Anyone know a place that makes...

[MR GUS]

small specced solar panels with your choice of connector (eg usb) based on the battery pack size of the item as per standard spec?

 There are a few items I'd like to get sorted in order to extend the lifespan / useability of items throughout the year / chip away at the electric useage overall.

It would be good if manufacturers provided the info as standard for anyone to green-up their items as required.

Things I'd like to solarfy individually..

 my wind up radio
 Dyson  handheld
  battery lawn-mower
 & more

[Ivan]

Gus,

I would have thought you'd save a lot of money by simply putting the connector of preferrence onto a Navitron panel. The 5W and 20W panels are priced at more or less the same price/watt as the larger panels, whereas many suppliers charge a huge excess for these small panels. If you want something smaller, you could always disembowel a garden solar-light, but often the outer covering is a non-UV resistant plastic, so they don't last more than 4 or 5 years before they need replacing (although there's probably some good quality ones on the market, if you knew how to identify them......glass rather than plastic covers would be a good indicator). Silicon doesn't like moisture, so if the seal fails, the panel won't last much longer.

I guess for a USB feed, you'd need a voltage regulator. I'm not sure even what USB voltage is - 5v? 12v? If 12v that's ideal. It's bound to be a simple affair to make one up, and a gogle search would probably locate a suitable schematic.

For 12v application, Navitron sells a cheap 12v battery charge controller which you could use for 12v applications (I'm guessing your lawn mower is 12v).

Last thing - if you're leaving your fancy 12v electric lawnmower with built-in solar PV charger in full view, make sure it's secure!!



Ivan

[MR GUS]

Ivan sorry to sound like the dimwit (that I am) but have you come across any kits to change the supply ends of the  small panels to "this n that" ..it'd be a useful accy maybe for tinker-ers to be?

I'd love to smuggle a few small panels for low requirement items into the house! ..the simpler the solution the more amicable she becomes!

..besides the wife is sick of hearing me wander around the house winding up various dynamo's

[Ivan]

Would it be worth fitting a simple 12v circuit to the house? Put a bigger panel on the roof (20W? 55W?). Feed it via the 5A charge controller that Navitron sells into a number of low voltage sockets throughout the house. I'd be inclined to use the most popular size of 12v jack (I think it's the 2.5mm socket that's the most common) - see following page:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?menuno=13278

Alternatively, use cigarette lighter sockets - as you can get lots of stuff that plugs into cigarette lighters, and you can also get cheap cigarette lighter-to-USB converters - saves you having to make up USB leads etc. There's even one on this page that has two USB adaptors built in. http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=cigarette%20socket&source=15

Make sure you've got a charge controller between the panel and the USB converter - otherwise unloaded voltage might damage it. I'd recommend you put a 12v battery in the system as well, to do it properly.

[langstroth2]

A good suggestion from Ivan. On our 2x50W panel / 110Ah system I use a couple of cigarette sockets wired into the battery http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1055. A charge controller sits between panel and battery.

I use a cigarette style plug with 4 USB sockets built in.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=228257. It's then easier (=less complaints from Langstroth clan) to swap out various NiMh battery chargers, phones, lamps etc.