Solar Rechargeable Battery Powered PSP Charger

My younger brother's a contract firefighter out in Iraq, and purchased a PSP to pass the downtime. Much more importantly, he also got it to make the 12 hour plane ride home seem a bit shorter. The part of the equation that didn't quite work out was the battery life of the PSP. As extra PSP batteries are a bit hard to find it seems, and ridiculously expensive, I figured I'd make him something to recharge the PSP portably. I also wanted to give it the ability to recharge itself with solar power.

Step 1 Gather Materials

My materials list for the project included:
- 1 Altoids tin (or any suitable sized project box will do)
- 1 4xAA battery holder
- 4 Rechargeable AAs
- 1 Solar cell (cannibalized from an outdoor garden light)
- 1 DPDT Center-off switch
- 1 150 ohm resistor
- 1 Rectifying diode
- 1 power cord (cannibalized from an old cell phone charger)
- 1 PSP power adapter (Radio Shack part #274-1532)
- 1 Green LED in holder
- Electrical tape
- 1 12-pack of bee... soda
- Snack of choice (anything to warrant eating all those altoids!)

Tools Included:
- Solder iron, flux, and solder
- Hot glue gun and glue
- Trusty Dremel tool with small circular cutting attachment
- Power drill with drill bits
- Power sander

Comments

[MadScience#1]

Yes! now I can use my psp when the zombies take over the world!

[Tomychuken]

Yo i was thinking exactlly the same as resident evil 3
no energy just solar power
thats why i enter instuctable on solar secton i have solar windows cooool hu

[pblanscet]

notice how zombie movies like never have sunlight?

[k_man93]

dude! i was thinking the same thing as i read this :P

[YoChuck]

Absolutely! And if you reinforce the cord, you could use it as a weapon if they invade the mall store you happen to be hiding out in! :D

[pblanscet]

thanks for the wiring. im adapting this to a rechargeable massager in an altoids tin. i will post a link to the ible when its done.

[mlegazpi]

hey FAST!, wat type of diode is?
1N4004 Micro 1-Amp Rectifier Diode???

[P1NCH0]

Great ible!
I have a couple of questions:
1) You said in one of your answers that it takes very long for the batteries to copletely recharge... would adding a second solar cell shorten this time? Would it cause any problem?
2)This charger will only supply power whe it is "ON", isn't it? But it will charge the batteries even if it s "OFF"?

Tahnks!

[Tizaro]

damn!
i messed up and bought a SPST center off switch.
is there anyway i can still incorporate the solar panel?

[noah472]

i am kind of new to solar cells and i was wondering. say i wanted to add six rechargeable batteries at 1.2 volts each i would get 7.2 volts and i connect that to the switch just like you set up but i put a 5v regulator in it. would i be able to just get a 9v solar cell to charge my batteries. would that work or would i need add something. please help thank you

[Evilman]

Can i use a zener diode instead of the rectifying diode?

[Tizaro]

looks as though this can also just be used as a solar battery re-charger.
which is great.
charge batteries for your camera, and your PSP

[Delta25]

hey, if the batteries charge with the solar panel there isnt any overload or overvolting protection, isnt it? if not how can we add it?

[eamc317]

As long as the solar panel isn't too large compared the battery (putting out about 10% of the battery's total capacity(a good rule for most rechargable batteries)) then your pretty safe. Its known as trickle charging, and keeps from too much electricty going into the battery. Still, you shouldn't leave it unattended in the sun for long periods of time, like months, since it can still be over charged. You can add protection for it if you wish. There are many articals on Instructables about these. Hope this helps! :)

[greencat1477]

where and how do you put the thing that connects/charges your PSP?

[xDilaznx]

where did yo get the solar cell

[Chris Lamerichs]

Also works with a PSP GO?

[PSP101]

How do you add a 5 volt regulator because i wanted to use usb? And can the 5 volt regulator up the voltage to 5v or can it only drop the voltage if it is above 5v?

