Solar Garden Light -  How a Solar Garden Light works Two different circuits and how they work.  Both circuits can be converted to 5v regulated output.   __ Contact Collin Mitchell

Solar Insolation Monitor -  Owners of photovoltaic solar panels often like to monitor how bright the sunshine is.  They can use this information to gage how well their solar panels are doing.  On a typical clear day, the sun energy at sea level is about 1000 watts per square meter . . . Hobby Circuit designed by Dave Johnson P.E.-May, 2012

Solar Inverter Battery Charger -  Here is an energy saving solar inverter battery charger.  it harvests solar energy to replenish 12 volt inverter battery.  it has auto cut off facility to stop charging when the battery attains full charge.  The charger uses a 24 volt solar panel as input.  The circuit uses a variable voltage regulator IC LM 317 to set the output __ Designed by D Mohankumar

Solar Lithium Ion Battery Charger using LT1133 -  I have been designing a number of solar powered devices lately.  Many of them use just a single 3.6v lithium ion battery.  These batteries like to be charged from a fixed 4.2v source with a charging current limited to about C/8, where C is the milliamp-hour rating of the part. . . Circuit by Dave Johnson P.E.-December, 2012

Solar Mailbox project -  The purpose of this project is to develop a self sufficient Mailbox (real one) that will be powered only by the sun and that will display the number of the house, but only in accordance with the battery level. The system must work autonomously when there is or not enough light to charge the battery. __ Designed by Francois DRUILHE-francois.druilhe free.fr

Solar Panel Charge Controller/Low Voltage Disconnect -  The SPC3 is a solar power center, it can handle all of the power functions for a solar charged 12 Volt DC system. The SPC3 contains a 9 amp photovoltaic charge controller, a 10 amp low voltage load disconnect circuit and a pair of built-in white LEDs for area illumination. The low voltage disconnect circuit has a load on-off switch and a battery low voltage indicator. By using the SPC3 as the center of a solar powered device, long battery life is assured. The SPC3 can be used for a stand-alone solar lighting system, it can also be used for making solar powered audio and radio devices. __ Designed by G. Forrest Cook

Solar Panel Charge Controller/Low Voltage Disconnect  -  The SPC3 is a solar power center, it can handle all of the power functions for a solar charged 12 Volt DC system. The SPC3 contains a 9 amp photovoltaic charge controller, a 10 amp low voltage load disconnect circuit and a pair of built-in white LEDs for area illumination. The low voltage disconnect circuit has a load on-off switch and a battery low voltage indicator. By using the SPC3 as the center of a solar powered device, long battery life is assured. The SPC3 can be used for a stand-alone solar lighting system, it can also be used for making solar powered audio and radio devices. __ Designed by G. Forrest Cook

Solar Panel Current Meter -  This circuit is used to measure the current from a solar panel.  it has very low power loss for currents in the 0-10A range.  it also works as a general purpose DC current meter.  The circuit can be used on either the positive or negative side of a DC circuit __ Designed by G. Forrest Cook

Solar Panel Current Meter -  This circuit is used to measure the current from a solar panel.  it has very low power loss for currents in the 0-10A range.  it also works as a general purpose DC current meter.  The circuit can be used on either the positive or negative side of a DC circuit __ Designed by G. Forrest Cook

Solar Panel Regulator -  This handy solar panel regulator measures the voltage across your battery or the charging current and will disconnect the panel to stop overcharging.  it works with 12V or 24V systems and has a 3.5-digit liquid crystal display.__ SiliconChip

Solar panel regulator -  A simple but good linear shunt voltage regulator for solar panels, that includes deep-discharge protection.  This design is for 12V systems with panels delivering up to 7A, but it can be easily scaled for other sizes.  I have built several of these regulators.   __ Designed by Manfred Mornhinweg

Solar panel regulator -  A simple but good linear shunt voltage regulator for solar panels, that includes deep-discharge protection.  This design is for 12V systems with panels delivering up to 7A, but it can be easily scaled for other sizes.  I have built several of these regulators. __ Designed by Manfred Mornhinweg

Solar Panel Shunt Regulator -  Schematic __ Designed by Manfred Mornhinweg

Solar Panel Sun Tracker -  The Solar Tracker uses a combination of three photo resistors (not photo-transistors) or LDR’s (Light dependent Resistor) R7, R8, R9 to ensure that the circuit will follow the sun during the day, but not look for it at night. __ Designed by Tony van Roon  VA3AVR

Solar Path Light Improvement -  Use the circuit below was designed to replace the guts of an existing path light assembly with one which has a much better performance.  I suggest using a quality 10 cell solar panel with at least a 4 square inch area.  Buy a panel with solar panels that. . . Circuit by David Johnson P.E.-March, 2011

Solar Power System Guard -  The common home solar power system, in principle consists of a roof-mounted solar panel, a charge controller and a storage battery bank plus direct or electronic inverter powered electric lighting units.  in some situations, the solar panel is mounted on a mast extended from ground and this may become an obstacle during night __ Designed by T.K. Hareendran

