DIY Solar Garden Light Hack - Solar Battery Charger

Discussions about solar power and solar energy projects.
techman
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Re: DIY Solar Garden Light Hack - Solar Battery Charger

Post by techman » Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:29 am

Welcome to the forum. Happy you made it. Just for info, I will delete the comment you made on youtube, so people do not misuse your information.

Please feel free to ask for help with your projects, and submit any progress you are making.

Solar98632
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Re: DIY Solar Garden Light Hack - Solar Battery Charger

Post by Solar98632 » Thu Jan 24, 2013 5:33 pm

greetings Coder

techman
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Re: DIY Solar Garden Light Hack - Solar Battery Charger

Post by techman » Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:36 am

Welcome to the forum coder.

MCS
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Location: Florida

Re: DIY Solar Garden Light Hack - Solar Battery Charger

Post by MCS » Tue Apr 16, 2013 8:25 pm

techman wrote:Here is a schematic for the homemade solar charger.

Image
Troy I found these exact same lights at my Family dollar store (sets of 2 for 3 bucks).
I bought 2 sets (4 lights) and I am wondering.

You have it set up to charge 2 batteries, would the same 4 charge 3 batteries (AA or AAA)?
Image
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MCS
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Location: Florida

Re: DIY Solar Garden Light Hack - Solar Battery Charger

Post by MCS » Tue Apr 16, 2013 8:27 pm

techman wrote:Here is a schematic for the homemade solar charger.

Image

Another question (lol gonna get my 3 post out of the way).

How many would I need to set up to use a USB Socket and how would it be wired?
I know the wiring to the socket but would the panels to it be like the battery holders?
Image
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MCS
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Re: DIY Solar Garden Light Hack - Solar Battery Charger

Post by MCS » Tue Apr 16, 2013 8:31 pm

techman wrote:Here is a schematic for the homemade solar charger.

Image

Now for my third question lol.

What I am wanting to do is set up the board to charge 3 AAA, 4 AA, and a USB Socket. Of course it will not be running all 3 (aa, aaa, usb) at the same time just one set of the 3.

Also just for the battery side of it, did you ever set up a over charge circuit?
Image
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techman
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Re: DIY Solar Garden Light Hack - Solar Battery Charger

Post by techman » Thu Apr 18, 2013 8:39 pm

MCS wrote:
techman wrote:Here is a schematic for the homemade solar charger.

Image
Troy I found these exact same lights at my Family dollar store (sets of 2 for 3 bucks).
I bought 2 sets (4 lights) and I am wondering.

You have it set up to charge 2 batteries, would the same 4 charge 3 batteries (AA or AAA)?
Yes, it could charge as many as you want. But the setup shown is optimized for one (speed charge) or two batteries (normal charge). If you want to charge 3 batteries, just add two more solar cells. It would charge them as is, but the charging time would be a bit longer is all.

You could also set up switches with more solar cells so you can cut out a pair of cells for 2 batteries and switch them back into the system to charge 3 batteries.

Hope that makes sense.

techman
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Re: DIY Solar Garden Light Hack - Solar Battery Charger

Post by techman » Thu Apr 18, 2013 8:43 pm

MCS wrote:
techman wrote:Here is a schematic for the homemade solar charger.

Image

Another question (lol gonna get my 3 post out of the way).

How many would I need to set up to use a USB Socket and how would it be wired?
I know the wiring to the socket but would the panels to it be like the battery holders?
Exactly, remove the battery holders and put in the USB socket.

You need to increase the voltage though. Use more solar cells in series to make 5 volts. You should have about 6 to 8 open volts to make the 5 volts under load.

But - one important point here. These are about 25 ma per solar cell. Depending on the device you want to charge, you may need more solar cells. My cell phone for example will not even recognize lower amp chargers at all.

Other devices may be just happy with this setup and charge, although maybe slowly.

At 25 ma each, use more sets of cells for more amps.

techman
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Re: DIY Solar Garden Light Hack - Solar Battery Charger

Post by techman » Thu Apr 18, 2013 8:46 pm

MCS wrote:
techman wrote:Here is a schematic for the homemade solar charger.

Image

Now for my third question lol.

What I am wanting to do is set up the board to charge 3 AAA, 4 AA, and a USB Socket. Of course it will not be running all 3 (aa, aaa, usb) at the same time just one set of the 3.

Also just for the battery side of it, did you ever set up a over charge circuit?

Oh, now it gets complicated. Charging the batteries requires only about 1.5 to 2 volts. A USB device requires 5 volts.

The easiest answer is to make two systems. One for batteries and one for USB.

If you want to make it work with both, you will need to set up a series of switches to get the correct combination of voltage needed for each purpose.

Solar98632
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Re: DIY Solar Garden Light Hack - Solar Battery Charger

Post by Solar98632 » Sun Nov 03, 2013 12:21 am

well, I can not find those panels any more. they seemed to have vanished along with my wallet, i think a two legged critter absconded with them.. yes, Patrick.. I think he stashed them.. i think he has a secret project he is working on lol.
Also , it seems that the Solar led strings have way better Circuits in them.
But they seem to be poorly protected from the elements. Great solar panels but lousy and i mean losy construct on the housing that exposes the electronics to rain.

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