Solar powered LED globe lights

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kvasudevan
 
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Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2014 12:36 am

Solar powered LED globe lights

Post by kvasudevan »

Hi folks -

I'm a researcher at UT starting to tinker with sensors for journalism research and have started a few personal/fun projects to better understand the Arduino/wearables/sensors.

I just purchased 1 meter of the weatherproof warm white analog strip lights (https://www.adafruit.com/products/357), and want to power them with 8 rechargeable batteries that get charged with solar power.

I've currently drawn it out so that the solar panel is connected to the Adafruit charging circuit, which is connected to the 8-pack battery holder (with rechargeable batteries), which connects to an Arduino Uno/breadboard with MOSFET transistors, which connects to the LED lights. I also plan to have a dimmer and on/off switches on the breadboard to control the lights.

I guess my main issue is figuring out what connections I should have between everything (should I wire the solar panel with a DC male power connector, etc.?)

If y'all have any suggestions on how best to connect this or just have feedback on how to make this more efficient I'd really appreciate it.

-K

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Franklin97355
 
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Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:33 pm

Re: Solar powered LED globe lights

Post by Franklin97355 »

OK, we have the LEDs drawing 1.2ah (max) so now we need to know which charger, what solar panel, and what batteries.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Solar powered LED globe lights

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

I've currently drawn it out so that the solar panel is connected to the Adafruit charging circuit, which is connected to the 8-pack battery holder (with rechargeable batteries),
All of our chargers are for single-cell 3.7v LiPo batteries. We don't make anything that will charge and 8-cell pack.

Those led strips are rated for up to 12v, but run pretty well on as low as 9v. www.pololu.com has a nice selection of boost converters.

http://www.pololu.com/category/132/step ... regulators

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