Recharge your phone battery with a blade of grass

25 April 2009

Ingenuity of human brain seems limitless.

The arrival of cell phones in the villages has led to the discovery of ingenious ways of recharging a phone battery in areas without electricity.

In a most ingenious and curious way, a blade of green grass is all you need to recharge your cell phone battery.

Simply loosen the battery and slip a blade of grass between the phone and the battery electrode. Switch on the phone and pull out the grass simultaneously, and your phone remains charged for a few hours. One can repeatedly recharge a cell phone battery in this way before you have access to electricity.

However, this has to be done before the battery is completely exhausted. And not all phones can be recharged in this way. It only works on the cheap, black and white Nokia phone that has better network access.

Sonam, a contractor, said that could be the reason why some people were looking for older version of Nokia black and white phones, offering trendier colour phones in exchange.

Tshewang Rinzin, an assistant engineer of Pemagatshel Dzongkhag, said, “Farmers in the villages told me about it but I did not believe it until I was forced to try it myself while on a tour in the middle of a forest in Nanong Gewog.”

He had to make an important call but the phone battery was low. So he turned to a blade of green grass which, he said, was a big surprise.

“I could make not just one call but a few others during the day after getting it recharged with a blade of green grass,” he said.

According to Tshewang, nobody in the villages he toured attributed the ingenious method to anybody. It had been there for a while. He said people in far-flung villages know about it and use it quite regularly. “I am forced to recharge the battery of my cell phone on more than one occasion while in the villages, and each time it came in handy,” he added.

Meanwhile, the villagers have also found another way of recharging their cell phone battery using Bhutanese currency note of any denomination. “I haven’t tried it yet but I am eager to experiment it,” said a civil servant.

Solar panels and torch batteries are also commonly used in the villages to recharge a phone battery.

By Gyembo Namgyal

Ratings: 1 Star