Recharge Your Gadgets With This Affordable, Eco-Friendly Window Solar Charger

GroupHug is the sort of team that likes to dabble in all things eco-friendly. The idea is to reduce human dependency on fossil fuels through innovation, design, and education. One product that has caught life due to their tinkering is the Window Solar Charger. It’s a design so simple and so eco-friendly I'm not surprised that the team sold out of all available packages during Earth Day 2021.

As you can imagine from the name, it’s a solar-powered phone or device charger that functions exclusively on the power of the sun. It's simple yet effective enough to have quite a few happy customer reviews.

As it stands, the charger is composed of several different components that offer functionality and a pleasant visual aspect. Obviously, the first component you’ll notice, if you ever walk into someone’s home and they own one of these, are the solar cells. A 10-watt solar panel is enough for the system to recharge a built-in battery.

Speaking of the battery, the charger includes a 3,400 mAh battery suitable to recharge your average iPhone without any issues. Don’t bother looking for it though; it’s neatly hidden in the thicker part of the wooden frame. There’s only one issue with this design, but I'll address that shortly.

Completing the rest of the electronics is one USB-A port that is most likely attached to a circuit board meant to safely control the energy flux. If you have a USB-C device, you’ll need an adapter to recharge.

The final component is the wooden frame you see wrapped around the solar panel. Coming in with a width of 10 inches (254 mm), length of 13 inches (330 mm), and depth of 1.25 inches (32 mm), it should look like nothing more than a picture frame hung up on your window. A picture frame that does things, that is.

With this charger, you can recharge not only your phone or smart device but AirPods, bike lights, portable speakers, and even watches. With such a range of utility, I'm open to spending the $149 asking price for this trinket. However, if you want one, you’ve got to join the waiting list as this gadget is currently sold out.

Earlier I mentioned a downside to the design, so let me elaborate. The rechargeable battery inside is large enough to recharge an array of devices, but it requires about ten hours of direct sunlight to fully recharge and be ready to release another wave of energy.

In case anything happens to your charger and components get damaged, the team at GroupHug will gladly take the charger back and replace any parts.

What I like about this design most, aside from the use of wood and solar power, is that it can also be taken with you and used in a mobile home or RV setting. After all, why not?

Now, tools like these are becoming more and more common. With their level of versatility and ability to reduce carbon emissions, they seem like a wonderful way to start making a small difference. If you think it’s a meaningless difference, think again. If everyone in your neighborhood owned something like this, some change would probably be registered. Then again, I'm a dreamer, and that’s not likely to happen; a difference is a difference, though.