Please Reply ASAP!

[kusadama]

Where would i put the 5v regulator? would i put it between the wire connecting the switch and the psp?

[yousef 94]

Can you modify it to charge another device???

[WhiteTigerTails]

It seems easy enough to do with a little tinkering.

[ixataca]

It looks alarming for the airport security

[kusadama]

if it is a solar charger, then why are there batteries?

[asval]

to store the power generated by the solar charger. you can have a solar charger by itself, but it would only work while in the sun. Which is why any solar system has batteries so you can use it whenever you want.

[impulsegordon]

mwahahahaha kal-el has got nothing on me!! kara kent now, thats another story, i'll wrestle her any day!!

[EinonGMroft]

in the parts list he took a solar cell from one of those cheap outdoor lights you stick in the ground... I will make a walmart run to see which ones are the best or if they are all the same...

[hi111]

 Please reply ASAP  approximately how much did this cost

[YoChuck]

I'm not sure to be exact, as I had a lot of the materials already.  I wouldn't guess it would be over $20 or so to get all the components you need.  The big parts are going to be the solar cell and the set of rechargeables...

[hi111]

 thanks thats what i thought

[hi111]

 I just bought my materials and will start soon

[The Landon]

it cost me about 12 with extra material

[recordmasta001]

Hi one question. What is the voltage of the solar cell?

[466267]

Chuck
=( I tried to make the psp charger that jacob s. made and it didnt work...
i wired everything to his diagram correctly..i tested the usb port with a usb cord that was stripped to the red and black wires and nothing zip nope 0 voltage...
im really disssapointed .. i even have the 4 rechargable energizer batteries...
I think im going to try ur solar power charger and see if that works...
Im just wondering if i have to have the 6 prong switch that goes with the solar chrager? cuz i only have the 3 prong.
Reply bak to me asap

[YoChuck]

Yeah, it sounds like it could be the switch. The switch you're using sounds like it might be a SPDT (?) I'd recommend getting a DPDT switch with center-off, and wiring it up. As long as you have the battery pack going to the USB port, I'd think it would be fine. Just double check all of your connections once you get everything together. If you know for sure that the batteries have plenty of juice, it shouldn't be too hard to trace the problem. Best of luck!

[466267]

The switch im using is the DPDT switch (not center off ) having 3 prongs and just goes on and off.... the middle prong is connected to the (+) of the led and then the (-) going to the (-) wires twisted together ... i just dont know whats wrong.. i did all the connections right but when i flip the switch on and test the voltage from the output of switch... i get nothing. but without the switch and led i get 5v .=/ just pains me to see that my hard work ends in dissapointment...ill keep trying something and hopefully somethnig works.

Thanks for replying to me.. its been very helpful

[69ballsmahoney]

Your going to have to get the exact same switch that he has

[YoChuck]

Still sounds to me like it's an SPDT switch. Even a DPDT switch without center off should have 6 prongs. I might be mistaken. I'd try wiring the positive from the battery pack to the center prong. From one of the side prongs, run both positives for the LED and the USB port with separate wires (making sure to put your resistor in line before the LED). I can't remember if you said you're doing the solar cell, but the positive lead for that can go on the other side prong (with the rectifier in line). Send all negative wires back to the negative battery lead, and I'd think it would be good... Be sure to test everything thoroughly before powering up and connecting though... Best of luck!

[466267]

Hey Yochuck I was wondering.. My solar panel from a garden light only produces like 1-2v max...... Should i even use a solar panel for the charger?

[YoChuck]

The solar panel on this project is pretty much a novelty. It will get the job done, but takes a LONG time to charge the batteries fully. If you're simply planning on using this as an 'on-the-go' portable charger, I'd recommend forgoing the solar panel and using a wall charger to recharge the batteries.

[466267]

Forgot one more thing... Can i just use a dpdt center off switch with the diagram without the panel?... because i dont have a 2 prong slide switch? Sry thanks for the help I hope this project works