The Grax Domain

This is the Grax Domain. It's a blog site, so its main purpose is for me, Grax, to store my life, my thoughts, my creations and so on. You're more than welcome to have a read, you may learn something.

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3 Jul 2008 Why should picture frames be plugged into the wall?

I was thinking about those picture frame that display pictures from a SD card. Initially I think they are a great idea and I would like to get one myself. Hell I even contemplated getting them as presents for my family. But there's one design flaw which really, really bugs me about them. Most picture frame models you have to plug them into the wall to keep them powered up.

Why should they be plugged into the wall sockets?

It doesn't make much sense to me. Because they have to be plugged into the wall there are only a limited number of places you can put the picture frame. And the wires are just bloody inconvenient.

Also If you keep the frame switched on all the time you're constantly draining electricity. This is not only bad for the environment but, more importantly, is costing you money to maintain.

I mean, how much power do these things need? Surely it can't be that much. I've seen models where you can charge them up via a USB cable, but that doesn't cut it for me because you still need to take the frame to some power source and plug it in.

I was thinking of another alternative source of power for SD picture frames; solar power.

Surely you can dedicate some picture frame real estate for adding solar panels. Most SD frames I've seen have a thick border, around 3 inch's. Fill up that space with solar panels, gets constant energy from a light source to keep the display going. Now you can put the SD picture frame wherever you like. Hell, why not throw in a spare USB charger for when there really is no sunlight.

Surely it can't be that hard to design and make a solar powered SD picture frame.

... Wait a second.... I've just had a brainstorm whilst writing this blog entry out...

Get a USB charging SD picture frame, get a solar panel charger that connects with a USB connector, plug one to the other and switch both on. That sounds like a good idea to me.

It's a bit of a work-around hack idea but it might do the job well enough until somebody creates a SD card picture frame with built-in solar panels. The only flaw in that plan is if the USB charging process puts the picture frame in 'sleep/charging mode and you don't actually see the picture, which would defeat the whole point of the solar power-ness of it all.

Who wants to give that hack idea a try?

Posted at: 16:35 PM

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