultimately all energy came from the big bang, including the energy "produced" by the stars. So all our devices are big bang powered.
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0 - 1 = -1
Was that really so hard?
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Not sure if you're aware but http://builditsolar.com/ [builditsolar.com] has a really nice looking $1000 solar hot water heater.
I'm hoping to build one this summer or next.
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She only uses you in daylight?
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That area around his midsection is a high capacity battery.
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I believe that is more closely related to the capacitor, takes a long time to get charged and is all over very quickly.
Probably the holes are enough (Score:2)
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Seriously, I only have a TI-81, TI-82, and a TI-83 as dedicated calculators.
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