Solar Home 620 (SH620) has been an existing solar lighting BioLite product in East African markets.
As part of the Sustaining Issues team, I have led technical and field investigations required to make viable SH620 improvements to enhance the experience of new and existing users.
Low-Light Investigation
I co-led the effort to investigate and enhance SH620's solar charging capabilities under low-light conditions.
Issue:
Field reports showed user dissatisfaction with charging performance on overcast and rainy days.
Investigation:
I underwent a rigorous investigation to simulate and scope the charge and user interface behavior under similar reported weather conditions.
Path to Product Improvement:
Electrical testing allowed me to understand the behavior of a solar power threshold associated with our user interface.
From this, the team and I identified a path to product improvement by lowing this solar power threshold in the product firmware—telling the product to "turn-on" at a lower power input.
Competitor Analysis:
Investigating competitor product behavior was critical to understanding market expectations and product limitations that may remain with our proposed change.
Understanding Impact:
Analyzing weather patterns in key countries allowed us to evaluate the long-term magnitude of impact affiliated with the proposed product change.