Solar Panel Laptops
Help with solar panel science project?
I have a science fair at my school and for it I want to do something with a solar panel.
I want it to have something to do with charging cell phones or laptops or other electrical devices.
I think I can afford a 10-20 watt solar panel, will that be enough for me?
How would I then connect the panel to my phone?
Feel free to cram my brain with electrical engineering terms as long as you explain what they mean.
Please and thank you.
The easiest way to connect a cell phone to a solar charger would be to use a 12VDC car charging adapter and wire to a 12VDC Solar panel.
You can use a cigarette lighter socket to plug the cell phone adapter into, use a Y splitter forund at Radio Shack and cut off one of the sockets and wire it to the Solar Panel.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3917567
Cheap Solar panels and be found at http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?category=&q=solar+12v
To get full output voltage you will need bright and direct sunlight.
To be honest you would be better off just showing that some power is being produced using a Volt meter and/or lighting an LED. You might be able to get a very small motor to turn, a tiny cooling fan such as this one only draws 70mA
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/CF-313/12VDC-45MM-COOLING-FAN/1.html
A 12VDC solar panel won’t work well indoors in a science fair even if you illuminate it with a flood light. However it will work well enought to generate several volts under such conditions.
I would use a Volt meter to measure the Voltage generated and then see what effect shading , orientation and types of light have on the amount of voltage generated. Collect that data and plot on a graph.
FREE DATA LOGGER FOR STUDENTS:
Want to make automated voltage readings using a PC? Connect a Solar cell to a DataLogger and record voltage every few seconds automatically.
DATAQ offers their starter DAQ to students for free upon registering your Science Fair project with them.
http://www.dataq.com/products/startkit/di145.html
http://www.dataq.com/science-fair/sciencefair.php
Solar Laptop PC
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