A Hole in the Darkness: The story of a simple portable lamp | Hacker News Reader

A Hole in the Darkness: The story of a simple portable lamp

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31 pointsMyHypatia19 comments

Nice to see a story about a Third world problem for a change. There are some great lessons for entrepreneurs and product managers here. Ferroni was able to perceive the villagers' (unmet) need and come up with a solution that met that need in a way that dovetailed with their culture and way of life.

Understanding users' needs is an essential skill for product managers. Hence the commonly-given advice to "scratch your own itch" - it's easy to understand users' needs if you, yourself, are a typical user. Creating a product that you wouldn't use is more difficult. You have to step into the user's shoes and understand their needs. It requires empathy and the ability to discard one's preconceptions.

How common are those traits in the average Silicon Valley startup?

Everyday acts... depend on the availability of essentials such as water, light and food, items whose acquisition, at least in the vast rural areas, is rarely straightforward.

As a Peace Corps volunteer, I spent 1.5 years in Africa (Botswana), in a village with no electricity. Lighting at night was a really problem. I could read or work for up to an hour, tops, with a paraffin (kerosene) lantern, before the fumes and bad light gave me a headache. A solar-powered overhead light was set up in a community building, and suddenly the adults who worked during the day could take classes at night.

Another very simple technology that even more dramatically changed life in the village was a water tank. The village had a few standpipes, supplied by a pump that often went out for a few days at a time. After the tank was built, the system had enough capacity that you no longer had to worry about stockpiling enough water to last through a few days.

Amazing story with beautiful photographs of a simple portable lamp that punches "a hole in the darkness" in West Africa.

After I earn my millions, God willing, I will fund projects like this.

A lack of dependable light source is a big handicap to people in developing nations. It's like living in the 18th century.

Really neat design but €240 seems really expensive for the people they are targeting.

Which is why they're planning to have the battery/LED module, which accounts for most of the cost, manufactured inside the country rather than imported, which should make it much cheaper.

And what are labor standards like there?

What are waste disposal standards like there?

Is this one of those projects that, twenty years from now, we'll be reading about someone taking heroic efforts to solve the problems of?

There are many things to be worried about in the world, however I do not think we need to be overly fearful of the concept of producing a portable lamp close to the location where we want to then use it.

> There are many things to be worried about in the world, however I do not think we need to be overly fearful of the concept of producing a portable lamp close to the location where we want to then use it.

It's precisely the kind of thing we need to be fearful of if spreading manufacturing becomes a trend but spreading environmental and labor standards does not.

Mali's economy is mostly cash-crop agriculture and mining. Increasing tech manufacture in the economy is exceedingly likely to be less damaging and have better working conditions than what is currently available.

Probably pretty much the same as China or Indonesia or wherever it's being made at the lowest cost right now?

It's an old bike wheel, a metal pole, a battery, some wire and an LED light.

The BOM on this is probably under $50 tops.

The led and battery, from what I understand, seems to be imported as a single module from a manufacturer that produces public street lighting, hence the high price.

There's also a solar panel, but I agree it seems crazy high.

To be fair, the main thing is that they are actually getting adopted and used, integrated into village life. It's common to spend a lot of money "helping" people, with no long-term benefit to them.

I don't think these are a bad idea. On the contrary they're actually pretty cool and I wouldn't mind having one as a 1st world american for camping trips and the like. It would beat trying to use a strong flashlight and a white 10 gallon bucket as an impromptu area lamp.

I would bet within a year, some clever entrepreneurial person where these are being used will start converting old car batteries, flashlights, some old tubing or wood and junked mopeds into these. Sells them for $30.

And then decoupling the panels and building centralized solar powered charging stations out of used 120W solar cells (on ebay, $120 even 12v!) and sells a "charge" for $.10 or whatever the local market can handle (or a village can buy one for $200).

An even more clever person could turn a pump, wind turbine or a see-saw into a charger/generator and top these things off while the kids play.

great idea, glad to see you executed on it

i'd love to see this be able to be hooked up to a bike for a mechanical recharge option

lamp post detaches, and wheel and battery snap onto bike

idly recharge while on your commute, or actively with a stand allowing for stationary cycling

"Mali’s night-times average 12 hours"

Yes, just like everywhere else.

Perhaps it's time to review basic astronomy before getting snarky? Day and night length varies based on time of year and latitude.

Now average over the course of a year? (whichever year you pick, probably not much difference)

You're correct. Actually, he was correct, too.

http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/coordsmotion/day... (show yearly average)

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