From Cell Phone Charging to LED Lights
Aug 31, 2009 Africa, Ghana, Innovators, Power, Technology
In an earlier post, I covered the work of a Ghana inventor named Nana Owusu Acheampong who was using D-Cells and a custom made wooden battery holder to charge cell phones. On a recent visit to Bonsaaso, a small village about 100KM south of Kumasi, the great pleasure of meeting Mr. Acheampong and seeing first hand some of the projects he has been working on.
Cheap Chinese LEDs, which are pervasive in Mali, have not yet reached this part of Ghana so Mr. Acheampong and others have started to make their own LED light arrays powered by wooden box battery holders. Asked how he came about the idea for the battery boxes, Mr. Acheampong explained that observed his radio worked that way so he “took the power out of his radio”.
I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. It was a thrill to meet someone so truly passionate and excited by his own creations. He is exactly the kind of person who with a bit of support, access to better materials and little extra electrical training could help light up a community.
LED light made from MTN advertising and LEDs purchased from Kumasi.
Used CD helps reflect the light from the LEDs.
How Mr. Acheampong lights his room. He no longer purchases kerosene he claims.
Note: Rural Africa still relies heavily on disposable D-Cells for much of its energy. They are popular for their low purchase price, however, they are expensive on a $/AH basis and environmental standpoint. Thus, the idea of creating small businesses around rechargeable D-Cells intrigues me. It seems like an obvious idea but I’ve yet to see it done. If you know of examples of where this is being attempted please let me know.
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August 31st, 2009 at 7:58 pm
…or a deposit system for batteries so that ppl realize there’s some value to drained batteries. Problem is that it would probably require huge amounts of batteries to get it going, but I think we urgently need a battery recycling plant in West- and East Africa one day.
Or the Chinese take their batteries back and recycle them over in China.
September 1st, 2009 at 10:06 am
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