Solar charger

[PedeBasher]

Does anyone have any experience with solar panels?

While sitting in math today (horribly boring), I was looking at my calculator. I saw the solar panel it has on it and it only has 6 screws in the back. That got me thinking. It cant be too hard to extract the panel now could it?

Well anyway, I want to start small. Maybe with my Micro-T charger and 6 or so panels rigged into it. If that works I will go bigger into something maybe for my 606i.

Does anyone think this is possible? I know if I dont have a lot of panels I probably wont get a lot of amps but I wont worry about that now. I just want to know if it is do-able.

Some may think its stupid but for those of us that dont have cars to use to plug our chargers into, its brilliant. Cheap, easy, and ultimately light weight.

I could be a new revolution of R/C gear...

[pedeboi364]

damn wouldn't that be great. No more buying heavy, annoying, expensive power supplies!!! Call me ur official helper-tester-outer!!

[PedeBasher]

Originally Posted by pedeboi364

damn wouldn't that be great. No more buying heavy, annoying, expensive power supplies!!!

Thats exactly what I am thinking. If I get one working I think it would be a huge innovation.

Im sure I can get old solar panels by asking neighbors/looking around Craigslist for used calcs and solar malibu lights.

If anyone has some good info on solar panels, please post it or PM me about it.

[kostaktinos_mt]

not a cheap solution...
example:
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a...R-PANEL/1.html

you will need a minimum of two of these [~2.3amps /17v total -in full direct sunlight] for a small charger, able to charge a 2s lipo at around 4amps...

thus, the cost will be around 400$ [not including any regulating array that might be involved]...

[PedeBasher]

Hmm... Think if I rounded up like 100 malibu panels (bought 2" by 2" if you dont know what im talking about) it could be done?

But for now, like I said, I just want to get my feet wet with a Micro-T charger.

[Dagger Thrasher]

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.

[bruce750i]

Here are few that are a little bigger than whats on your Texas Instrument. http://search.harborfreight.com/cpis...rd=solar+panel

[PedeBasher]

Hmm... It was a thought. I wanted your guys opinion. I think I will still pursue the Micro-T idea. If I have to, I will step down even further to a MCX charger and try that, just to say I did it.