Author Topic: solar panel voltage rating. will this one work?  (Read 4686 times)

taiga

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solar panel voltage rating. will this one work?
« on: April 27, 2014, 12:39:20 AM »
Hey all. I'm wanting to make a simple cell charger and have some questions.

-If I get a 5v solar panel can I plug that right into my phone? Ad that's what my phone charger is rated at... although it draws less,  closer to 4.2 I believe.

-Would it be smarter to get a 6v panel and regulate it?
Or could i even user a 6v panel without regulating in the hopes that it will charges even in less then perfect sun?

-Are those open circuit ratings or will I get that out under load?
Ultimately I'll need to get something to test but is there a rule of thumb?

Thanks!
B.

birrbert

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Re: solar panel voltage rating. will this one work?
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2014, 03:27:11 AM »
Hi!

In my humble opinion, it's better to get a 6V panel. I didn't have the chance to try out 5V version, but their Voltage will most likely drop too much under load. How much will the drop be? To answer this question you need to know two things: 1) the current that the solar panel can deliver and 2) the current that the load will draw. There's also a third factor, which is the tolerance of the load; by this I mean how does the load tolerate Voltages; for example iPhones seem to be strict on Voltage levels, whereas a small Samsung mobile phone is happy with Voltages as low as 3.8V instead of the full 5V.

Usually the seller or the manufacturer specifies whether the Voltage is open circuit or under load; if neither of them do that then there's no way of knowing other than trying it yourself. Depends on who you buy the solar panel from, but usually you can send a question to them and then hope to receive an answer which reflects reality.

So far the only rule of thumb I discovered while playing with my small solar panels is that the Voltage drops under load. By how much, that depends on a few variables and conditions based on which part of Earth one lives and what kind of loads one wishes to power.

I underlined the word 'small' on purpose to highlight that I only fooled around with small solar panels. Be advised, that you could use a high performance solar panel to charge your 5V gadgets, but if we're talking about 2 A current or more then controlling Voltage is more critical because the drop will be less. As far as I'm concerned I'd plug my 6V/600mA panels to the phone directly knowing that it won't do any harm.
"Dubito ergo cogito, cogito ergo sum." Descartes

taiga

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Re: solar panel voltage rating. will this one work?
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2014, 06:59:13 AM »
Thanks! That makes a lot of sense.
I'm trying to decide if i should get:

A. 6v 600ma
B. 2 x 6v 330ma
Or
C. 3 x 5v 260ma

My phone has a max draw of 600ma. I'll try to measure the voltage under load of the wall charger to see how much wiggle room I have.

Is there a formula for voltage drop if you know the amperage?
Sounds like an ohms law thing

Cheers,
B.

taiga

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Re: solar panel voltage rating. will this one work?
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2014, 03:06:53 PM »
I've been trying to figure out a little set-up to Havre a solar-battery-phone charger like this:

Solar-phone (priority)
Solar-battery (when not charging phone or if there is extra current while phone is charging)
Battery-phone (alongside solar fastest charge even on cloudy days or on its own without solar panel)

Here is a link to what I came up with using the parts I have available in my area.

The reason I would lile to bypass the battery is it seems like a lot of waste converting down then up again


birrbert

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Re: solar panel voltage rating. will this one work?
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2014, 02:39:35 AM »
The Adafruit Li-Poly charger has this bypass feature. Read about it on the below site,  Load Sharing.

Link: https://learn.adafruit.com/usb-dc-and-solar-lipoly-charger/using-the-charger
"Dubito ergo cogito, cogito ergo sum." Descartes

taiga

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Re: solar panel voltage rating. will this one work?
« Reply #5 on: April 30, 2014, 08:47:08 AM »
The Adafruit Li-Poly charger has this bypass feature. Read about it on the below site,  Load Sharing.

Link: https://learn.adafruit.com/usb-dc-and-solar-lipoly-charger/using-the-charger

Very interesting. Lools like exactly what I'm trying to do but at $18 :(

So in my drawing will the current not favour the path of less resistance and"bypass" the battery charger?