DIY Solar Battery Charger

It”s a dark and stormy night – too dark. Your home has lost power. Fortunately, you”ve got a fully charged power plant, built from an inexpensive solar panel and a rechargeable battery. Eight hours of sun will produce enough juice to watch An Inconvenient Truth twice on a portable DVD player. You can even find inverters that will turn the station into an AC outlet. Add additional panels and batteries, and you could power the margarita machine and the flat-panel too. rnrnBuild a Solar Power StationrnCost: $150rnTime: 3rnHoursrnEasy | | | | |rnHardrnrnrnrnPartsrnrnrnA. Bamboo scraps ($7; local flooring store)rnrnB. Silicon Solar, 12-volt solar panel ($48;) Item: 04-1090D rnrnC. Quarter-inch plastic mono plugrn(50; All electronics #SPH) rnrnD. Solar DC charger controller for solar panel ($28; All electronics #SCN-2) rnrnE. 12-volt 12AH rechargeable batteryrn($36;All electronics; #GC-1214) rnrnF. Four feet of 18-gauge wirern($5.65; All electronics; #WRB-18) rnrnG. Two female terminal disconnectsrn(23;Jameco; #109112) rnrnH. 15-amp DC panel meterrn($12;All electronics; #PMD-15A) rnrnI. Reese “Towpower” connectorrn($9; local auto-parts shop) rnrnJ. Cigarette-lighter “Y” adapterrn($3.65;All electronics; #CLP-Y) rnrnrnrnStep-by-SteprnrnBuild the casernrnTo make a cheap, eco-friendly case, we glued up bamboo flooring scraps (bamboo is fast-growing and renewable). Cut holes in the box for airflow and easy carrying, and build frames to hold the DC charger controller and the battery.rnrnAdd the panelrnrnAttach the solar panel at an angle roughly equal to your latitude for optimum charging. Add a tilt bracket for additional adjust ability. Leave space underneath both the panel and the controller for airflow. rnrnrnrnWire it up rnrnSnip off the cigarette-lighter plug and solder the quarter-inch mono plug onto the “Y” adapter. Insert the mono plug into the 12-volt output outlet on the controller. Connect all four power leads from the battery and the solar panel to the controller”s input terminals. Hook up the meter to the controller”s input terminal for the solar panel. For more power, attach additional solar panels, and add extra batteries-but don”t exceed the 12-volt rating of the controller. rnrnrnrnConnect the batteryrnrnTest all connections with a volt-rnmeter before attaching the battery.rnConnect the red wire with a female-rnterminal disconnect to the battery”srnpositive (+) terminal, and connect the black wire to the negative (â€) terminal. Place the station in the sun, and plug something in.It”s a dark and stormy night – too dark. Your home has lost power. Fortunately, you”ve got a fully charged power plant, built from an inexpensive solar panel and a rechargeable battery. Eight hours of sun will produce enough juice to watch An Inconvenient Truth twice on a portable DVD player. You can even find inverters that will turn the station into an AC outlet. Add additional panels and batteries, and you could power the margarita machine and the flat-panel too. rnrnBuild a Solar Power StationrnCost: $150rnTime: 3rnHoursrnEasy | | | | |rnHardrnrnrnrnPartsrnrnrnA. Bamboo scraps ($7; local flooring store)rnrnB. Silicon Solar, 12-volt solar panel ($48;) Item: 04-1090D rnrnC. Quarter-inch plastic mono plugrn(50; All electronics #SPH) rnrnD. Solar DC charger controller for solar panel ($28; All electronics #SCN-2) rnrnE. 12-volt 12AH rechargeable batteryrn($36;All electronics; #GC-1214) rnrnF. Four feet of 18-gauge wirern($5.65; All electronics; #WRB-18) rnrnG. Two female terminal disconnectsrn(23;Jameco; #109112) rnrnH. 15-amp DC panel meterrn($12;All electronics; #PMD-15A) rnrnI. Reese “Towpower” connectorrn($9; local auto-parts shop) rnrnJ. Cigarette-lighter “Y” adapterrn($3.65;All electronics; #CLP-Y) rnrnrnrnStep-by-SteprnrnBuild the casernrnTo make a cheap, eco-friendly case, we glued up bamboo flooring scraps (bamboo is fast-growing and renewable). Cut holes in the box for airflow and easy carrying, and build frames to hold the DC charger controller and the battery.rnrnAdd the panelrnrnAttach the solar panel at an angle roughly equal to your latitude for optimum charging. Add a tilt bracket for additional adjust ability. Leave space underneath both the panel and the controller for airflow. rnrnrnrnWire it up rnrnSnip off the cigarette-lighter plug and solder the quarter-inch mono plug onto the “Y” adapter. Insert the mono plug into the 12-volt output outlet on the controller. Connect all four power leads from the battery and the solar panel to the controller”s input terminals. Hook up the meter to the controller”s input terminal for the solar panel. For more power, attach additional solar panels, and add extra batteries-but don”t exceed the 12-volt rating of the controller. rnrnrnrnConnect the batteryrnrnTest all connections with a volt-rnmeter before attaching the battery.rnConnect the red wire with a female-rnterminal disconnect to the battery”srnpositive (+) terminal, and connect the black wire to the negative (â€) terminal. Place the station in the sun, and plug something in.