5V USB Portable Solar Power Charger DIY or Buy
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Date: 2020-09-05
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Comments and reviews: 9
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With buck/boost, you didn't really need 10 cells. Assuming the cells are 5W, and minimum boost voltage is 3. 2V, you should be able to get by with 7 cells. But that's 35W, and the buck/boost can only deliver 1. 5A max, so of the 35W, And instead of buck/boost, just size the array to give you 6V and use a LDO voltage regulator. Voltage is reasonably constant for solar cells over a wide range of illumination. It's the current that varies.
So, at. 5V per cell, you need 12 cells. To get 10W, the cells should be. 8W each. A 3x6 solar cell gives (typically) about 1. 8W at. 5V (3. 6A. Clearly, 12 of those would be more than you need (nearly 24W. So you have to split 6 in half and treat the two halves as independent cells. This gives you 12 cells. 5V=6V at 1. 8A or 10. 8W. Run that through a LDO regulator and you're done. (More likely, your phone can handle 6 volts quite easily, as it has its own on-board lithium battery charging circuit)
inchesinstead
youto
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With buck/boost, you didn't really need 10 cells. Assuming the cells are 5W, and minimum boost voltage is 3. 2V, you should be able to get by with 7 cells. But that's 35W, and the buck/boost can only deliver 1. 5A max, so of the 35W, And instead of buck/boost, just size the array to give you 6V and use a LDO voltage regulator. Voltage is reasonably constant for solar cells over a wide range of illumination. It's the current that varies.
So, at. 5V per cell, you need 12 cells. To get 10W, the cells should be. 8W each. A 3x6 solar cell gives (typically) about 1. 8W at. 5V (3. 6A. Clearly, 12 of those would be more than you need (nearly 24W. So you have to split 6 in half and treat the two halves as independent cells. This gives you 12 cells. 5V=6V at 1. 8A or 10. 8W. Run that through a LDO regulator and you're done. (More likely, your phone can handle 6 volts quite easily, as it has its own on-board lithium battery charging circuit)
inchesinstead
youto
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Cake
I once thougt about the same.
Then I did my calculations and got a number about 10w Paneel to charge a phone enough for a normal use ( everything lower limits the user.
I compared different products and bought a 10w paneel, a direct usb controller thing and a power box.
The paneel with controller costet togheter 15, and the bower box because I think that when you want to get the macimum out of sun you have to use all of it, place the paneel with battery strategely and wait for it to collect.
It works extreamly well and the small paneel fits easyly in travel luggage.
It looks a bit bad but I really like it
The DIY setup in the video is a bit overdoing it, but on the other hand it will charge with worse weather conditions!
still very briddle design
reply
I once thougt about the same.
Then I did my calculations and got a number about 10w Paneel to charge a phone enough for a normal use ( everything lower limits the user.
I compared different products and bought a 10w paneel, a direct usb controller thing and a power box.
The paneel with controller costet togheter 15, and the bower box because I think that when you want to get the macimum out of sun you have to use all of it, place the paneel with battery strategely and wait for it to collect.
It works extreamly well and the small paneel fits easyly in travel luggage.
It looks a bit bad but I really like it
The DIY setup in the video is a bit overdoing it, but on the other hand it will charge with worse weather conditions!
still very briddle design
reply
deslomeslager
Today I finished the project. Same cells! 10 of them. If I hook it up to a powerbank with 10 18650 LiIon batteries of 2. 2 Ah in them, I get around 18 Watt in full sun (So I connected the batteries directly. I also tested with a 6Volt lamp, but it only got 12 Watt at 5 Volts. Clearly the cells perform best at a lower voltage per cell (0. 37 Volt per cell. I am thinking of charging LiFePO4 batteries with it, since those like to be filled at round 3. 6 Volts, and float round 3. 4 Volts. But I am also thinking of making my own MPPT circuit for it, I found one with just 2 NE 555 chips and a few other components!
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Today I finished the project. Same cells! 10 of them. If I hook it up to a powerbank with 10 18650 LiIon batteries of 2. 2 Ah in them, I get around 18 Watt in full sun (So I connected the batteries directly. I also tested with a 6Volt lamp, but it only got 12 Watt at 5 Volts. Clearly the cells perform best at a lower voltage per cell (0. 37 Volt per cell. I am thinking of charging LiFePO4 batteries with it, since those like to be filled at round 3. 6 Volts, and float round 3. 4 Volts. But I am also thinking of making my own MPPT circuit for it, I found one with just 2 NE 555 chips and a few other components!
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Charles
Hi scott, just a trick. Every phone is capable of measuring its chargig current. For exemple, on my phone (bb key one) i can go to the phone app and type #2886# and it bringes me to the diagnostic secret menu. From there, i can click on the usb/charger menu. When plugged in, you can see the charging current in ma, and you are able to test if one cable, or block is better than another.
i'm sure we are able to find access to that menu, with any android phone.
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Hi scott, just a trick. Every phone is capable of measuring its chargig current. For exemple, on my phone (bb key one) i can go to the phone app and type #2886# and it bringes me to the diagnostic secret menu. From there, i can click on the usb/charger menu. When plugged in, you can see the charging current in ma, and you are able to test if one cable, or block is better than another.
i'm sure we are able to find access to that menu, with any android phone.
reply
TrollFaceTheMan
Love your videos Scott!
But sometimes those testers can stop your phone from drawing quick charge amps (Amps greater than 1) usually.
To test the actual output wattage having an appropriate load is a better way of doing it I feel.
Though I wouldn't be surprised if the cell is a fraction of claimed as that does happen a lot.
I am just speaking from personal experience. You tester might not have that issue.
Thanks again.
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Love your videos Scott!
But sometimes those testers can stop your phone from drawing quick charge amps (Amps greater than 1) usually.
To test the actual output wattage having an appropriate load is a better way of doing it I feel.
Though I wouldn't be surprised if the cell is a fraction of claimed as that does happen a lot.
I am just speaking from personal experience. You tester might not have that issue.
Thanks again.
reply
d3rbastl3r
Can you make a sun test? Let this cells in the sun for whole day (or for a couple of days) and then tell us about the deformation of the cells? Will the cells break because the epoxy resin has different thermal expansion values in comparison to the Cells? Or will the cells survive longer? :)
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Can you make a sun test? Let this cells in the sun for whole day (or for a couple of days) and then tell us about the deformation of the cells? Will the cells break because the epoxy resin has different thermal expansion values in comparison to the Cells? Or will the cells survive longer? :)
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Hillary
It would be nice if you could go over the process of converting a buck regulator into a constant current driver. For example a driver ic like the lm2596s-adj and adding a current sense resistor and screwing with the feedback pin
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It would be nice if you could go over the process of converting a buck regulator into a constant current driver. For example a driver ic like the lm2596s-adj and adding a current sense resistor and screwing with the feedback pin
reply
greek
You could at least tell is why you think DIY is the winner!
I don't see it. If it ain't really better and it costs the same without the bells and whistles, it should be the loser! Right?
Am I missing something?
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You could at least tell is why you think DIY is the winner!
I don't see it. If it ain't really better and it costs the same without the bells and whistles, it should be the loser! Right?
Am I missing something?
reply
Pasta
Is it possible to make your own amp buck step up converter to increase charging capacity to cut down charging time to be non-existent? I would really like to know if you can make one such thing.
reply
Is it possible to make your own amp buck step up converter to increase charging capacity to cut down charging time to be non-existent? I would really like to know if you can make one such thing.
reply
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