Who You Gonna Call? Nobody If Your Phone Is Dead

     I used to charge my cell phone only once a week. Now, with the new phone, I charge it every day. I might be able to get by for two days, but only if I do nothing on it and leave it on airplane mode. My wife's phone dies a lot quicker, but she uses it a lot more than I do. The battery was nearly drained the other day when she remembered a nifty little gadget I picked up a while back and put in the car.

     It's a simple USB adapter for the car. Your car is basically a big generator. You put the gas in, the engine turns the alternator which produces electricity. Not the most efficient generation, but it works in a pinch. If the power is out in your home, it probably runs just fine in your car. They also have adapters you can get that have AC outlets, like in your house, that you plug into your car like this so you can plug in regular power cords. This USB port is super small and can be kept in your center console, glove compartment, or anywhere in your car that has a little bit of space.

     This next tool didn't work quite as well. It's a little solar charger.

     I pulled out my old phone, plugged it in, and it turned right on. I left it on the charger in as much sunlight as I could find, and a little over an hour later, when the shadows had hit, I checked the phone and...it was completely dead. Something didn't work in the charging bit of it. I'll need to do a little more experimenting. The fact that it turned on does give me hope that in direct sunlight I might be able to make one call, which is much better than zero phone calls.
     That brings me to my next thought. If you have an old phone, there's nothing stopping you from keeping it as an emergency phone. Even a phone that isn't activated through a network will still call 9-1-1. It just needs to have a charge and a signal.
     There are some winding chargers, too, which work enough to give it a little charge. I recommend having some way to charge your phone, whether it's one of these ways or you've thought of something else. If you do know of another way, comment below so we can check it out.