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A Simple Solar Charging Station

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Author: caperren11Followers

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Hi, my name is Corwin and this instructable will be a guide for the process I used to build six solar

powered charging stations as part of my Eagle Scout project for Boy Scouts. My main goal when I

designed these stations was to make it easy to replicate and buy parts for. Please leave comments

down below if you find better deals on parts or have a better way of doing something. I'll be glad to hear

your input. So, let's begin with a parts list and cost estimate....

Step 1 Parts List

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Author: caperren

Published: Jul 31, 2011

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HOW TO GET CHEAPSOLAR POWER

SOLAR PANELS FORYOUR HOME

RAIN BARRELS,CHICKEN COOPS, ANDSOLAR PANELS

So, obviously I tried to make this as cheap as possible since I needed to make six of them. Again, if

you find better prices or have a cheaper way to make it, please share so everyone can benefit.

Electrical Components

6 - 10 Watt Solar Panel - $40 each from Amazon -Link -

6 - 3 Amp Charging Regulator - $10.50 each from Amazon -Link -

6 - 12 Volt 7 Amp Hour Sealed Lead Acid Battery - $17.37 each from eBay -Link -

12 - Inline Fuse Holders - $1.98 each from Amazon -Link -

3 - 5 Amp Fuses - $1.98 for 5 pack from Amazon -Link -

1 - Assorted Heat Shrink Tubing -$10 from Amazon -Link -

6 - Three Way Car Lighter Socket Splitter with USB port - $1.49 each from Amazon -Link -

12 - Mini USB Car Charger Adapter - $2.39 each from Amazon -Link -

1 - Assorted Spade / Ring Connectors - (Free) Already had

1 - Assorted Wire - (Free) Already had

Electrical Components Subtotal - $484.54

Body Components - All Purchased from Browne's Lumber

2 - 1/2 inch sheets AC Plywood 8ft*4ft - $25 each

3 - 4x4 Treated Post 12ft - $15 each

3 - 1lb Box Assorted Outdoor Screws - $12 each

12 - 1/4" x 6" Hex Bolt - $.79 each

24 - 1/4" x 1 1/2" Hex Bolt - $.22 each

36 - 1/4" Locking Nut - .14 each

2 - Metal Plumbers Strap - $3 per roll

1 - Ladybug Red Flat Outdoor House Paint - $15 per quart

1 - Box Assorted Screws - (Free) Already had

6 - Quikcrete - $3 per 60lb Bag

6 - Hinge Sets - $3.50 per set of 2

6 - Black Handles - $.75 each

Body Components Subtotal - $194.30

Grand Total - $678.84 for six or $113.14 each

Please note that I live on San Juan Island in the Pacific Northwest of USA. Items bought here tend to

cost more than if they were bought on the mainland, so it is entirely possible to build this cheaper.

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USB

Step 2 Building the Box

To keep things simple I decided to go with a box to hold all of the electronics and for mounting the

solar panel. To give myself a rough idea of what it would look like, I created a 3d model of it

using Google Sketchup. This was not entirely accurate, but did give me a starting point for cutting wood.

As well as storing the charging electronics, I added a closed off area where people could leave their

devices without having to worry about them getting wet in the rain. Otherwise, the whole box could have

been smaller. I changed the design as I worked on it, so I'm sure there are much better ways of building

this. I also forgot that the panel would need to be angled, which could have saved me a lot of the

headache involved with accurately cutting wood. However, for the sake of this instructable I will show

you how to build the ones I ended up with. You can modify this design to suit your own needs. For the

solar panel mounts below, you will need to do a google search to find out what the best mounting angle

for you panel will be based on your location. Because I am fairly far north, mine was 45 degrees with the

panel facing south. The equator would be straight up. Equivalent distance in the southern hemisphere

would be 45 degrees facing north. You get the picture.... Google will answer that question for you.

You will need... (All orientations as though facing front of box)

2 for top and bottom - 10 5/8" x 10"

2 for left and right - 9 5/8" x 1'

2 for front and back - 10" x 1'

1 Shelf - 9" x 9 5/8"

2 for mounting solar panel - ?" x ?" (right angle triangle with corners cut off and modified for the angle

based on global location) (Look at the pictures if you're confused)

1 six foot section of treated 4x4 (Just cut each post in half)

Building Steps (feel free to modify)

1. For the front panel, cut a 8.5" x 9" door out out of bottom right hand corner (see picture). This will

leave 3" up top for electronics and plenty of space for mounting hinges.

2. Start by screwing the back panel onto the bottom panel from the bottom, making sure the edges are

fairly flush.

