Last year, I purchased a hands-free Bluetooth car kit as a Christmas gift for a family member who, as a sales rep, spends significant time talking in her car. Worried for her safety as she drives with one hand on the wheel and the other around a cell phone, I initially felt a sense of pride as she unwrapped a gift that demonstrated concern for her well-being. Sometimes, however, a buzz can be short-lived. After a quick explanation of what the gift was, I could see a bit of uneasiness creep in as she unraveled the 3-foot long charger cord and asked if it would be necessary to keep this plugged into the single charger in the front seat of the car. She soon came to the realization that "hands-free" was not "cords-free."
I assured her that, after an initial charge, she would only need to occasionally plug in the hands-free car kit, freeing up the outlet for her cell phone. After juicing things up, we quickly had the device paired with her cell phone and she was off and using the hands-free device. It wasn't long before a week's lapse in charging left the car kit out of gas and no longer paired to her Bluetooth-enabled phone. The process of hanging the charging cord from the roof of her car to the outlet, combined with the re-pairing of the device, soon sent the hands-free car kit to the electronic junk bin, where other well-meaning gifts had already met a similar fate.
Looking back over the years at the Bluetooth headsets I've purchased for my own use, I soon realized that they too had gone the way of the hands-free car kit for the same reason--another cord to carry and another device to charge. Ugh.
So, it was with great enthusiasm that I ordered the Iqua SUN for a Portelligent teardown, to see how advances in Bluetooth and integrated solar power could enable a Bluetooth device that may never need to be plugged in. According to the company's Web site and product packaging, Iqua claims the SUN is the world's first solar powered Bluetooth headset with the potential for infinite standby time if exposed to sunlight on a regular basis. If a cord were truly no longer needed, perhaps this could be a Bluetooth-enabled gift able to escape the fate of hands-free car kits and other gadgets whose shine faded with time.
At a price of $70, the Iqua SUN costs $20 to $30 more than comparable non-solar powered Bluetooth headsets. Weighing 14 grams and occupying a surface area of 11 cm sq., the SUN is both heavier and larger than today's smallest Bluetooth headsets, such as a recently analyzed Samsung WEP500, which weighed in at less than 10 g and had a surface area approaching 6 cm sq. While non-solar-powered Bluetooth headset manufacturers are constantly striving for smaller form factors, limited only by the size of the small lithium-ion battery housed in the headset, shrinking the size of the SUN may not be in Iqua's best interests due to the surface area required for the 4 cm sq. amorphous silicon solar cell.
After disconnecting and removing the solar cell, measurements indicated a maximum open circuit voltage of 4.1 V in direct sunlight. Maximum short-circuit current in direct sunlight was approximately 5 mA. These numbers indicate a solar cell with a peak output of 10 mW to 15 mW when normalized according to conventional wisdom for combining open-circuit/short-circuit measured outputs. Fluorescent office lighting with indirect sunlight generated a less hardy figure of under 1 mW from the solar cell.
Recharge occasionally
Power consumption of the SUN, while turned on and waiting for a Bluetooth connection, was miserly, averaging just 2 mW. After connecting to a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone, the SUN consumed about 4 mW while waiting for a call and 50 mW while a conversation was ongoing. The power consumption numbers compare favorably with other recent Bluetooth headsets analyzed by Portelligent, including the ultra-small, coin-cell-powered Samsung WEP500. The low power of the Iqua SUN combined with its 110-mAh lithium-polymer battery provide a standby time approaching 200 hours and a talk time of 8 hours to 9 hours, figures consistent with Iqua's stated claims.
The minimal power consumption combined with the built-in solar cell recharger enables the SUN to have infinite standby time, as long as it spends a reasonable amount of time in direct sunlight. The spread between the power generated by the solar cell in direct sunlight and the standby power consumption can also provide some additional battery charge for talk time. Nonetheless, add up all the numbers and it seems heavy talkers will still have to sporadically plug in and recharge through the USB connection on the back of the Iqua SUN headset.
Only one major IC, a Cambridge Silicon Radio BC413159B, populates the 8 cm sq. PCB manufactured by Primax Electronics. The integrated Bluetooth radio and baseband IC is contained in an 8 mm x 8 mm package and includes an audio CODEC, 6 Mb of embedded ROM, and power management for a fully integrated, v2.0+EDR Bluetooth solution. With all functions contained on a single die, CSR provided Iqua with a solution that enables the extremely long standby and talk times along with the ability to be recharged through a small solar cell.
While taking apart the Iqua SUN and pondering the benefits of integrating a solar panel into a Bluetooth headset, I thought back to the hands-free car kit bought as a gift the year prior. A solar-powered Bluetooth car kit, if mounted near a window, would perhaps be an even better variation on the theme, given abundant sunlight available in the car. Alas, you have to be quick in this industry. Just as a business plan was coalescing, Iqua announced the VizorSUN at the beginning of September. Instead of providing unlimited standby, Iqua is making the bold promise of unlimited talk time under optimum lighting conditions for the visor-mounted hands-free car kit. With hands-free finally (maybe) becoming cords-free, perhaps one more Bluetooth-enabled gift will find its way into the holiday mix, and will manage to steer clear of the electronics junk-bin.
See related image: The Iqua SUN provides virtually endless standby time if you give it enough solar exposure.
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| The SUN is good, but the company says the new Vizor-SUN is even better. Forget unlimited standby time-think unlimited talk time. |
Source: EETimes.com
