AfriGadget

Car Batteries and LEDs in Mali

Matt Berg has put together a wonderful photo montage on how LEDs and 12v batteries are changing the face of connectivity and cheap lighting in Mali. Reproduced here with his permission are the images from the (large) PDF.

“The mass market solution (LED + small rechargeable battery + 1 W solar panel) that will really make a difference will be Chinese and at a price that will encourage extremely fast adoption rates.”

“Used car batteries you can see are the “power lines” in a lot of African villages that form the basis of distributed power distribution.”

Tags: 12v, battery, china, led, lighting, mali, power

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6 comments for this post.

Comment from Jean-Marc Liotier
29 April 2009 - 12:19 am - :

LED are taking over lighting, and not just in the least developed countries. Compact fluorescent lighting looks ridiculous in comparison.

The phone charging station is eminently practical, but I cringe at the DC/AC/DC conversion losses. But then again, maybe practical trumps efficient.

Comment from Dave
30 April 2009 - 8:28 am - :

Using automotive cell phone chargers would be more efficient, but Best Buy may as well be on the moon when your in rural africa. You use what you can get.

My favorite part of this is unrelated. That motorcycle fuel is stored in beer bottles. When they are empty, they will be returned to the brewery and refilled with beer.

Comment from luxematic
1 May 2009 - 10:01 pm - :

Looks like they found a better use for car batteries.

Comment from Emmanuel Norman
15 May 2009 - 1:27 am - :

This system looks very wonderful and am also looking forward to have the same connection done at my project but l need help in terms of getting teh connections

Comment from ed church aka peace_maker
15 May 2009 - 11:00 am - :

very much is a useful practice of using these cell phones on batteries and using this for lighting in place where there is no way of light if we recyle what we use then we are saving the earth and the materials that we make every day we need a green earth to keep it healthy.

Comment from gert
18 May 2009 - 5:45 am - :

car batteries, hmmmm… Solar panels are getting more and more popular for tasks like this though. I saw people watching telly with energy from a solar panel.

Anyway, the photo is not very clear but just to show it’s not an exceptional situation. I prefer the flipflop hinges…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gert/3275177488/in/set-72157610922088274/