Solar DS "Light" Redone and Improved

Step 14 Unite the Panels and DS Together!

Set the DS and the bottom panel right next to each other, and make sure the wires from the DS can reach the chip. Solder the positive DS wire (the blue one near the top of the battery compartment) to P+ on the chip. It should be the third wire being soldered to that terminal. Then take the negative wire from the DS (the blue one near the bottom of the battery compartment) and solder it to P- on the chip. It should be the third wire to be soldered to that terminal. Tape the wires down.

Take the positve battery wire (the red one near the top of the battery compartment) and solder it to B+ on the chip. It should be the only wire on that terminal. Now, before you solder the negative battery wire, test it with a multimeter to make sure there are no shorts. Set the multimeter to measure current, touch the positve terminal to B- on the chip, and touch the negative terminal to the negative battery wire. I got about .01 ma, because the DS uses a small amount of power in standby. Now do the same thing with the voltage setting, and you should get about 3 volts. This means that power is ready to flow through the DS. If either of your readings are way off, check your wiring. If you got them, proceed.

Take the negative battery wire and solder it to B- on the chip. It should be the only wire soldered to that terminal.

You are now ready to test it!

Comments

[Steppenw01f]

Hi, I got stuck at the final testing part, when I touch the multimeter's positive terminal to B- and its negative terminal to the negative battery wire, the voltage spikes to around 2 volts then drops back to 0. When I solder the negative wire to B-, the DS doesn't turn on either. If I touch the negative terminal to the positive battery wire and back to the negative battery wire, it repeats the same behavior. I've checked my wiring repeatedly, everything seems fine as far as I can tell. FYI I'm using the PV cells, overcharge circuit, and diodes you listed on my original DS.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[dark sponge]

Hmm, strange. Try bypassing the charge circuit by temporarily connecting B- to P- and B+ to P+, then see if it turns on. If it does, something might be wrong with the charge protection chip. I'm curious as to what the problem could be here.

[Steppenw01f]

I just set it up on my SP also, can't wait for a sunny day!

[Steppenw01f]

Messed around with it some more and it turns out the DS wouldn't turn on even with the battery directly plugged in : (, but I wired the battery back to the circuit and the circuit to another DS and it turns on fine! I'd test it right now, but it's rainy here and the forecast says it won't be mostly clear until at least Wednesday. I'll be sure to post a pic when the sun comes out.

Thanks for the advice and awesome guide!

[dark sponge]

You're welcome, I'm glad to hear it's working!

[fernxtwo]

hi there im in middle of this instructable and have hit a little snag ,
on my over charge chip i can't find a p- or p+.
it just has b- and b+ .
you can see it here, did i get the wrong chip or am i reading it wrong?

http://fernxtwo.googlepages.com/P4301166.JPG

thanks.

[dark sponge]

Hmmm, did you order the one listed or is that one you already had? It doesn't look like the one I used. Does it have any connections on the back? If you know where it came from, could you link to the website? I'll be happy to help.

[fernxtwo]

no it wasnt the one you listed , because that website doesnt ship to canada , so this is where i got it:

http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26114

and heres two pics of the reverse of the chip , it's just metal with 4 tiny holes on it.

http://fernxtwo.googlepages.com/P4301168.JPG

http://fernxtwo.googlepages.com/P4301169.JPG

thanks.

[dark sponge]

Ok, here's a diagram for you. If it doesn't work this way, flip the chip the other way; I might have gotten the terminals backward. I noticed there's a flaw in the design of this chip; if you let the battery drain all the way while it's connected it might not let you recharge it again. Try not to let that happen and it should work perfectly. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

[fernxtwo]

thanks for the help. just one more question.youy say if the battery drains compleatly i might not be able to charge it again , but if i remove everything from my ds it'll be back to normal will it?i mean like is this going to damage the battery? cheers.

[dark sponge]

No, it won't damage the battery. It's just because the chip internally disconnects the battery if it is below a certain voltage to protect the battery from over-discharge. I don't think this will happen, but don't let it drain too much just in case.

[fernxtwo]

okay so i just did everything in the diagram , and i was just wondering how long does it take to charge?

[dark sponge]

I actually don't know that because I have no indicator for when it is fully charged. But I do know it takes a couple of days to get from zero power to a green light.

[fernxtwo]

okay , finally finished the solar DS . looks good , works well. i must put up a couple of pictures. one more question.how do you get the stylus out? i had to cut a little piece out of mine , cause my cell covered it a bit.