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Meet the Solar Paper, a portable solar charger that exceeds its Kickstarter goal by tenfold

By Liu Hongzuo - on 22 Jul 2015, 5:09pm

Meet the Solar Paper, a portable solar charger that exceeds its Kickstarter goal by tenfold

Solar Charger USB

There’s no lack of sunlight on this island, and it makes perfect sense to harness solar power for your many personal devices. One Kickstarter project - Solar Paper - managed to do just that, and has since exceeded its own funding goal by over ten times with the help of nearly 4,000 backers.

Solar Paper is a portable solar-powered charger with an impressive power output for its size. At just 120g and just 9 x 19 x 1.1cm while folded, the charger’s size and weight is a mere fraction of the SunVolt, a similar crowd-funded portable solar charger with a similar price point. Each of Solar Papers’ panels is thin enough to be tucked away in a planner or book.

The product comes in three variants with different wattage outputs: 5W, 7.5W, and 10W, in formats of two, three, or four panels respectively. The 5W version is enough to charge an iPhone 6 in a span of 2.5 hours. Solar Paper comes with only one charging port, and it’s compatible with devices that use USB cables for charging – such as cameras. Campaign backers are advised to pick the correct version based on their needs - the makers recommend the 10W version for tablet owners.

Capabilities aside, the panels are also smart enough to resume charging whenever sufficient sunlight is available after cloudy interruptions, is splash-resistant (IP64), and the wattage of Solar Paper can be expanded by adding extra solar panels. Panels connect to each other using the built-in magnets, which prevent wear and tear commonly found in foldable accessories.

Yolk, the startup behind Solar Paper, is no stranger to solar-powered trinkets. The CEO and team responsible for Solar Paper also produced Solarade in 2014, a crowd-funded solar panel for smartphone charging without the charisma of their new invention. Yolk’s two-person team was founded by SungWon Chang, a Design Object graduate from School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Solar Paper is their second product thus far.

Magnet Solar USB Charger

If you really want one of these bad boys to soak up some sun while saving money on charging your devices, act fast: most of the early-bird rewards have been snapped up, and the campaign snuffs out on 20th August, 2015.

Each 10W Solar Paper panel is expected to retail at US$200, without taking the campaign offers into account. Solar Paper will begin shipping as early as September 2015.

To learn more about how Solar Paper works, check out this comprehensive video on YouTube:

Source: Kickstarter

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