Prototyping

We have been working on the the prototype for a few days now. We have to make four moulds out of MDF, two for the outside shells and two more simple ones that are part of a new way of assembling the inner components. In parallel, we worked on the circuit boards for the prototype. The facilities are better at the TU in Delft, but until now it has gone quicker than anticipated. People here are used to improvising and know tricks.

Layer cake with non-subtle 12mm MDF, cut out by human power. Almost ready! In only one afternoon.

The MDF shapes the Dremel tools instead the other way around. Details have to be shaped by hand. Fits more to the speed of the environment (see pictures of the campus) anyway.

Doortje and Jan in the electronics workshop. Jan for the Angkor light, Doortje for our prototype.

Tom, lost in calculations for his graduation project about solar home systems.

In case we feel lonely, we will always have company outside.

How many kids fit into a car?

not enough yet...

Add some big kids. Go to the swimming pool.

Home.

The Solar Campus from the solar panels' perspective.

Typical scene: Desperate students searching for Kamworks WLAN in the period that the PicoSol net is down.


Waiting for the thunderstorm. Rainy season can be beautiful.

Horse with workshop.

Philip's construction: Lost fight against rain and wind.

On the way to our dinner.

Horse 2.

Happy housecalls

Never seen in Germany or Holland:

A typical image at our feedback sessions. As soon as mock-ups and drawings are involved, toda la familia, friends and neighbors join...

Life - an update

Internet is more often unavailable, just to explain why we posted less pictures the last weeks.
Waiting for feedback for our work we spent a few days in Sihanoukville which is situated at the coast. We had a very nice time, relaxing, a real source of energy.

Ana (white shirt) before getting sea-sick.

Tradition vs. change.

Beauty vs. dirt (smell!). The fishermen's port was a very special experience.

Coming back, we got quite a lot of interesting user feedback (we made simple cardboard models and storyboards and people loved to try out the handling and to participate in finding ideas). No clue why we thought that these sessions would be much more difficult!
Saturday was our first shopping day for the final prototype. We arranged a lot of things that we will need, except for yet undefined features, so that we can start whenever we took the crucial decisions.

Shopping à la cambodgienne. Most of the times we had to communicate with drawings...

... what turned out to be especially tough for electronic components. However, we found the needed tools and materials much quicker than anticipated.

Besides... rainy season brings little surprises from time to time.

Nobody knows how that fish came into our bathroom. Loucas says that it walked. The stupid thing is that there is no other option!

Anyway, it died, being fried together with a bucket full of snails by our 15 Khmer "flatmates" who have been following a course of four weeks at the Solar Campus.

Thank you!

Dear all,

we would like to thank you for your interest and participation on the concepts' poll.

Results

With 30 votes in one week the results are:

Concept 1 (doughnut): 15/30 (50%)
Concept 2&4 (lamp shape) : 5/30 : 5/30 (17%)
Concept 3 (backpack light): 10/30 (33%)

You were right concepts 2 and 4 are quite similar and should have been presented as one. The concepts merged at the end, without really noticing it...

We have to remove the concepts at the moment, for confidentiality reasons...but we will keep you informed with all our progress in the future.

Modeling

The modeling just started yesterday with some problems. We bought pigment clay from Phnom Pehn (the only thing we found), which proved to be more pigment than clay...Hence, we decided to go for plan b and modeling the volumes of the concepts with papier-mache, and enhancing our drawings with storyboards. Unfortunately, from Tuesday to Thursday is the King's birthday celebration, which means no translators for us and no feedback till Friday...

More news are coming...

Again, thank you very much for all your feedback!

The concepts are coming!!!!!!!!!!

The first part of the conceptualization phase is coming finally to an end! The last details are being worked out at the moment...and four new concepts will be presented to you!

At this phase, we really need your feedback!

Vote for your favorite concept in the poll!

Send us your comments, be critical, tell us what you like and what you don't like!

Based on your feedback and of course the feedback of the local people, we will select the one concept on which we will work further on details and prototype it...

So, please give us feedback!!! ;)

In advance, thank you for your participation and concern!

Claim 2: “But they have already done it...” (or they attack of the LEDs!)

Claim 2: “But they have already done it...” (or they attack of the LEDs!)

That’s a very cliché phrase too. It’s also true that a lot of solar products have been developed for the BOP markets, but have you seen these products? Most of them look like discarded robots from Futurama, or like they are coming from a Japanese splatter movie (e.g. Tetsuo)

Already one attacked to Steffi yesterday night!!!

But let’s get serious…These products are probably the outcome of beneficent engineers, who during the weekends try to use their skills for a good cause, designing lamps for the BOP. I recognize their good intentions, but the quality as well as the product’ price is often poor…

So far, the only good examples we have seen are either very good solar lamps, in the price range of €50-80; the cost of which are covered by NGOs, or good students’ graduation projects that have not been launched in the market yet (hence, no final price is known).

To wrap it up, BOP projects does not mean a hobby for pensioner engineers neither cheap, bad products. A BOP project requires a lot of effort to understand the people’s needs and wants and cover them in a qualitative and affordable way. We believe that we can achieve it, and win the bet that we put to ourselves.

Since then, please tease us and “feed” us with more claims and “BOP products” ;)

Claim 1: “But in China costs €2…”

Since, the beginning of the project the big challenge has been to combine quality with affordability. The design brief from Kamworks stated a cost price in the range of €10-20. We raised the stake and aimed at €10. If we will win this bet, we’ll see at the end…

However, I am writing this post to respond to some claims that we have been acquainted with, so far. Please, no offense to the ones that did these claims…we understand them, we take them into consideration, but also they make us obstinate to prove with our project how quality and affordability can really be combined.

Claim 1: “But in China costs €2…”

It’s true that man can find a lot of Chinese LED products that cost no more than €2. Affordability has been achieved, but what about quality? In Cambodia people do not trust Chinese products, because of the quality. Are they crazy? For instance, Kamunasal had ordered several cheap products from China for testing, which almost none of them qualified the standards. In a talk with a NGO company, in Phnom Pehn, they told us that often the Chinese hand-cranking lights are slapstick. The cranking function is just an effect, which makes you feel that you charge the product, while in fact the product runs on primary batteries that cannot be recharged…

Hence, in the first claim I would answer that “Cambodians are not that rich, to buy so cheap”. In the long run, Chinese products accumulate several “2€uros” that surpass by far the price of an affordable and qualitative product.