Solar powered Wii station a steal at $1,431!
by John Bardinelli 
{ Mar 27th 2007 at 9:03AM }
The sun drives climates on our little blue planet, feeds plants with its warm light, and makes our pale gamers' skin dark and crispy with its evil death rays. And thanks to Tom's Hardware, it also powers a mobile Wii kiosk. Costing a mere $1,431 to build (the HD TV and Wii were the largest expenses), the solar panel feeds a battery that provides 6-8 hours of play time. The panel only provides 1/10 of the power needed to run the set-up, but keeping it charged is as easy as staying out of the shade.Want to really impress us? Build a wind-powered Wii kiosk.
[Via TwitchGuru]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jack of No Trades @ Mar 27th 2007 9:12AM
hmmm.......this defeats the purpose of console gaming.
thumbs @ Mar 27th 2007 9:40AM
wii station...he he he
k0sm0s @ Mar 27th 2007 9:51AM
this seems to be posted before..
AirIntake @ Mar 27th 2007 9:57AM
1/10th? That's BS. You need >100% for it to be any good. You need 100% to run the Wii, plus more to charge batteries for when the sun goes down. The goal should be to be able to run the Wii around the clock.
They should drop the HD TV, since that's completely useless for the Wii, and spend $600 on a 60+W solar panel, and then another $100 on an extra battery.
adam @ Mar 28th 2007 7:24PM
BS? im amazed at how negative and critical people are towards others work.
but i suppose its acceptable since youve built a better one of these.
you havent? oh. my mistake.
i think its a nice project. unsure how useful it would be (i dont play much wii outside), but still.
Christopher7xii @ Mar 27th 2007 10:27AM
This... is kind of silly, since direct sunlight kills the remote sensor and makes it all loopy.
AirIntake @ Mar 27th 2007 10:39AM
@adam
Actually, I do design shit like that for a living. But instead of a Wii, I use industrial computers that monitor remote oil wells.
Neal @ Mar 27th 2007 11:01AM
This article (almost exactly) was already posted before.
Lame.
Also, this isn't really news... All they did was use a coloar panel to charge a battery, and then essentially run the Wii and TV off of the battery for the most part. Sure, the panel powers the little power for the wii, but the TV drains plenty.
You could have this same setup and replace "Wii" with anything.
Stupid.
AirIntake @ Mar 27th 2007 11:03AM
@Neal
For once I agree with you.
Quando @ Mar 27th 2007 11:50AM
AirIntake 1:0 adam
Neal @ Mar 27th 2007 12:07PM
@ AirIntake
so... should we hug or something? haha
Also, my post should say "solar" not "coloar"
How the hell did that even happen?
Neal @ Mar 27th 2007 12:10PM
So, to sum up this article...
"Guy finds out how to charge battery with soloar power, even though this has already been done, but then he used the battery to power Wii and tv, successfully accomplishing nothing at all but using up time on things already known how to do"
If I come up with a PS3/360 soloar powered thingie, will I get my name on Joystiq?
dark @ Apr 12th 2007 4:41AM
Now what happens at night? Huh! Can someone please tell me what happens at night?
dark @ Mar 27th 2007 12:12PM
Now what happens at night? Huh!? Can someone please tell me what happens at night?
x876543 @ Mar 27th 2007 12:36PM
Yeah it's basically the same solar principle applied everywhere. Solar power charges battery (when use is standby), or fraction of the power (when in use). Item still needs supplemental power if battery is drained. This is how the solar panels for houses work, it's not replacing the Power Plant, it's easing the load off it.
hvnlysoldr @ Mar 27th 2007 1:50PM
I think this was on here before but didn't mention the price to make it. The HDTV is superfluous and a cheaper solution would be an EDTV or regular SDTV. The solar panel should be redesigned so it can provide much more power to the station at least half if not more than whole. The sensor obviously works enough with sunlight.
Andre @ Mar 27th 2007 4:48PM
.... what about the wiimote ?
How come no one thought of that ??? XD
AirIntake @ Mar 27th 2007 5:20PM
Since the sensor bar works using IR, it would (probably) be impossible to use it outside with sunlight. The sun puts out more IR than the sensor bar, and the Wiimote would (probably) focus on it rather than the sensor bar.
But I don't have a Wii and haven't tried it so I can't say for sure.