Modern e-readers such as the Amazon Kindle are incredible pieces of engineering, but that doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement. A device custom-built to your own specifications is always going to provide a more satisfying experience than something purchased off the shelf. That’s why [fel88] put together this custom e-reader which offers a number of unique features, such as a solar panel on the back and button-free operation.
One issue with modern e-readers, at least as [fel88] sees it, is that they have a lot of unnecessary features. This project removes most of them, stripping down the device to its core functionality: a straightforward menu for selecting books and gesture-sensing for navigating the menu as well as changing the pages. The only physical input on the device is a small reed switch to turn the device on. A 3D printed case holds the e-ink display and encloses the inner workings, driven by an Arduino Mega 2560 and powered by three lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) and a small solar panel.
By dropping all of the unnecessary features, the device doesn’t need to waste energy with things like WiFi or Bluetooth and can get around 880 pages on a single charge, not counting any extra energy coming in through the solar panel while it’s operating. The LICs will also theoretically improve its life cycle as well. If you’re still stuck with a paperweight when you formerly had a working e-reader, though, there are plenty of ways to bring old devices back to life as well.
There is an accelerometer that functions as an input device to turn pages and some other stuff. Thank you for not having a YouTube video that needed to be sifted through for that info
Amazing work! Hope someone can take everything and turn it into a proper PCB and enclosure with even better ingress protection
I have a soft spot for robust/ruggedised/post-apocalyptic rated tech. I wanted to make a pip boy of my own but then I realised its actually quite impractical in real life. I now think LoRa or similar based eink texting devices are more suitable.
I wonder if it would make sense for the rear solar panel to be reversible, so it can charge while you are reading.
Or, better yet, add a transparent solar panel in the front.
A transparent solar panel can’t exist. Transparency let’s light pass through, but for the solar panel to work, it needs to capture the photons.
So at no point before writing this did you think “What if the panel only captured some of the photons”?
Translucent is the word for when something lets light through but diffuses / blurs it. Sunglasses are transparent. You do lose brightness / contrast when you put additional layers on top of e ink, but a very minimal panel might not be too extreme. I believe there are watches which may do things like that so that the panel isn’t obvious.
there are at least some photons (coming from the sun) we can’t even “see” (UV light).
An “invisible” PV panel could still harvest those I assume.
And considering the limited color range of e-ink displays I’m sure there’s some combination of colors where the PV panel can get one or two more ranges (only a small range of the spectrum for the e-ink display).
Not saying it’s theoretically possible nor technically feasible (or economically sensible(?)) – just maybe.