voltage spike on solar lipo charger
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- adafruit_support_mike
- Posts: 67446
- Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2010 2:51 pm
Re: voltage spike on solar lipo charger
Looking good!
- bwh13
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Thu May 23, 2013 6:15 pm
Re: voltage spike on solar lipo charger
Hey hey Everyone,
I've got an update on the LDO I've been working on.
I ended up using a Texas Instruments LP3964 voltage regulator as the heart of the circuit primarily because of its ultra low dropout voltage (24 mV @ 80mA). It has 5 pins (bent & staggered) that offer a shutdown capability that I didn't take advantage of. Simple components: 3 caps, a 10K resistor, a 25K trim. pot. & a couple of terminals.
I soldered it up to an Adafruit perma-proto board (which I trimmed down in size because I have limited space in my time lapse enclosure.) I used the adjustable breadboard power supply to feed it 6.0v - which I can get in full sun from the solar panel and which shut my rig down a couple of months ago. I set the trimmer up so that it will shave these higher voltages down to 4.1 V which I get from a new and fully charged LiPo. Best of all: it works. I'll be testing it in the field early next week and post after its had a week out in the sun.
The caps might not be sized appropriately, but it was all Radio Shack had in stock when I was there.
Comments appreciated!
I've got an update on the LDO I've been working on.
I ended up using a Texas Instruments LP3964 voltage regulator as the heart of the circuit primarily because of its ultra low dropout voltage (24 mV @ 80mA). It has 5 pins (bent & staggered) that offer a shutdown capability that I didn't take advantage of. Simple components: 3 caps, a 10K resistor, a 25K trim. pot. & a couple of terminals.
I soldered it up to an Adafruit perma-proto board (which I trimmed down in size because I have limited space in my time lapse enclosure.) I used the adjustable breadboard power supply to feed it 6.0v - which I can get in full sun from the solar panel and which shut my rig down a couple of months ago. I set the trimmer up so that it will shave these higher voltages down to 4.1 V which I get from a new and fully charged LiPo. Best of all: it works. I'll be testing it in the field early next week and post after its had a week out in the sun.
The caps might not be sized appropriately, but it was all Radio Shack had in stock when I was there.
Comments appreciated!
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.