http://shop.biolitestove.com/BioLite-CampStove_p_15.html

At a glance I thought this was a really great idea. Thermoelectric heat exchanger! I assumed it runs on a canister or something... but no. It's a miniature wood stove. Dorky.

I would like to see a version of this that takes the isobutane canisters with the thermoelectric heat exchanger. Get 'er up to 10W.

Gosh, they've got 5 positive reviews already and haven't released the product!

Home Power magazine's current issue has a good article on small portable/folding solar panels, there is a lot of new offerings due to all us having electronic gizmo's all the time and everwhere. www.homepower.com.

From my new Droid!

Zane wrote:http://shop.biolitestove.com/BioLite-CampStove_p_15.html

At a glance I thought this was a really great idea. Thermoelectric heat exchanger! I assumed it runs on a canister or something... but no. It's a miniature wood stove. Dorky.

I would like to see a version of this that takes the isobutane canisters with the thermoelectric heat exchanger. Get 'er up to 10W.

I have one one pre-order. Suppose to ship in June.
Will report back once I get it.

My little solar panel puts out 25W@12VDC (~2+ amps, ranges between 12v and 15v)...fits on the hat rack in the back. Costed $60 at Wallywart (on sale). It works fine for charging and to run the trickle charger in the sticks. Lower cost, higher performance.

The current goes down to around 1A on a cloudy day. I just put it on the back of the plane, plug it in to the battery charge harness I rigged up, plug in my USB charger/devices (xtra cig plug wired in parallel into battery charge harness), and go fishing. On a sunny or partly cloudy day, it takes the usual time to charge my ipod, cell phone, or rechargeable battery thingy (with a small inverter). Barely gets the job done at all on an overcast day, but it does get the job done.

Zane wrote:At a glance I thought this was a really great idea. Thermoelectric heat exchanger! I assumed it runs on a canister or something... but no. It's a miniature wood stove. Dorky.

I buy it. My brother was using a homemade version 15 years ago, but with a AA battery instead of a rechargeable Lithium Ion. It put out some real BTUs. Ever aim a leaf blower at your burn barrel? Same idea.

denalipilot wrote:

Zane wrote:At a glance I thought this was a really great idea. Thermoelectric heat exchanger! I assumed it runs on a canister or something... but no. It's a miniature wood stove. Dorky.

I buy it. My brother was using a homemade version 15 years ago, but with a AA battery instead of a rechargeable Lithium Ion. It put out some real BTUs. Ever aim a leaf blower at your burn barrel? Same idea.

Are you saying it's supercharged? Or just convection magic?

My problem is that finding natural dry fuel is going to be a problem for most of the year, so you'd have to pack that too.

Zane wrote:

denalipilot wrote:

Zane wrote:At a glance I thought this was a really great idea. Thermoelectric heat exchanger! I assumed it runs on a canister or something... but no. It's a miniature wood stove. Dorky.

I buy it. My brother was using a homemade version 15 years ago, but with a AA battery instead of a rechargeable Lithium Ion. It put out some real BTUs. Ever aim a leaf blower at your burn barrel? Same idea.

Are you saying it's supercharged? Or just convection magic?

My problem is that finding natural dry fuel is going to be a problem for most of the year, so you'd have to pack that too.

I've never heard of this stove before today, but it sounds like the heart of it is a battery-driven fan that forces air through the burn chamber. (see their instruction PDF). It's just oxygen delivery. Same as using a bellows in your fireplace. Or a leaf blower aimed at the bottom of your burn barrel. Speeds combustion dramatically. My read on the iPad thing is that they already had a USB charger to charge up the stove's battery, so they enabled it so it could also deliver a charge to your mobile device. Kind of a gimmick really, and comes at the expense of the stoves battery charge, but undoubtedly worth it for some users. I'll bet if you google around, you can find DIY versions that use tuna cans, a reclaimed electronics motor, and a AA battery that work nearly as well.

As for dry fuel, well, I see your point.

-DP