Thread: Solar charger
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Dagger Thrasher
I have no idea what's going on
 
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Location: UK
02.12.2009, 06:14 PM

While it's a nice idea, it's not going to happen for a charger of any real size; solar cells just aren't anywhere near efficient enough yet, so you'd need a MASSIVE array set up to power a normal charger from. For that kind of output, you'd probably be better off setting up a Pb battery solar charging system which charges throughout the day and then powers the charger from the battery; much more reliable. Even then, you'd still need a massive array.

As for your Micro-T charger though...that *might* be do-able. If I remember rightly, the Losi LiPo charger's max output is 150mA, though it has a standard AC 120V input, being a wall charger. You'd need to disassemble it and remove the transformer, which I'd imagine steps-down to around 12V. You could then just hitch up a suitable solar voltage regulator to keep the input steady under varying sunlight, and then setup an appropriate cell array which are capable of outputting at least 250mA total, at a guess (you want to be able to charge when it's cloudy!). You'd want cells of a higher maximum voltage than 12V as that'd allow headroom for when the sunlight fades; around 18V I guess would be ideal. You can mess around with the wiring config, so series-up cells of lower voltages, etc. Or use one, large 12V panel; they usually stay at a fairly constant 12V with variable current output. The voltage reg would probably have a built-in cutoff for when voltage dips too far below 12V.

That's all just a very rough plan and you'd have to look into what actual cells you can find, but it is viable...if a bit of a hassle lol.

Last edited by Dagger Thrasher; 02.12.2009 at 06:25 PM.
   
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