With the arrival of new prototypes of the GL02 design, we are testing and assessing their durability and performance over time. Having developed a bespoke Accelerated Life Testing rig, we’re able to condense one year of use - four hours times by 365 days – into two months of non-stop running.
LED testing and selection has formed a large part of our recent development work. When trying to select GravityLight’s LED, there were a number of physical properties that were important to consider.
Families who tested GL01 shared invaluable feedback on what needed improving before we could launch GravityLight. These insights have driven the development of GL02 over the past 18 months.
Not only did the crowd-funding dramatically change the scale of our intended production run, it also gave us the opportunity to further refine the product before sending to crowdfunders and testing around the world.
In 2009, therefore, an award-winning design consultancy was approached by SolarAid, a UK charity with a mission to eradicate kerosene lamps. The team at SolarAid wanted to develop an extremely low-cost solar light, in order to reach off-grid families living on less than $3 a day.
Designers Martin Riddiford and Jim Reeves took on the challenge