3. Do the same with the side panels, but make sure they are inside the boundaries of the bottom panel.

None of the pieces should be OUTSIDE the 10 5/8" x 10" limit of that bottom panel. Everything fits within

it. (Just so you know :) )

4. Next, screw in the top panel.

5.Now, the front door should have been cut out of the front panel. Screw the shelf in from the front with

the shelf directly in the middle and lined up flush against the top of the door cutout (Might need pics for

this one).

6. Next, add hinges and knob to your door and attach it to the strip of wood you have left on the front

panel, making sure things are lined up well.

7. Then, place your completed front panel into the box and screw in from the front. You may need to

sand things down if they won't go in.

8. Lastly, from a birds eye view with your new door facing you, Screw in the triangle pieces from the

»

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narrow side 1 1/2" from the front and 1' in from the side. This should leave you with two strange looking

triangles sticking up and angled towards you.

Refer to the finished pictures if you get stuck....And yes, I did leave off the post for the moment as it

makes adding the electronics much easier. Also, these photos are when the boxes have electronics and

no triangles since I didn't take any before they were put in...

Step 3 Adding The Electronics

Now to the fun part....

1. With the front panel / door facing you, mount the charging regulator near the top right corner on the

shelf with Philips screws.

2. Turn the battery sideways as shown in the picture with the contacts closest to the door. Make sure

there is extra room on all sides and mark the edges where the battery sat with a pen. Drill a hole past

where the battery should sit and close to the door. Using this hole, bolt the plumbers strap in place. Put

the battery back in and bend the strap as necessary to end up on the opposite side. Find and open

hole that can reach the wood and drill another hole in that location. Bolt it again. Lastly, drill a hole on

the other two sides of the battery and place the bolt through with threads up. This was my cheap

solution to keep the battery from moving since the bolts act like bumpers if it shifts at all.

3. Next, measure the distance from the battery contacts to the charging regulator cut a piece of wire a

little bit longer than that length. Crimp a spade connector to one end, strip the other, and screw it down

into the charging regulator's battery negative contact.

4. Take your inline fuse, which should be long enough to bridge the previously mentioned gap, and do

the same thing as the previous step for the positive terminal.

5. Then, take one of the three way car lighter socket splitters and cut the plug off. Open the plug up and

figure out which lead is positive and mark it. (It will be the center pin on the plug). Strip both leads and

add another inline fuse to the positive lead. Heat shrink this connection to make sure it is protected. On

the charging regulator, there should be one symbol that is a lightbulb. These are your load connections.

Same as before, positive to positive and negative to negative. The circuitry will shut off power from the

battery to this splitter if the battery voltage is too low, so you don't ruin it.

6. Drill a hole in the top panel of the box ( not this shelf ) and feed about two or three feet of cable

trough it. Again, you will need two leads. Mark one lead as positive on both ends. Strip the two that will

be in the box and screw them down into the solar panel connections on the regulator.

7. Before you go any further, plug a fuse in to both holders and make sure things seem to be

working.....A voltmeter is your friend at this point.

8. Drill off the edge of the rear right hand corner to feed the wire from the splitter down into the main

area of the box.

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9. Tighten down the wire connections one last time to make sure you don't need to open it again.

10. Feed the wires through as you place the front panel / door / shelf assembly back into the main box

and screw it back together. Make sure you have the fuses in!!!!

11. Now, take out two of the screws on the side of the car splitter. Position yours somewhat like is shown

in the pictures and drill one hole where you think there is one on the splitter. Measure the distance

between the screw holes and drill another hole for that. Then, using longer screws, cinch it down

against the inner wall from the out side.....Pictures will be very helpful for this step....

Now it's time for mounting the panel!!!

Step 4 Mounting The Panel

Okay, we're almost done..... Sorry about not having pictures of this yet. I will go out and take them

today....

1. Drill a hole in the middle of the triangle along the top edge. Do this to both.

2. Cut down, strip, and crimp ring connectors to the solar panel leads coming out of the top of the case.

Make sure to remember which one is positive.

3. Take off the screws from the junction box on the solar panel and screw through the spade

connections while observing polarity.

4. Once finished, take one of your 6" bolts and thread it first through the outside hole on the solar panel

and then through the hole you drilled in the wood. Follow suit on the other side and lightly place a nut

on each. At this point I would suggest making / using spacers to give the bolts something to cinch down

against so it doesn't move around. When you have that done, really cinch those bolts down.

5. Now measure the gap between the upright triangles from the back and cut a piece of wood to fit it.

Screw it in from both sides to give the entire setup some extra strength.

Step 5 Final Testing / Mounting / Finshed!!!!

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33 comments Add Comment

gkern says:

Thanks nice simple design used it with a larger 12v battery, and a 15 watt solar cell. Thanksfor the overall design made nice and simple which I put in a plastic tool box for portability.

gbearpdm says:

Could you run an inverter on this to run C-Paps all night? Would be nice to make a portableversion for my scout camp for the adults who need electricity to run these machines at night.I love the idea and will be doing some for our camp either way.

