Simple Solar Charger

Solar panel harness energy of the sun

Since electricity is one of our basic needs and it doesn’t come for free. In fact it increases every year. Meanwhile sun power is free for all so why not use it? Here is a very simple way to charge your battery using solar power.

Why need a charging circuit?

Solar cells and batteries comes in different voltage and current capacity. You need to match these ratings for safety and reliability reasons. Connecting a higher voltage solar panel to a battery might over charge the battery and may cause it to explode. It is best to limit the voltage and current output of the solar panel to avoid this from happening.

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Arduino Based Solar Charger

Solar Energy industry has been growing so fast and you can now buy a solar panel or solar powered gadgets almost anywhere. I have been looking to design a solar power system for my home but I can’t find time or I can’t find the best solution to do it. Recently I have been ask to design a high power flashlight for a bike and when I am looking for a charger IC, I stumbled on this one and luckily it is also perfect for solar power applications.

About The IC

The Charger is from Linear Technology’s LTC4015 – Multichemistry Buck Battery Charger Controller with Digital Telemetry System. It has a I2C communication port that can be use to monitor voltages, current, temperatures and battery health. You can also set the charging current and voltage via I2C. You can also use it as a standalone charging IC and wont require any programming. But it is best to use this feature, this will save you space and parts count because you wont be needing an additional current sensors for your application to monitor battery and input current.

Application Circuit

solarCharger

 

Sample Program

You can download the sample program for arduino and other platform below.

 

Downloads:
LT4015 Datasheet
LT4015 Sample Program