Solar chargers are generally used by those who are difficult to get access to the electricity network but easy to get access to sunlight, for example backpacker visiting exotic places, the mountaineer, fisherman and sailor, traveler, emergency situations, the campsite (camping ), nature activities, and surveyors in the field. recharge the battery gadget or smartphone that runs out only need sunlight and can be handle with this solar charger.
Solar charger branded ie: brand Goal Zero relatively expensive but offer good quality, if you live in tropical regions with sunshine throughout the year, maybe will be interested to use the charger with solar energy (solar charger). for those who need a solar charger with a low budget certainly expect solar charger quality but with low price, when to buy a solar charger branded of course expensive & certainly not solution. This condition inspired me to starting assemble solar charger that affordable but also maintaining quality. You can inspired to make their own or even develop itself to be better. This solar charger need only cost less than $ 15 alone, quite cheap if compared to having to buy branded solar charger sort of Goal Zero. materials or major components needed for the assembly of solar charger is just a mini solar panels and converter module.
Solar charger Goal Zero
This DIY solar charger has a high efficiency because the components, I choose the components that ability to high convertion or high efficiency. for example in solar panels using type of monocrystaline, more efficient for generating power greater than polycrystaline types in same size. the voltage regultor I choose to use XL4005 converter module with power conversion is about 90%, when using a traditional linear regulator such as the LM7805, a power conversion is in the range of 20%.
schematics of solar charger 4 Watt
component list:
1 piece USB female socket and enough cable as the connector.
total costs required to collect material above is the range of $ 15.
DIY solar charger 4 watt
I use a module XL4005 step-down DC-DC converter because it has a better efficiency when compared using the regulator IC LM 7805, LM 7805 has a low efficiency and a lot of power is wasted into heat. with the use of module XL4005 electric power from the solar panel can be optimized use.
This solar charger is actually less than 4 Watt output (2x2 Watt solar panels) but closer to 4 Watt because there is a reduction in the power efficiency of the converter module. for schematics, construction, results of assembly, test, and test results can be seen in my video on YouTube, please click on the image below:
according to the test results, the solar charger is working well on a sunny day with direct sunlight or a little cloudy, but the charging process will be slow if cloud conditions medium to thick clouds, and it will not work at all if it gets dark because of the thick clouds and day rain.
I tested it with Aurora Ainol Tablet PC that has a large capacity battery and solar charger with 4 Watt, can work well (see test and the test results in my video). I think this is more suitable solar charger to charge a smartphone with a 4 to 5 inch screen which usually have the battery capacity of 1500 mAh to 2500 mAh.