Charge LIPO batteries with solar panels

Thread Starter

Or Simhon

Joined Jan 8, 2020
2
Hello,
I want to charge a LIPO batteries with solar panels.
can anyone recommend me about a system of solar panels and mppt that working from experience ??
 

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Audioguru again

Joined Oct 21, 2019
6,674
You showed a little circuit board. Is it a charger circuit designed for charging your Li-PO battery?
Please post links to the battery, to the solar panel and to the circuit board so we can see their spec's.
 

oz93666

Joined Sep 7, 2010
739
Hi Bernard
I need something strong enough to charge batterie and not big then 25X35 [cm].
Priority for folding boards.
The general purpose is a drone, stationary or portable charging stand..
This cannot be done ... The reason no one uses solar to charge drones or other RC is because they don't want to sit around for many hours while it slowly charges (if the sun is bright) ....

The way it's done is to either swap batteries on the craft , or if this is not possible use other battery to charge.
 

Audioguru again

Joined Oct 21, 2019
6,674
The Li-PO battery will have a recommended and an absolute maximum charging current. Its minimum charging time is probably close to one hour. But you need a charging circuit designed for the battery to do it. If you do not use a proper charging circuit then the battery could explode and catch on fire.

The 2-cells Li-PO batteries used for my RC airplanes are 280mAh and the electricity-powered charger produces 300mA but a full charge time takes about 1.5 to 2 hours. The charger properly detects a full charge (current as well as voltage) then turns off.
I carry a pocket full of batteries to the park and at home I have 4 chargers for them.
 

MrSoftware

Joined Oct 29, 2013
2,188
This guy has several videos about his solar project, very good info in them. He may even give the info that the OP is looking for.

 

Audioguru again

Joined Oct 21, 2019
6,674
My son downloaded Chrome browser on the new computer I got on Black Friday and for Christmas he gave me a Chromecast adapter. On YouTube I found the Solar Plane V4 video and instructed Chromecast to play it on my big TV, then other solar airplane movies too. One solar airplane had no battery and flew for a long time.
 

oz93666

Joined Sep 7, 2010
739
This guy has several videos about his solar project, very good info in them. He may even give the info that the OP is looking for.
Hmm ... Interesting video but hardly a solar plane , running on a big Li-po battery , and the solar cells in putting an unknown amount of power ... design looks very clumsy and heavy ....
He has 38 cells each one around 4W I think ... realistically 100W on a clear day at noon

It should be possible to make a true solar RC plane with no battery ... bare solar cells are unbelievably light , it's all the backing and surface weather proof coating that makes up 95% of the weight in normal panels ... so it should be possible to just fix raw cells onto wings , they would probably be destroyed in rain.
 
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MrSoftware

Joined Oct 29, 2013
2,188
Hmm ... Interesting video but hardly a solar plane , running on a big Li-po battery , and the solar cells in putting an unknown amount of power ... design looks very clumsy and heavy ....
He has 38 cells each one around 4W I think ... realistically 100W on a clear day at noon

It should be possible to make a true solar RC plane with no battery ... bare solar cells are unbelievably light , it's all the backing and surface weather proof coating that makes up 95% of the weight in normal panels ... so it should be possible to just fix raw cells onto wings , they would probably be destroyed in rain.
Edit --> I re-watched and he comments that his telemetry might not be calibrated correctly, but consider that he's up north with the sun on the horizon (not overhead), he's using a 5Ah battery and it flew for almost 3 hours. His uncalibrated telemetry showed almost 21Ah used, and while not accurate, the ~3 hour flight time shows that solar was definitely contributing. So it's not 100% solar no, but solar definitely extended his flight time significantly. He also comments on adding more telemetry in the future to get more detailed info about the solar contribution. He's working towards 100% solar power and I bet he gets there eventually.
 
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