Exterior Solar Panel with rechargeable batteries

[whitephnx1]

We have all seen where someone made a battery pack with a cable that comes out of it to run to an auxillary power source. Why can't this be done for the cameras so the sun can charge the rechargeable batteries throughout the day and this camera could become even better and be less impactive on the environment.

[jguerdat]

As one who has solar panels on his house, I'm all for this. However, its rapidly getting to the point of being large and cumbersome, not to mention the possible issues of finding a suitable panel for each camera. Since the batteries are installed in the device I'm not sure if you could safely charge them without extra circuitry in the camera to prevent various possible issues.

Just something to ponder. The use of rechargeable batteries in the first place at least partially addresses your concerns.

[whitephnx1]

I here what your saying. I just know people have created such things in past 3rd party parts that the company wouldn't sign off on and it works. I think it could be done. 

The only bad thing about rechargeable batteries is what you see all over the buying tips section is that they don't provide enough power to last like a normal battery, or you got the wrong kind and they catch fire, etc.. I want something wireless that i can put up and forget about and it charge it self.. lol. it would be awesome if they come up with a better solution to wireless charging so you could have the wireless charger on the other side of the wall and it still be able to charge it.. 

[TomMac · Accepted solution]

Well there are enough pre-made curcuits that will work if you want to do it...

Like ;  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KL7I9XC?psc=1

Take your normal solar small panel and external battery pack with above.... feed voltage into battery pack but limit voltage and add a simple current limiter

Have the pack and panel remote, run just a power lead back to the camera.

All depends on how much you want to do the project.

[Clibo]

Somethink like these might fit Adafruit USB / DC / Solar Lithium Ion/Polymer charger [ADA390] and

ALLPOWERS 2.5W 5V/500mAh Mini Encapsulated Solar Cell Epoxy Solar Panel DIY Battery Charger Kit for ...

But only for one cell, not for four in a row.

[TomMac]

In all honesty, you don't need to go so crazy... esp with li-ion cells and chargers. Costly compared to bleow.

a 6v gell cell , 317 chip for voltage regulation( about 4 additional parts; 2 resistors, 2 caps ) and a 9v solar panel works just fine.

Gell cell is big enough to last a week without sunlight and also works as a sink/dump for variations in charging V from the 317 chip due to solar panel output.

[squidman]

Very cool discussion! Use a portable 2xa10 panel while camping, as I just end up using more and more gadgets comared with the old days (mobile, tablet for movies, gopro4 etc....)....

[TomMac]

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squidman wrote:

Very cool discussion! Use a portable 2xa10 panel while camping, as I just end up using more and more gadgets comared with the old days (mobile, tablet for movies, gopro4 etc....)....

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Know what you mean... use a RC cell pack still @12v ( of "c" cells ) and a unisolar flexible 5w panel on my pack... runs the tent Leds and my elecs at night and gets charged during day ( 2 packs and I swap just in case no sun ).  simple 317 chip charge control

[Clibo]

Just a stable voltage is not enough and if the Lipo should live a little longer it should not be overloaded it. Also the solar panel will need a bit of control, you can not just draw energy from it, if you are expecting a stable voltage.

[TomMac]

Don't recommend going crazy with lipo or li-ion batteries.... as mentioned tooo much problem with possible overload and with those cells its critical for life, sometimes the old methods work just as well.

I had a simple 6v gell cell with 317 chip controller and small solar panel... it worked fine. The solor panel does have a varied output ( like all solar panels ) and can reach 2x their actual V rating ( which is why you need a controller ).   Ran that camera for hours a day for about 3 weeks and all worked fine.

Using the gel cell as a V dump via 317 controller with a zener diode on the output terminals to the camera kept the camera very happy and a stable V.