Solar powered fountains

Garden fountains are one of the latest home products to feature a solar energy power source.

Using solar energy to supplement a central heating system, or to bring up the ambient temperature of a swimming pool, are among the more mainstream solar energy applications. However, small scale solar powered products are the big innovation in the home and gadget market right now.

Solar power cells for anything from mobile phones to usb devices are the obvious applications, but ornamental garden fountains are another.

A garden fountain requires a fairly small pump and, furthermore, is generally only required in full operation on warm sunny days.

This makes it a perfect solar power device.

How solar fountains work
The fountain, or more appropriately the fountain pump, requires solar matting or some solar cells for the generation of electricity. This solar catchment area need not be too expansive and because of this there are some novel ways of using solar matting for decorative as well as a functional purposes.

A great example of this is to float “purpose shaped” solar matting around the fountain spout giving the impression of a leaf or water Lilly.

These custom fountain kits blend in well and avoid the need to set up a solar collection zone away from the pond or water feature.

For more “power demanding” pumps, or multiple water spouts, a proper solar collector will be included in the fountain kit. This will include a cable to connect the pump to larger areas of solar matting, or fold-up panels that can be laid out, or opened up in a sunny area.

Solar fountains of this type require no mains electricity, so they are easy to install and completely safe.

For more information, you can check out: http://www.watergardeningdirect.com/acatalog/Solar_Fountain_Pumps_153.html.

Magnetic mattress covers

Magnetic mattress covers, often called magnetic toppers, use magnetic therapy to relieve pain, soreness and fatigue. They help relax the body and thereby improve the quality of sleep.

At least these are the claims that are made of them.
The concept behind magnetic mattress toppers
The magnetic therapy works by taking a quilted material that is embedded with small magnets. A single bed may use a topper with as many as 200, or even 400, small magnets in it.

Each of these magnets are powerful enough to create a small magnetic field, but small enough to go unnoticed by the person resting on them. They are stitched into the body of the quilted topper or mattress protector.

The magnets polarise together to create a catchment area above the beds sleeping surface and this in turn enables the magnetic therapy to go to work on the person sleeping within this magnetic field.

Do they work?

Although these magnetic toppers have no hard and fast evidence to support their pain relieving effectiveness, some initial support has been given to their “possible” benefits by a number of experts in the field.

There are also an increasing number of people who use these products and who claim to have received pain relieving benefits from them.