Japanese blackouts push Kiwi solar lightcap sales

2Clight inventor Simon Dyer. Photo / Amanda Cropp

Power blackouts caused by damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant have prompted a Christchurch company to begin marketing its solar powered products to Japanese consumers scared of being left in the dark.

Inventor Simon Dyer had concentrated on the fishing and outdoor recreation market for sales of his 2CLight, a cap with a solar panel in the peak which powers a two rechargeable LED lights, and he was already selling through Yamaha Marine which has 4000 stores in Japan.

Plans to attend a major Fishing Trade Show in Tokyo in late March fell through when the event was cancelled after the devastating quake and tsunami hit Japan, forcing him to rethink his business strategy.

2Clight had recently come up with a lower priced product called the 2CPodcap which sells for US$20 (half of the cost of the original 2CLight) and Dyer decided this would be a good time to target the market for emergency survival gear.

"A lot of people in Japan are not sleeping well because they're worried about waking up to no lights and bumping around in the dark, so it's giving them the comfort of having a light right beside the bed. Survival gear for every adventure is our new tag line."

Dyer says the 2CPodcap does not have the same number of features as the 2Clight but four hours of sun will provide two hours of light, enough to read a book if there's a power outage or to get out of a tricky situation.

2CLight is also branching out into a wider range of solar powered products such as the Tufflite which comes with an adhesive strip so it can be stuck on a hard hat, fishing tackle box or a child's school bag.

Another version has Velcro straps to attach the light a dog collar or onto the handlebars of a bike. "We've taken our technology from our existing product and squeezed it down to something smaller. It's about half the size, half the price and two thirds the performance of our original light cap. It's going to be a very generic reusable light and you can stick it anywhere the sun shines."

Dyer was regularly asked to create a hard hat incorporating a solar powered light, but with so many companies in the hard hat market he figured it was better to come up with something that could be applied to an existing product.

He believes the Tufflite has enormous potential in the building industry especially in China which is predicted to build up to 50,000 new skyscrapers by 2025.

With thousands of workers employed on each one, that adds up to an awful lot of batteries to power helmet lamps, so the cost savings from using solar powered lights are very attractive.

Dyer, who had a degree in digital technology and previously worked in the interactive entertainment industry in Australia and as a software development manager for Trimble, spent three years developing the flexible solar panel for 2Clight.

The caps are manufactured in China and have sold in 28 countries.