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has been reviewed 15 times with an average rating of 4.27
Fascinating Solar Energy And Fuel Cell Experiments
Posted 2/14/2008 by Conrad Blickenstorfer
Rating: 
This kit teaches about solar energy, photo-voltaic electrolysis and fuel cells. A 100-page manual explains electrical concepts, shows how to use a digital multimeter to measure voltage and current, and guides through 30 experiments from simple measurements to pretty involved computations. I bought the kit for my 12-year-old son. I read the manual in advance and then guided him through it all. Our plan is to use it as the basis for a science project. The kit includes a solar cell to either produce electricity or break down water into oxygen and hydrogen to drive the fuel cell. It includes a car, cables, multimeter, fuel tanks, safety goggles, etc. Everything is high quality except for the cars wheels which are very flimsy. The manual is very good but the translation from German is choppy at times and flip-flops between metric and imperial units. Overall, excellent.
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3 of 4 customers found this review helpful.
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Great Gift
Posted 3/26/2009
Rating:
I bought this for my 13 year old nephew who is very smart. He was into it right away and had the car built within an hour. It was great to see him working with his dad and learning about electricity and circuits. I always struggle to find challenging gifts for my nephew and this product totally fit the bill.
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2 of 2 customers found this review helpful.
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Review for
Posted 1/11/2008 by Bill Prots
Rating: 
Easy to follow instructions. Kids really enjoyed putting the car together. We haven't done all the experiments yet. However, the kids are excited to them. That says alot.
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1 of 1 customers found this review helpful.
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Good Kit
Posted 2/4/2008 by Christy M Mollet
Rating:
This is a pretty good kit and very informative. Only problem I had was I thought the chassis would be a little stronger. While trying to plug the wires in, the chassis would deflect. I kinda worried about breaking it. Also, would be good if you let customers know they would need distilled water and a desk lamp. Not a big deal typically, but I ordered this for an event at the office and don't have access to desk lamps or distilled water at work.
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1 of 2 customers found this review helpful.
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Some fuel cell technology; and a fair amount of basic circuits
Posted 10/29/2009 by Bruce Jacobsen
Rating:
The kid is an updated version of a fuel cell car the company has been selling for a while. It's a definite improvement, with better components and so on. It's fun to build a solar-powered fuel cell car.
The kit also touts many experiments and I was curious what they were. The long/short of it is that most of them are *not* about the fuel cell but about the solar panel and the multimeter. For instance, they have experiments about the basic "resistors in parallel" and "resistors in series" -- which are fine science experiments, but have nothing to do with fuel cells. A multimeter (ammeter + voltmeter) and a few resistors from radio shack are equivalent.
There is also an extensive manual that explains in nice detail how photovoltaic cells work (non-trivial topic!) and a bit less on fuel cells.
So in sum, the kit features a well-constructed hydrogen fuel car with a solar panel. The manual is clear. My daughter enjoyed the project. I think it took us about 45 minutes (and some distilled water) to get it going. After that, there were a few basic experiments with the solar panel that seemed relevant, especially to discuss the difference/relationship between power and energy. The rest of the kit was basic DC circuits. I think I got my money's worth from the fuel cell car and solar panel; the rest was in my view experiments they tacked on to increase the overall experiment count of a product.
A rating of
Posted 4/10/2009 by P. C.
Rating:
Setting: School
The sophistication of the kit is at the level of teacher-class or parent-child (~ 8th grade or above) and deals with circuit, electricity, electrolysis, solar panel, fuel cell, and design of the various experiments. The manual is the key part of the kit. The kit is fairly complete. I would suggest the development of a companion kit that provides dissectable fuel cells at an affordable price, adding another dimension to the experimental questions and possibilities. The car really is secondary -- could easily be a windmill or blinking LED pin.
Review for
Posted 4/18/2006 by GABY CHAGHOURI
Rating:
Setting: School
My children are very excited about their project for school. This product is very informative for children and adults. Great product along with a very detailed instruction book. We are still working on reading the introduction and basic operations. We have not completed an experiment as of yet, but we are excited seeing it work.
Good Purchase
Posted 3/16/2006 by JHONATTAN CASTILLO
- OTHER
Rating:
Setting: Office
Works fine. Just I thought it would be bigger. But that's not a big deal.
Fuel Cell Car
Posted 1/5/2006 by Cody Jackson
Rating: 
The item worked okay but not as advertised. The instructions stated the car would run on the light from a desk lamp. This is wrong. It took full sun before the vehicle moved at all. Since all the experts on the fuel cell depend on the efficiency of the solar energy, the process was tedious and boring for the kids. Basically, all it proved to my kids is solar energy doesn't work very well and they missed the point of the promise of fule cells.
Fuel cell car beats gas!
Posted 6/30/2008 by Caroline
Rating:
This kit is a great learning tool. We use it for demos for middle school age learners as well as experiments in undergrad environmental studies. Highly rec you add it to your program. :)
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1 of 3 customers found this review helpful.
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Information about
Posted 1/12/2009 by JB
Rating:
Setting: Home
Very cool, great time watching our 12 year old put it together and it worked well.
A rating of
Posted 1/11/2008
- GRANDPARENT
Rating:
Setting: Home
My grandson received this as a Christmas present and was very excited about it. He immediately began learning about and assembling it.
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Elkhorn, Nebraska USA 68022