Ernest12 says:

You would need to charge deep cycle or dry cell 12 volt 100 amp or better batteries topower your C-PAP machines. That is my experience with mine.

caperren (author) says:

It depends....I don't know how much power those machines have. Though I would guessthat in order to run one for an entire night, you would need a larger battery pack and alarger solar panel. But it really does depend on how much power it pulls. Good luck withyour design!

ferjanyen says:

Hi, it will be cheaper to buy just one solar panel of 60 or 80 watts,

Plug something into one of the usb ports and make sure it's working. If so, leave something plugged in

until the device shuts itself off from low voltage (make sure to cover the solar panel with something for

this step). Then, place it in the sun for a while, come back, and make sure it turned back on and is

working properly. If everything checks out, you are ready to put on the post.

Remove the bottom panel from the box and drill a hole in the center. Take your post and drill another

hole in the center. Screw the two together, but not all the way tight. Once you have everything squared

up properly, drill another hole through both the bottom panel and post. and add another screw. This

should keep it from moving. You can now add a couple of extra if you want to be extra sure it doesn't fall

off.

That's it, you're done!!!!! You can add paint if you want to, but otherwise, dig a hole in the ground and

either cement the post in or pack dirt around it. Make sure you face the panel in the proper direction for

your global location and watch your devices get charged by the sun.

Thanks for taking the time to view my project. I'm sure there are many things I could have done better,

but I learned a lot while making these and hope to improve the design on my mark two model. Let me

know what you think and what ideas you have for mark two!

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Aug 4, 2011. 2:43 PM

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only one regulator and only one box to house the lot and then charge 6 batteriesif that is what you aim to do or make the whole thing transportable by making it with 3 folding framesand one regulator etc.etc.Look at the Radio ham books in your country for ideas.Good luck, [email protected]


That's a good idea. But in this case, they needed to be in many locations and immovable,otherwise I would have done something like that.

ferjanyen says:

Okay, I understand now your project. Look in Radio Amateur Leage books for voltageregulartors for solar panels and you will see that they are quite easy to make your self, a3055 power transistor for output and a bit of circuit behind and that is it, with radio shack round the corner you should be okay to make the thingcheaper. Good luck!!!!!


My original plan was to build the charging regulators myself, but the radioshack where Ilive is not stocked like most. They have a few small storage tubs with components, butthey are unorganized and the parts I needed would have taken too long to get herebefore I needed the project done. Still, for the future, it's probably a good idea.

Ernest12 says:

It isn't Radio Shack any more, it is now "The Shack" your cell phone source. They have done as so many and forgot what built their business and what keeps theirbusiness alive. Cell phones won't cut it.

Tampaguy says:

Noticed that your parts list showed:"2 - 1/2 inch sheets AC Plywood 8ft*12ft - $25 each"

The only ply I've ever seen is 4' x 8' - I think either you have a very special supplier, orperhaps you just mis-stated the item.

Just curious


Nope, you were right....I have changed it to be 4' x 8'. I just happened to skip over that errorwhen I was writing this late at night.

skylane says:

Sheet goods can be acquired in 4'x 12'.4'x 8' is more common because it's easier to handle and more convenient for"home use"

Adlab says:

Great idea, I love it! Do you put them in picnic / camping spots, so people can eat / restwhile waiting for their gadgets to charge?Also, do you ever have an issue with people turning up with a gadget and there being no juiceleft in the battery? Not sure how the sunlight / battery capactity balance works out...


They are on a campground, so day hikers, bikers, and overnight campers will all use thedevices. I'm not sure about the second part as I haven't gotten feedback from the parks yet.Basically, I figure that the panel could charge one power hungry cellphone in full sunlight,so it is possible to run out of juice, once the battery dies....

leifjohnston says:

I would suggest these two projects are radically different. First this one is all DC and focusedon USB outputs. Second the box etc is cheap.

A couple suggestions.

Mount the top at a degree measure equal to the latitude of the location, then point thatsouth. That will optimize a non moveable solar array output.

Second, you should be able to drop the lighter sockets but wiring only the USB.

Finally, I would suggest using rechargeable NiCad batteries vs lead acid. As long as they are

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well maintained you can string them together and likely come up with a cheaper solution.

Also if you begin with aharbor fright solar system, you can likely cut out some componentsvia scavenging.

Good idea to share power around.


I live at the 49th parallel and just made mine 45 degrees to make it simple. However, I didmake sure to face them all south. I would have done usb only, but due to time constraintsand the fact that I wanted at least on car light socket for those who had their own chargers,I decided against it.

sammons says:

Lead acid batteries are better suited to solar applications as they are much easier to keepcharged as they no not mind being float charged, they actually prefer it. Ni-Cd's can exhibita "memory effect" and can become damaged when improperly charged.

