<html><body><span style="font-family:Verdana; color:#000000; font-size:10pt;"><div>Greets,</div><div><br></div><div>Not sure what the policy is on doing what I'm getting ready to do, but I figure I'll be told I made a mistake, or I'll get a mailbox filled with orders.</div><div><br></div><div>My company (I own it, I don't just work here ;) ) designs and manufactures a number of products, mostly geared towards the solar energy business. I'm about to release a new product -- a zener-diode based trickle charger for NiMH batteries. It's not rocket science or anything, but when I tested it on an ALIX.3D2, I got two hours of run time from a pack of 8 AA NiMH batteries. The design is fool-proof and I selected the charging voltage I did to give the batteries the longest operating life possible. I'm going to do more tests, etc, and things may change.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Right now I don't have a price, but that's part of why I'm posting here. In the quantities I can sell to my customers, my costs are not all that low -- I'm looking at something in the $30 to $35 range. Which is a bit spendy. But if I can get that mailbox full of orders, I can probably cut my costs in half, which means I can cut my price in half. The part is 32mm wide by 65mm high and is designed to mount on DIN rail, with two 4mm (or so) holes spaced 25mm apart for Phoenix Contacts DIN rail clips (not included, but I buy them in bulk, so I could if there is demand). There are three screw terminals -- one for "in", two for "out". The board has a 750ma polyfuse to protect from short circuits, because the batteries =will= make more than 750ma if shorted.</div><div><br></div><div>Batteries are not included -- mailing batteries runs into all sorts of rules, so the board has a standard 9 volt battery clip. The recommendation is to use an 8 pack of 2500mAh NiMH batteries. If there is interest, I'll change the zener diode and current limiting resistor to support 7-cell 9v NiMH batteries. They aren't good for long-term backup, but can survive a few minute power outage.<br></div><div><br></div><div>One of the regulars here asked about them, and I'm hoping to sample him one. I have half a dozen boards sitting around and will sample one to a limited number of people who can convince me they'd be willing and able to order them in quantity 25 and above.</div><div><br></div><div>Thoughts? Orders? Feedback? Slap on the wrist?<br></div><div>--<br>Julie Haugh<br>Senior Design Engineer<br>greenHouse Computers, LLC // jfh at <a href="http://greenhousepc.com">greenhousepc.com</a> // greenHousePC on Skype</div></span></body></html>