There have been many interesting hacks to increase the battery life of an iPhone since its release, but hearing “light it on fire” has probably not been one of them. Lighting your phone on fire is still a terrible idea and should not be attempted to charge anything, but a device called the FlameStower USB Fire Charger lets you harness humanity’s oldest discovery to power one of its newest inventions.
The FlameStower is useful when camping, and especially useful for those unfortunate times when stranded on a desert island. It works by converting thermal energy into electricity through a small generator which powers the connected device. A blade protruding from the unit is placed into the fire to get the generator going. From there, the attached phone will begin to receive power, albeit at a crawl.
The unit is capable of charging small electronics, cameras, and flashlights as long as the device receiving power is USB compatible.
While many alternatives such as customizable phone batteries or spare battery packs can also come in handy, there are few charging methods as rugged and story-worthy as powering a phone from a campfire or grill. For more information, check out the product on Amazon.
