Scicon Solar Messenger Bag - Post 1

I have always been intrigued by what might be labeled as alternative energy sources, but to this point in time I had never owned a product that was powered by renewable/sustainable energy or provided energy from a sustainable resource.  Thanks to the fine folks at Scicon, I now am the owner of my first renewable energy producing product - what they call the Solar Messenger. 

Here is a picture of the bag right after I took it out of the box, with a ruler to provide scale.  That's an 18 inch ruler, about 46 centimeters for the majority of the population on the planet.   

Here is an animated GIF from their web site that shows the concept. 

I have seen some bags with solar panels in them in the past (just on people I saw out and about) and I thought it was likely that the panel would directly power whatever device you plugged into it.  I am not sure how other bags actually operate, I was just assuming, but with this bag the panel plugs into a battery and charges it, and then you use an adapter to plug the battery into the device you wish to power. 

I am sure the set up likely has something to do with controlling voltage, something I know absolutely nothing about.  I would love for those with knowledge or experience related to voltage to comment or to contact us about possibly writing a post on the topic.  And if you have experience with a sustainable energy product we would welcome a review (use this link to contact us). 

I will be testing out the bag and taking a bunch more pictures so look for some review posts in the near future. 

Comments

[mattyfu]

I think having the rechargeable battery built into it makes a lot of sense because realistically people using it aren't going to have their devices plugged into it the majority of time, if there was no battery the energy that could have been produced while the device wasn't plugged in would go unused. The amount of power generated by solar panels is highly variable as well so devices that hook directly up to a panel for charging are usually more or less gimmicks, this system wouldn't leave you without power on a cloudy day because the battery in theory anyways would have been charged the day prior.

[drew]

If anything on my bike is going to be solar-powered, I would appreciate a solar-powered bike light. Just a little flashy, red one for behind. If the solar panel fit on top of the back rack and could withstand a little pressure, that'd be perfect.

[Cesped Artificial Precios]

Excellent bag!! i want one

[Cataratas en los ojos]

This bag is amazing. Where i can buy it?

[solar panel grants]

Very nice concept, I wonder how it works in practice.