Joos Orange personal solar appliance to deliver up to 20 times energy of existing personal solar devices

CAMPBELL, USA: After working for two years in virtual darkness, Campbell, California-based Solar Components, LLC has announced its first product: the Joos Orange.

Expected to ship in June 2010, the Joos Orange is described by the company as the world’s first “Personal Solar Appliance” – a product that delivers more than 2.5 hours of cell phone talk time for every hour of charging time or as much as 20 times (20x) the powering capability of existing personal solar power devices.

For these reasons and more, Solar Components believes the Joos Orange will establish a new standard in the personal solar power world. Why? Because the Joos Orange is:
* Affordable (has a suggested retail price of $99.95),
* Waterproof (will also work submerged),
* Rugged (polycarbonate case encapsulated in urethane and expected to last for many years of outdoor use),
* Versatile (works with a dead battery, can be charged by USB, works in low-light conditions, has a replaceable battery and provides status to a personal computer),
* Powerful (has a large {20 watt hour} Lithium-ion polymer battery that {depending upon latitude, insolation and reflector use} can generate between 10 to 20 watt hours per day).

“Solar Components makes the best solar charger in the world,” said Jamie Bullen, CEO and co-founder of Solar Components. “We recognize that we’re throwing down the gauntlet by making this claim, but the fact of the matter is that most of the personal solar power devices on the market today are woefully inadequate. The fact that someone can have a personal solar device in direct sunlight for an hour and only power 5 to 20 minutes of talk time for a standard cell phone just isn’t acceptable.

“The Joos Orange is the world’s best because it uses the highest efficiency mono-crystalline solar cell on the market instead of a lower efficiency poly-crystalline cell. We use state-of-the-art electronics to stay on the maximum power point, function in low light, work with a dead battery, charge via USB and communicate with a PC. We’ve encapsulated the Joos Orange with a hard, non-yellowing urethane instead of an epoxy-based coating, and we’ve incorporated a steel heat sink and have ventilation built into a case that is also waterproof and submersible.

“The Joos Orange also has a large battery to store all the solar energy it receives and it’s replaceable. In fact, everything we’ve done up to this point is designed to set a new standard for excellence in the personal solar power arena – to create a ‘Personal Solar Appliance’ that can be used every day to recharge our electronics and is not just a drawer toy.”

“There are currently 1.7 billion people in the world who don’t have access to an electrical grid and another 1.4 billion people that live with intermittent electricity,” Bullen said.

“The sun has the ability to provide energy that, if captured at the right price for these people, will provide them with a continuous supply of energy for all kinds of useful devices. This in turn will help make their lives more productive and enjoyable without a carbon footprint. Our goal at Solar Components is to develop products that harness the sun’s capability in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Joos Orange is our first step in reaching that goal.”