Wikipedia says "The primary trade-off with NiCd batteries is their higher cost and the use ofcadmium. This heavy metal is an environmental hazard, and is highly toxic to all higherforms of life. NiCd batteries are also more costly than lead-acid batteries because nickeland cadmium are more costly materials."

Lead acid batteries are recyclable and are usually made from reclaimed lead.

Phil

leifjohnston says:

Toxicity isn't a key issue since lead is also toxic to most life forms.

But, my real point for considering NiCd rechargeables is that you can scale the size ofstorage easily and simply and generally for less. I can buy a 12 pack (1.5v and 1100mAmphr each or 18V 13 amp hr combined) of cheap rechargeable NiCd for $6-10 wherehe was spending $18 for a single 12v 7amp hr lead acid, if I remember the facts correctly.

Additionally, a creative charge controller can push lower voltages into a serial connectorand charge 1.5v batteries better than pushing to charge a 12v system.

Finally on the consumption side, since USB is pushing out at 5v, you could tune thesystem to use fewer NiCd and a lower voltage, likely cutting out components and wastedenergy. Design might be impacted because it isn't the simpler 12v components but thereare lots that work for 5v as well.

Just trying to offer and alternative vision. Yes lead take trickle charge better. Fulldischarge kills lead but not sure that is a risk. Nicad are likely going to get a memoryover time, but that can be fixed with replacement.

There are always design trade offs, he had asked for other ideas. Since weight wasn't anissue, I didn't bring it up, but a traveling version of this would be significantly better.

sammons says:

You have a good point. transforming 12DC to 5vDC has significant energy losses as theload increases. Hwvever 6v Pb Batteries exist, 6v solar panels exist and 6v solar chargecontrollers exist.

The solar Panel and Charge controller chosen here is 12v. For the project to use a 6vNi-Cd battery pack, then an appropriate 6v Solar panel and 6v Charge controller capableof charging Ni-Cd's must be used. I would be interested if someone can give a link butI'm pretty sure standard solar charge controllers are only capable of charging Pb. So amodified battery charger of custom charger would have to be configured.

StuNutt says:

You can still buy NiCad batteries in USA?

NiCads have been banned for a while in Europe because of their toxicity - It's illegal tomake them here or to import them. Everybody who used to use NiCads now usesNiMh or Li-Ion.

To avoid deep-discharging your lead batteries, I'd suggest a voltage sensing circuit toshut off the output when the battery starts running low.


I'm planning on building a portable version at some point.... I might even decide to dothat for mark two rather than my third revision...

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BladeFyre Studios says:

A very cool project! And a great Eagle scout project!!

redorchestra says:

It would be cool to see spring loaded adjustable contacts for recharging any cell phonebattery and a lockable compartment so someone could leave their cell phone or ipod or ...and come back when it is charged.

GeekTinker says:

Are you worried about people damaging the boxes or stealing the parts?

I like your Instructable, however to avoid vandals and thieves who will take advantage of atarget of opportunity, I would suggest mounting the solar panel and battery on a much higherpost, far above the height of a human being. It would get more sunlight and less susceptibleto being damaged or taken by the unscrupulous.


Yes, this was a minor concern, but I didn't have enough time to add that into my designsince the entire project had to be finished by today. To help deter people, I epoxy'd overeverything that I felt would be worth getting at once I made sure the station worked.

krazy_kai says:

Is this able to retain energy? -such as hold power for later on at say, night time? Because Ilive in Hawaii, and I'd like to start popping these up around major areas where people needtheir phones charged. Would you be able to send me a design that could possibly hold acharge throughout the night, or does this hold for a while? Thank you!


Yes, this design does hold a charge for a decent amount of time using the sealed lead acidbattery as storage....Adding a larger panel and bigger battery would help the length it couldhold the charge, but it does pretty well when only charging small devices.

Electronics Man says:

wow this looks a lot like MY instructable- http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-Charging-System/


Wow, you're right. You even have the exact same charge controller. That's pretty randomactually as I designed this completely from scratch. Either way, I like you're design,especially the adjustable mount for the solar panel from the sat dish.

Electronics Man says:

Yea I can't believe they are the same charge controllers. I really like your design too!


Thanks!

kill-a-watt says:

What are you charging? Cellphones? Battery powered scooters?

It looks like you are using the solar cells to charge a gel cell and providing cigarette lightersockets or something.

A circuit diagram would sure be helpful.


These went up at some local county parks for people to charge cellphones, ipods, globalpositioning devices, etc....The solar panel is charging a sealed lead acid battery, which isthen providing 12 volts to the lighter socket splitter. Two of the three slots have car lighterto usb adapters epoxy'd into them. I was planning on making a circuit diagram, but I madethis later last night, and decided I would add it later once I redownload TinyCad.

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