Solar Charger 0 – Introduction

TOC:

1. Tag Your Green Contest 0 – Introduction
2. Tag Your Green Contest 1 – Preliminary Design
3. Tag Your Green Contest 2 – Designing a Solar NiMH Charger

Make Magazine is running another contest. After my father and grandfather got caught high and dry on the Carnival Splendor, I thought it would be nice to build a USB device charger, a la Minty Boost, that could be recharged with solar energy. I’m not going to have a lot of time before the Dec 31 deadline, and I’ve never really designed power supply systems before, so we’ll see if I get anywhere with it. The last contest turned out rather well for me, though, so I figured it is worth a shot.

Here, in more detail, are the goals:

1. It should be capable of recharging all the devices (various iPhones, iPods, etc.) that Minty Boost can recharge.
2. It should be relatively small and compact, though that will likely be limited by the solar panel size.
3. The solar panels should be removable.
4. The solar panels should be capable of driving the device charger directly.
5. The solar panels charge the built-in batteries as fast as possible, given the current available.
6. The solar panels should be relatively low-cost and readily available.

Part of this contest appears to be a popularity contest, so feel free to click this button to have a look at my official entry, and then vote for my project if you think it has merit.

[Edit] Hmm, it appears this has been done already, so maybe I’ll have to come up with something new or improved..

[Edit 2] I have decided on some improvements, and will be going forward with this build. See the Preliminary Design Notes for more…

[Edit 3] I have updated the goals, to make this introduction more clear.