Solar Ipod charger

Thread Starter

KrakenFan

Joined Dec 1, 2008
5
So I ripped the solar panel and the batteries ( 2 600mAh ) out of a solar garden light. I want to take 2 of these and create an Ipod ( usb ) charger. I have looked at a couple of the Ipod charger circuits on instructables.com but am not sure exactly how to go about this. As the batteries are 1.2 volts each for a total of 4.8 volts, will that be enough to charge the ipod? I still need to catch a sunny day to measure the voltage the solar panel supplies so I know what I am working with but was wondering if anyone has any ideas about this project? I would appreciate any ideas that you might have that I would overlook as a newbie or if there is anything you could point me to on the subject that is a relevant read.

Thanks again,

KrakenFan
 

Audioguru

Joined Dec 20, 2007
11,248
The ipod has a lithium battery. Lithium is very active and a lithium battery easily catches on fire if it is not charged with the correct current, correct voltage and is not over-charged.
Use a battery charger IC made for lithium.
 

Thread Starter

KrakenFan

Joined Dec 1, 2008
5
Knowledge like that is exactly what I was after! Thanks for the heads up. I notice you are in Canada. I recently ordered $45 of pasts from Digikey and I ended up paying almost $80 for them. Where in Canada can I order from to avoid getting parts from the states? I would really like to find a Canadian supplier for ATTiny chips as well.

I have an old Ipod that I cannont synch to any longer that will be my first test subject!

I may not be able to pull this off anyway. I wanted to basically add some solar panels to an existing chargeing circuit design but it might not work.

Thanks again,

Glisson
 

KX0Z

Joined Nov 11, 2008
3
The ipod has a lithium battery. Lithium is very active and a lithium battery easily catches on fire if it is not charged with the correct current, correct voltage and is not over-charged.
Use a battery charger IC made for lithium.


Are you talking about Lithium Polymer or Lithium Ion. Lithium Polymer batteries are sensitive to charge current and over charging. Lithium Ion batteries, not so much..
 
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