Welcome to the fabulous Solar Powered Tropical Beverage Cooling Mug blog
The 2 previous blog episodes:
Solar Powered Tropical Beverage Cooling Mug - blog #2 - the solar panel characterization
Solar Powered Tropical Beverage Cooling Mug -Blog #1 - the concept
Blog 3 ties the solar panel to the battery pack, where the measurements taken are to validate the design.
- The batteries are THUNDERBOLT MAGNUM, AA NimH rechargables, Battery capacity 2200 mAh
- Qty 5 Fully charged changed NimH batteries in series, at about 1.3v a piece =6.5V, tho I measured just a bit higher 6.8V.
- I was sure the buck power supply was set for 12V = 6.2V out.
- Note the buck PS and battery pack are separated by an RGP30J 0614 600V 3A (125A surge) diode.
The solar panel was first covered with paper for shade. Solar Panel volts = .7 , the milli ammeter in series with the output measured 0.
Removing the cover on the solar cell in full sun at noon, the solar panel read 8.6V , 58 mA , battery volts 7.2, buck power supply 7.8V.
The buck PS was adjusted for 6.8V , the mA = 0 , and solar panel output volts = 13.3 .
The buck P.S. was tweaked for 4mA current , barely trickle charging, the solar panel out = 13.1V , Buck P.S. out = 7.2V batteries 6.74.
The buck P.S. was readjusted for max charging mA in full sun with fully charged batteries. The absolute peak mA in those conditions = 56mA. The batteries had 7.1V , the converter out was 7.74V, the panel output volts were 8.5V
After these readings were taken, the buck P.S. was adjusted down again for 6.7V out showing 2 mA charging current.
Conclusion:
The solar charger will work, but the Volts-load curve didnt match up with the previous table measured with a resistive load.
Maybe it needs viewed with a scope, and more experiments done with battery charge levels varied.
solar panel covered
solar panel full sun
trying to read the converter circuit series mA in the bright full sun, without blocking the solar panel
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