I ran across this device and thought it might be an alternative to solar panels/batteries that that many of you bring for your electronics?

Don't own one, don't know anyone who does. I've always thought that some smart person would find a way to harness water/paddling power and this looks
like what I had in mind.

Check out the video:
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Quote:


I thought the same thing. Obviously, there are places you would want to use it but if it charges as they say, then some clever person can make a rock guard very easily.

My first thought was to take a plastic gallon vinegar bottle, cut the bottom off and slip the tether thru the top and adjust the fit so the props wouldn't hit but the cone would deflect the rocks. Something cheap and DIY.

portage dog wrote on Sep 23^rd, 2018 at 9:34pm:


I bet he could. I had visions of something like this in my head for a long time but lacked the technical knowledge to make one myself.
I bet MP could come up with a DIY one too?

I don't know about electric adapters BUT if you could find a way to adapt the UBS outlet to the standard power plug on a fish finder, that might be the best of both worlds?

Charge it fully before leaving home then when you're done using your fish finder throw it behind the canoe and charge it while your paddling?

MP could read the specs and tell us if that's practical for sure.

I found some specks to make evaluations.  It weighs 628grams and will put out 5 watts if you pull it through the water at 1.2 meters per second.  I don’t think in grams and meters per second. So 1.2 meters per second is about 2.7 miles per hour.  You can paddle that speed if you are not dragging an anchor. 628 grams is about 1.4 pounds. My fish detector requires about 2.8 Watts to operate.  The output voltage out of it is for charging cell phones so you will need a voltage converter (if you can find one) and that will weigh .5 to 1 pound and will only be about 90 percent efficient the power will be stored in the attached battery which will be about 95% efficient and go into the fish detector battery which will be about 95% efficient so you will get to use about 80% of the power generated in your fish detector. So 80% of 5 watts is 4 watts.  So one hour of paddling will get you about 1.4 hours of fishing time. That is a rough estimate but it gives you a estimate.  I just put together some battery packs for W13 which if wired differently would run my fish detector for 24 hours and they weigh 1.9 pounds.  Neat little gadget but I don’t want one.

pd
I think you got it.  For a long base camp trip beside a fast moving stream it might work out.