Hello fellow climbers. I have been working on a new camping product that I would like to get some feedback on. The HALO Fuel Cell is an outdoor power station that fits standard fuel canisters. It can charge your iPad, iPhone, Android device, or other USB devices. Sized to be a portable, compact and a lightweight addition to your camping gear. I'm throwing it out to the Climbing community to get a feel if people are interested in this type of product?

Check out the Halo on Kickstarter!
http://kck.st/14c9zOI

Sounds like a good investment if you want your expensive electronics to get fried. Two at a time even.

Buy a Halo, ruin your iPad. Who wants one?

I was hoping it would be some Fuel Cell from Halo.

Anyways here we go:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLnL63cXmD8[/youtube]

I'm not interested in a backcountry charging device, but if I were, I'd want to know why your product is any better than a solar charger.

I usually keep my open flames away from my electronic devices. And I can't remember the last time I left my stove running for half an hour. (You don't say how long a charge takes; I'm assuming you can't do it any faster than any other charger.)

In terms of weight and bulk, wouldn't carrying extra batteries be better than burning all that fuel? OK, I guess there's a use case here: write up your climbing log while melting snow for drinking water on long expeditions. You'll be burning the fuel anyway.

Good points Nartreb, several topics need to be addressed before the viability is justified

- safety to users and devices; does it provide stable voltage (fluctuating voltage may spoil the connected devices)
- reliability and serviceability in the field; you don't want to be stuck without options
- how long does it take and how many charges per canister/unit volume of gas
- weight wise is it more effective than other sources, like batteries?
- how it is better than alternate technologies, solar etc.
- is it green? What's the carbon foot print?
- cost vs other technologies
- whats the lifetime of the product?

nartreb wrote:I'm not interested in a backcountry charging device, but if I were, I'd want to know why your product is any better than a solar charger.

I usually keep my open flames away from my electronic devices. And I can't remember the last time I left my stove running for half an hour. (You don't say how long a charge takes; I'm assuming you can't do it any faster than any other charger.)

In terms of weight and bulk, wouldn't carrying extra batteries be better than burning all that fuel? OK, I guess there's a use case here: write up your climbing log while melting snow for drinking water on long expeditions. You'll be burning the fuel anyway.

nickrburton wrote:Hello fellow climbers. I have been working on a new camping product that I would like to get some feedback on. The HALO Fuel Cell is an outdoor power station that fits standard fuel canisters. It can charge your iPad, iPhone, Android device, or other USB devices. Sized to be a portable, compact and a lightweight addition to your camping gear. I'm throwing it out to the Climbing community to get a feel if people are interested in this type of product?

Check out the Halo on Kickstarter!
http://kck.st/14c9zOI

Seems like spare batteries (or a solar charger) would be more effective solution. Your device requires carrying an energy source, same as carrying spare batteries would, but requires a conversion process that loses some of the energy from that energy source.

Batteries are lighter, safer, and more efficient. And cheaper! Plus batteries don't damage your devices as a Halo fuel cell does.

Which would you rather have running your vibrator?

Chad, have you used this charger? How can you claim that it will "damage your devices"? It should be no harder to regulate the voltage coming out of this thing than for a battery pack.

(My vibrator runs fine on diesel, thank you very much.)

mrchad9 wrote:Plus batteries don't damage your devices as a Halo fuel cell does.

So how do you know? Your claim sounds like a real possibility, but some evidence to fall back on would be nice. An article perhaps.

I see Nartreb beat me to the punch.

nartreb wrote:Chad, have you used this charger? How can you claim that it will "damage your devices"? It should be no harder to regulate the voltage coming out of this thing than for a battery pack.

(My vibrator runs fine on diesel, thank you very much.)

I believe the evidence is similar to that for an aerogel-based product that was recently touted here.

JHH60 wrote:

nartreb wrote:Chad, have you used this charger? How can you claim that it will "damage your devices"? It should be no harder to regulate the voltage coming out of this thing than for a battery pack.

(My vibrator runs fine on diesel, thank you very much.)

I believe the evidence is similar to that for an aerogel-based product that was recently touted here.

I tried that aerogel-based stuff and it didn't work. No matter how much I slathered on I still couldn't get off the ground!

Interesting reading! Of course we won't make it very far if we end up damaging devices. Those comments are just arbitrary from a person who has never seen the unit. Fuel cells are surprisingly consistent and are easily controlled by the power electronics. The Halo output is a 5 watt (1 amp) system that will work for most electronic devices.

We are testing to optimize the burn fuel rate as this ultimately decides how many charges can be obtained from a standard canister. The intention is to have a combined cook stove and electric charger as one unit. The flame cell will be protected by a heat shield. The dual function will have a low burn rate for charging only mode (lower fuel rate consumption) and then a higher flow rate needed for a combination of cooking and charging. The Halo will work rain or shine so it has its advantages over Solar. Still like everything else there are limitations to the technology. The Halo runs on standard camping gas fuel so it is a tradeoff between the fuel you carry and the charge that you need.

Thanks for all the posts!

Looks good to me. I've certainly had my stove going for over an hour, cooking dinner and making water for the next day. Should be plenty of time to charge up just about anything. As a climber, I don't have a fuckin ipad with me, but it'll be great for phones.

Good luck

mrchad9 wrote:Plus batteries don't damage your devices as a Halo fuel cell does.

When'd you use one?