The model of this small scale kit is seeking for minimum usages of a life in off-grid areas. They are exactly lighting and charging cell phones.

In Kenya, rural banking including remittance from urban to rural is accelerated due to big demand. This is materialized by establishment of rural financing facilities such as Western Union as well as expansion of cell phones. Through SUMS messages, people get an easy remittance method. Cell phones are not only a method of conversation but a tool of transferring money now in Africa.

What my African colleagues say.

When I had a class of agriculture for African participants in JIMA, , I introduced this system and then every one got interested. Most of them replied that some were already there but continued it is really cheap. Most of them said charging service is already there. Some of them asked me to buy this kit after the class.

Along with the expansion of cell phones, there is consequently a big demand for charging batteries of cell phones and the fact that smart phones in rural areas are soon or later coming is easily anticipated Like a Kenya case above, phones have become more important tools in their livelihood..

Devices

The photo below shows various devices whose power comes through a 12 V cigar socket. Some are working through this socket and some through SUB.

Inverter

Further demands to use appliances are to watch TV and to use PC. However, the first requires at least 50W (presumed) and the latter needs 19V, 4.22A (about 80W, Fujitsu Laptop). They are over the capacity although they run in AC.
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To solve this, we have an inverter which converts DC to AC.

However, an inverter is not almighty but it has critical vulnerability as follows.
1. Its efficiency of converting energy is so high that the loss rate is said to be 15%.
2. Some are very expensive.

However, the below one is cheap.80W is not small but not big in terms of the capacity.. But the appliances using this are limited, although this theoretically applies for a small TV or a laptop PC for limited hours.

If you want a full-scale one over 200W, you should consider capacity of a battery and time to use appliances. And the cost of Made-in-Japan is 10 times of the above one.

It is believed that these energy saving devices can help rural life in off-grid areas.

Refrigerators run by 12V can be sold. They are normally for camping but can be used for storing medical goods in rural areas in spite of their small capacity.

The left is an 80W inverter with a cigar socket. There are 3 outlets such as 2 AC 100 outlets (Japan/USA) and a SUB outlet.
Laptop PC can be used with this.
This is 2500 yen..

Future

Concerning TV, Digital broadcast will be prevailing throughout the nations. In the world, right now there are 3 major systems i.e. Japanese, European and US. The Japanese one covers South America and some countries in South Africa. In that system, we have so-called One-sag which can be watched at smart phones. It is energy saving but the resolution is not so high as normal broadcast.
In future, One sag can be watched at smart phones and tablets in particular areas.

Tablet devices such as iPad/iPone and Nexus 7. They are charged through SUB. Especially SUB 2.1A is powerful for charging and is suitable for charging tablet machines. They are cheaper than Laptops. They will be prevailing in rural areas in future. Nobody forecasted today's expansion of cell phones in rural areas in Africa.