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Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description
Solar-powered and endlessly entertaining, this double Rainbow Maker from Kikkerland sends a cascade of brilliant rainbows around the room on sunny days. The unit features a suction cup mount so it can attach to any window or glass door in the home, and its motor requires sunlight but no batteries to operate. In action, the two genuine Swarovski crystals rotate smoothly, catching and refracting light as they go. An enchanting treat for adults, children, and pets, the smart little device combines clear casing with colorful gears, so the inner workings become part of the display. Designed for Kikkerland by David Dear, the piece measures approximately 2-1/4 by 1-3/4 by 7 inches. A wire hanger is included, and single-crystal versions are also available.
Product Description
Rainbow maker Double
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun solar toy,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Kikkerland Solar-Powered Double Rainbow Maker (Kitchen)
This joins the radiometer and 4" prism as one of the basic sun toys that everyone should have. It's a fun design with a transparent case, exposed motor, different colored gears, and counter rotating crystals. It looks to be quite well made, and I was pleased to find that its large built-in suction cup does a good job. Up close you hear a little whirring sound (not objectionable) from the motor and high speed gear, but from across the room it runs silently. Its speed doesn't vary with the intensity of the light, it either runs or it doesn't run. Occasionally it will click for a few seconds as the shadow of the sun passes over it.
I saw one reviewer who said the single crystal unit worked fine, but the double unit was underpowered and would barely rotate in bright sunlight. I don't find that to be the case at all, mine rotates even when the sun is partial obscured by clouds. As I write, it is late on a winter afternoon in New England with the sun low in the sky at 60 degrees off perpendicular, and my double unit is still running. I experimented and found it would even run when the solar cells were illuminated from the back! Minor negatives --- Compared to the one big bright solar spectrum a 4" prism will throw on the wall, the spectrums from this thing are pretty small and dim, though the compensation is that there are many of them and they sweep around the room. When the sun is at the right angle, you have to expect that some of these 'rainbows' are going to pass over your eye, so you get a little flash now and then. It's more complicated than a prism or radiometer, so it's probably not going to live as long. For those interested technically its solar panel is 4 cm x 2.5 cm = 10^-3 m^2 and looks to be five (1/2 V) cells in series. Since the power of bright sunlight is 1,000 w/m^2, if inexpensive solar cells with efficiency in the 5% to 10% range are used, the output power available to drive the DC motor would be 50 to 100 mw, or 20 to 40 ma @ 2.5V. update --- It's now nine months since I put this on a window using the vacuum sucker and it's never fallen off! Still works fine too. update2 --- Well after two years, it's showing its age. One crystal broke off when it fell and the gears are now sticking. I just ordered a replacement. More technical--- When my new one arrived, I took apart my old one to look at the motor, which still works. (I am a motor control engineer.) The motor is not a DC motor with brushes, which is good as brushes wear out. It is a brushless AC PM (permanent magnet) motor that a finger test shows will spin in either direction (at roughly 200 RPM). The 2.5V from the solar cell is converted to AC by a tiny circuit board mounted above the coil. The board's active component(s) is covered by glop, but it is probably a single IC clocked by an external crystal, which seems like overkill.
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Customer Service,
By
This review is from: Kikkerland Solar-Powered Double Rainbow Maker (Kitchen)
The first one I received didn't constantly rotate as the inside gears would jam. When I called the distributor I immediately spoke with a nice person who told me to return with "Please debit the postage back to my credit card." on the packing slip. And in a timely fashion I received a new rainbowmaker and a debit for the postage I spent to return the broken item!!! And my new rainbowmaker brings me such joy!
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful rainbows!,
By Sonshine seeker (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Kikkerland Solar-Powered Double Rainbow Maker (Kitchen)
Double the fun! This double rainbow maker sends a myriad of rainbow balls that swirl across your room. The solar power does need sun, so put it in a window that receives a lot of sunshine. This product doesn't work on cloudy days, but is well worth the experience on sunny days!
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