Designing a solar panel MPPT charger

Daox · 12-19-12, 03:04 PM

I came across this PDF while asking about some other electronics questions on the local makerspace email list. Its pretty comprehensive and basically spells out exactly how to use the chip listed to build your own mppt charge controller. The chip is even quite reasonably priced at ~$7.

I wish I had some spare time to play around with this. Too many other projects on the table for now.

http://cds.linear.com/docs/LT%20Jour...52-JimDrew.pdf

creeky · 12-19-12, 06:06 PM

looks good, but
"to offer a compact, high efficiency design solution supplying up to 3A output current"
really means its for portable/small devices and batteries.
I could imagine building one into a canoe for backwoods trekking though.

hmmm. I like that idea.

Daox · 12-26-12, 07:53 AM

Thats kind of what I was looking for actually, just a little gadget charger.

I'm actually on the lookout for a new alarm clock and I thought it would be nice if it was solar powered. However, none of the solar powered alarm clocks I've found have nighttime backlighting (probably to save on battery power). So, I was thinking of picking up a battery powered alarm clock with a automatic nighttime sensing back light and just hooking up a solar panel and small charge controller to it. Its not a huge energy savings (its about 1-3w continuous load), but its mostly just a fun project to get my hands into the solar stuff a bit more. Perhaps I'll start a new thread for it so I can gather some links. The project doesn't need mppt...

12-19-12, 03:04 PM	#1
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Designing a solar panel MPPT charger I came across this PDF while asking about some other electronics questions on the local makerspace email list. Its pretty comprehensive and basically spells out exactly how to use the chip listed to build your own mppt charge controller. The chip is even quite reasonably priced at ~$7. I wish I had some spare time to play around with this. Too many other projects on the table for now. http://cds.linear.com/docs/LT%20Jour...52-JimDrew.pdf __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

12-26-12, 07:53 AM	#3
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Thats kind of what I was looking for actually, just a little gadget charger. I'm actually on the lookout for a new alarm clock and I thought it would be nice if it was solar powered. However, none of the solar powered alarm clocks I've found have nighttime backlighting (probably to save on battery power). So, I was thinking of picking up a battery powered alarm clock with a automatic nighttime sensing back light and just hooking up a solar panel and small charge controller to it. Its not a huge energy savings (its about 1-3w continuous load), but its mostly just a fun project to get my hands into the solar stuff a bit more. Perhaps I'll start a new thread for it so I can gather some links. The project doesn't need mppt... __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by Daox; 12-26-12 at 09:02 AM..

12-19-12, 06:06 PM	#2
creeky Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: a field somewhere Posts: 304 Thanks: 64 Thanked 44 Times in 31 Posts	looks good, but "to offer a compact, high efficiency design solution supplying up to 3A output current" really means its for portable/small devices and batteries. I could imagine building one into a canoe for backwoods trekking though. hmmm. I like that idea.