Solar Powered Cell Phone Charger -  The simple circuit below regulates the voltage from a 6v solar panel to a fixed +5v.  That voltage can be fed to any cell phone or USB connected portable device, to charge its battery.  The circuit uses a Reg113-5 voltage regulator from Texas instruments. . . Circuit by David Johnson P.E.-January, 2011

Solar Powered Flood Light using NiMH Cells -  There are many solar powered garden lights available.  Most of the devices offered at the home improvement stores have very poor performance.  Their batteries are too small, the light launched is weak and the solar panels are undersized.  None of the devices I have tested would operate through a typical night. . . Circuit by David Johnson P.E.-December, 2013

Solar Powered FM Bug -  There are many miniature FM transmitter (bug) circuits online, this one is unique in that it runs completely on solar power.  No battery is required.  As long as the sun is shining on the PV panel, the circuit will transmit.  The bug is useful as a "remote ear", and can be used for anything from listening birds to surveillance work.  The mic preamp and oscillator circuits were borrowed from a common circuit found around the internet, I added a regulated solar power supply and an RF amp that extends the range and improves frequency stability __ Designed by G. Forrest Cook

Solar Powered Infrared 1W Security Camera Illuminator -  Many security cameras are equipped with an array of infrared LEDs to illuminate an area in front of the camera with invisible light for night time surveillance.    However, there are times when a remote area, well away from the camera, needs additional infrared light.    The circuit below uses a modified solar powered path light to bathe a fairly large area with 850nm infrared light. . . Circuit by David Johnson P.E.-June, 2014

Solar Powered LED Lamp -  Here is the simple solution to make an automatic solar powered LED lamp.  it automatically switches on two high power White LEDs in the evening and stays on for 6 hours using a 6 volt 4.5 Ah rechargeable battery.  A 12 volt solar panel is used to charge the battery during day time.  The battery is connected to the input line __ Designed by D Mohankumar

Solar-Powered_LED_Light_for_Tool_Shed  -  I have a lean-to 8ft by 12ft shed next to my house.  It is full of lawn chemicals and garden supplies.  There were times when I needed to get something from inside the shed during the dead of night.  Early on I had to use a flashlight.  But later, I installed a series of five 12v LED light strips on the ceiling.  Each strip contained 15 3v white LEDs.  The strip had 5 strings of three LEDs, wired in series, with a 150 ohm current limiting resistor. . . . Hobby Circuit by David Johnson P.E.-July 14, 2017

Solar Powered Lithium Ion Battery Charger -  The circuit below feeds a controlled current and voltage to a 3.6v lithium ion battery.  The current is limited to 300ma and the voltage is limited to 4.2 volts.  The circuit uses a LTC1734 IC from Linear Technology.  No diode is needed between the circuit a . . . Hobby Circuit designed by David A. Johnson P.E.-May, 2007

Solar Powered Long Range FM Transmitter -  There are many miniature FM transmitter bug circuits online, this one is unique in that it runs completely on solar power.  No battery is required.  As long as the sun is shining on the PV panel, the transmitter will transmit.  The transmitter bug is useful as a "remote ear", and can be used for anything from listening birds to surveillance work.  The mic preamp and oscillator circuits were borrowed from a common circuit found around the internet, a regulated solar power supply and an RF amp that extends the range of transmitter and improves frequency stability were added.__ 

Solar Powered Nestbox CCTV Camera -  Observe wildlife inside a nestbox with a solar powered wireless CCTV camera.   __ Designed by REUK-Renewable Energy UK website

Solar Powered Night Light -  This circuit is for a solar powered white LED with automatic activation in the dark.  it can be used for both indoor and outdoor night light applications.  For indoor uses, if the circuit is operated near another lamp, it __ Designed by Forrest Cook

Solar Powered Night Light -  The goal of this project was to produce a self contained reading lamp that could be used by students in developing countries for reading at night.  The circuit can be used for a wide variety of lighting applications __ Designed by G. Forrest Cook

Solar Powered Poultry Lighting -  Put together a solar system to power poultry lighting - increase winter egg production __ Designed by REUK-Renewable Energy UK website

Solar Powered Reading Lamp -  The goal of this project was to produce a self contained reading lamp that could be used by students in developing countries for reading at night.  The circuit can be used for a wide variety of lighting applications __ Designed by G. Forrest Cook

Solar Powered Wireless CCTV -  Use a solar panel to power a wireless CCTV system.   __ Designed by REUK-Renewable Energy UK website

Solar Powered Wireless Weather Station -  it's based on PIC AXE processor and "wirelessly" transmits temperature and humidity data to a receiver up to 200 metres away.__ SiliconChip

Solar PV Cell Test Fixture -  This is an illustration of a test fixture, which can be used to test individual solar cells for short circuit current.  Using a PIN photo diode and a control circuit, the solar cells can be tested under constant light level conditions. . . Circuit by David Johnson P.E.-October, 2006

Solar Recorder. V1.0. -  The device used for measuring daily insolation has been developed.  The device was built with a PIC 18F458 and the 128MB Multimedia Memory Card, MMC.  The solar radiation is measured by a calculator solar cell.  The PIC  chip interfaces __ Designed by Wichit Sirichote

      <<<         >>> 

Solar Cells:   #'s - E       F - O      P - S       T - Z