Cheap Solar 5 volt charger/ power supply

In this instructable I used 5 CHEAP solar lights. As I recall I bought them for $2 each at Wal*Mart over a year ago.
It would be hard to find the solar cells for that price let alone the whole light assembly etc.

Step 1: Let's get started

First I headed to the DOLLAR TREE dollar store where everything is a dollar, not $1,2,3.50 etc.

I was searching for a container that was in the experimenters budget along with one that had some qualities I was looking for.
this box has a 4 side snap feature. It is easy open/ easy close etc. The one thing I liked is the rubber seal built in the lid portion.
This should make things fairly water tight.

 I may use this during emergency situations (preparedness). As a Ham Radio operator I need to be prepared to work emergency communications at some point.  A solar charger for a cell phone or other device would be handy.

Comments

[tigers58]

Great instructable! Thanks for posting it. I agree with Manuka, a circuit diagram would really be helpful. It is very difficult to see from the photos where the diodes are connected, and their polarity.

[JerryBYong]

Hi, does this work with the iPhone?

[jukees]

nice instructable, not so handy to those who don't have access to wal-mart, but solar garden lights are pretty much the same.
and i didn't know about the zeners dropping the voltage, thank you.

[Schmidty16]

hey uo the only thing i would change is adding black paper or card board arount the solar pannels to get more eletricty

[bllwdcrvr]

yes I found the same yard stake light for 97Cents each today..so I grabbed up 5 of them..yes they make a great little rechargeable flashlight..

[MarkinDetroit]

I saw the same style lights on sale for $2 each and thought the same thing... where else could I get a solar cell, battery and LED for that price!
Without gutting them, they make great little flashlights. I also thought about separating the solar cells from the housing and mounting the lights under the kitchen cabinets and wiring the solar cells to a nearby window.
This is a great idea too, love the $1 store box to package the whole thing.

[manuka]

Bravo!  SGL (Solar Garden Lamps) certainly make VERY cost effective  "engines"- I've used them extensively for all manner of projects => http://www.instructables.com/id/Education-Solar-Garden-Lamp-based-pendant/  They make a good source of parts too, perhaps just for the low voltage drop Schottky Diodes ( which are never in a junk box when needed!)

You really should include a circuit diagram however, as folks may be confused about connections without it. In fact I was initially unsure if those batteries were totally bypassed! It's worth stressing the merits of leaving them in circuit to charge up by day (when you'll be out with your cell phone anyway), then plug in the phone for night charging from the batteries.

FWIW -each PV slice typically produces ½ V ( thus 4 x ½ =2V) at 10mA, making the bare cells handy for powering small devices ( tiny motors,red LEDs etc).  However the  "quadistor" (ZE002) electronics in most produce spiked boosted voltages (~ 5V ) but at low currents ( <10mA), which is enough to light a white LED, and also alone may have some cell phone charging mileage !  See => http://www.instructables.com/image/F4MAL5MGSEEK0QH

Stan.

[aaahotdog]

One thing that needs to be checked is voltage under load. You might get 5.1v with no load, but when there is a load, what happens to output? This might be more viable as a power source rather than a charger. Nice design though.

[rimar2000]

This is very useful, thanks for sharing.