Jan
24
How to Make a USB solar Charger for [mp3 players] and Junk.
Posted by admin | Posted in Solar Energy | Posted on 24-01-2011
Yyyeyp…. pretty much what it says. Oh.. I think I might write something over here… just copy it from the video. 
its not THAT hard…
buy once from ebay
I looked up the L78505CV voltage regulator on Mouser, and it has a dropout voltage of 2V.
That means you need to supply it with 7V in order get a steady 5V out.
I’m just a beginner, but I think this is correct.
do you need two 8v 100mamp or a total of?
Lol. That was sarcasm btw but I’m a newbie at electronics but can build anything
@Nadrealis what do u mean to connect the negative side of the resistor to ground. What’s the ground? The physical ground?
i need one of these for my android cell
@thecow777clone thanks for the reply. I will try out my backup one then. I know i soldered it right but maybe it heated up too much like you said. I’ll let you know when i actually get some sun.
@Cows607 then the problem is with the 5V regulator. It either doesn’t work or you soldered it wrong. If the regulator heats up too much then it won’t work.
@mightykeys 200
You said you had 100mA on the solar panel you used but used two. So does that mean you had 200mA? Or 1000mA. I’m starting to learn electronics and I’m trying to figure it all out.
How would I connect rechargeable batteries to it?
@malankan I checked both solar panels and i was getting about 5.5-6 volts at the time.
@Cows607 get a voltmeter to see if the solar panel works
@mightykeys You would need the appropriate resistor at the junction of the two solar panels that would be enough to lower the amperage to protect the LED from blowing. You then hook the positive side of the LED to the end of the resistor, then connect the negative side of the resistor to ground.
If I wanted to add an LED light to make sure that there is electric current how would I add that to the circuit?
FYI: Pin 2 and 3 Need to be shorted for many devices such as Sony Erickson phones and some Blackberry phones, Zune …, the recommended amps is 1000mA
Most car chargers use 1000mA, less than that is only enough for very small devices such as Sandisk players and so on.
how do these solar panels work? ive never understood, and everytime i found myself playing with them i just conclude that they use dark magic…
I should make one of these for trips, would be great. and it seems pretty cheap.
HI
Did you solder the voltage regulator to the solar panel…and is it difficult when soldering it?
Thanks
same here
@Cows607 Same here
I did everything EXACTLY as you did it. Same solar panels. Same regulator. Same USB port. Plugged into my iPod Touch and I get nothing.
I checked all my connections and theyre in good. Resoldered everything and still nothing.
Any help?
@ZAKK9090
Im pretty sure droids need 1 amp to charge…so make sure ur set up is one amp
meeh hey anyone want to play with me
@DQuerel
they are just buck (step down) converters, and the chip will actually run down to 3 volts, so if the panel puts out less than 5v then its just switched directly to the output.
the lm7805 5v regulator (unless its the low dropout LDO version) actually needs a couple of volts more to operate properly, ie its inefficient.
thanks for bringing up the point though