Solar Barbie Dreamhouse

It's time for....BARBIELAND. But how to get there??? Only with a NEW SOLAR BARBIE DREAMHOUSE, that's how! This instructable guides you through the process of creating your own portal to the heart-shaped land. Oh, and it has electrically wired appliances and runs on CLEAN solar energy.

The house runs on two 18v black solar panels and one 20v green solar panel. The panels are wired to a car charger, to step down the power to 5 volts, a usable level for the loads. In parallel the setup produces 11volts and 160 milliamps. The car charger runs to a portable battery, then to the loads. The battery WILL charge itself when excess solar power is available. When at night or shaded, the house can run on complete battery power. SAV PAA: Series adds voltage, parallel adds amperage. Both the panels and the appliances of this house are run in parallel.

The two black solar panels are tilted to a 38-degree azimuth for maximum solar capture. The front of the house will face east, so the panels can face south and capture power most efficiently. The green panel is placed flat on the roof.

Are you ready to find yourself teleported to the land of the Barbs, the Kens, and the Alans? Hope you brought some barbie dolls...

Supplies

• ~5sqyd cardboard
• Pink construction paper, as needed
• Black construction paper, as needed
• X1 green square solar panel
• X2 black solar panel
• X3 switches
• X1 eurosplitter
• X1 battery (5volts)
• X1 cord switch
• X1 micro-usb to usb cord
• ~3ft electrical wire
• X1 car charger
• X2 fan (.3amps,2.4volts)
• X3 light emitting diode, different colors for fun (23miliamps,5volts)
• X1 light diode resistor
• X1 alligator clip set, + and - cords

Step 1: Make the House

Build a cardboard house (freestyle), with hollow roof sections with enough space for electrical wires to run through. Include a shed space on the side for an “electrical box” setup. House should be roughly 50x25x40cm (front width x side length x height). Shed space should be 15x20x20cm on the left side of the house (facing the house, the left side-yard) 

Step 2: Wire and Solder the Solar Panels

Your solar panels want to be connected to the car charger, so the car charger can step down power to safe levels. You want to solder the panels' positive cords to the front tip of the car charger, and the negatives to the side of the charger. The green panel is not shown here, but the same thing should be done with the green panel. Wire it in with these two black panels.

If this setup is wired in series, it will produce 38 volts. In parallel it will produce 11 volts. SAV PAA: Series adds voltage, parallel adds amperage. What's why a series setup of these panels has more voltage.

Don't know how to solder?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu3TYBs65FM&t=518s&pp=ygUNaG93IHRvIHNvbGRlcg%3D%3D

That's a video on how to solder properly.

Step 3: Insert the Rechargeable Battery

From your newly soldered car charger, run a USB-microUSB cord to one end of the battery, from the other end of the battery, run a USB switch, with the non-connected end stripped to positive and negative wires.

Step 4: Eurosplitter

Attach the positive and negative wires from the switch into a eurosplitter. The conjoining side of that eurosplitter will house all the connections of your appliances. The eurosplitter creates space for all of your loads' wires + and - sides to join together. It is the junction between the SUPPLY and the LOAD sides of this whole system. (The supply is the panels, the load is the appliances)

Step 5: Wire in the Appliances

Your appliances will all attach to the eurosplitter in parallel. Each appliance's wiring will include a power switch. Make a switchboard similar to the one shown in the image. For every appliance, wire the switch's positive side into the eurosplitter. Run the negative side to the negative wire of the appliance, and the appliance's positive cord to the eurosplitter.

The point of a switch is to enable you to isolate the usage of each appliance/load. This will enable you to turn on and off each fan or LED individually.

This forms a de facto circle or wiring, so we can include the switch. Wire two fans in this fashion. You should have what's in the image but with two of these "circles". Two wired fans, each in their own circle but connecting to the same two ports in the eurosplitter. You should have exactly what's in the sketch image.

Step 6: 3 Parallel LEDs

You will wire in 3 parallel LEDs for your third and last appliance. Start by constructing the wiring "circle" you normally would to wire in a fan. Now, in your negative wire to the LEDs, add in a resister. (The resister you use should be one that look very similar to the image) To wire 3 LEDs in parallel, solder together 3 LEDs, connecting their positive and negative wires to each other respectively.

Connect these combined positive and negative terminals to their respective wires. This will connect them just like a fan. Another "circle" mechanism and our third and last appliance.

Step 7: Fit Everything Into the House

In this step, you want to fit your wiring, panels, and loads into your Barbie dreamhouse. Your roof panels come in very nicely here, as they are thick enough to house the wires running to your appliances. Attach your switchboard to become one of the walls of the shed space. Attach the panels to the roof of the house, and run their wires through the roof panels towards the shed. Your car charger, eurosplitter, conjoining wires, and battery should fit inside the shed. Out of sight, out of mind! If you feel like it, construct a chimney or two to hide vertically running wires.

Check to make sure everything still works when you fit it into the house. Sometimes connections can come loose. Check to make sure your connections are secure!

Step 8: Angle Your Black Panels

To maximize solar power capture, angle your two black panels to a 38-degree tilt. Measure out a 38-degree angle on cardboard, and cut out 4 identical triangles with this angle. attach to the solar panels, so they are propped up to the 38-degree angle.

Here's why we do this: We are in the northern hemisphere, so the sun's path will always be in the south of our sky. We want to MAXIMIZE the power generated from our panels. So, we angle our panels in the direction of the sun. SO, WE ANGLE OUR PANELS TOWARDS SOUTH and tilt them up 38 degrees. I'm making this house in a town that is located at a latitude of 38 degrees north. Angle your solar panels however many degrees latitude you are in wherever you are making your house. Your tilt angle will vary depending on your distance from the equator. We want our panels as perpendicular to the sun as possible.

Step 9: Make It Barbie

No Barbie Dreamhouse (r) is complete without PINKIFICATION. Take light and dark pink paper and cut out sections to paste over the front of your house. Use dark pink paper for the roof sections and light pink paper for the walls.

Step 10: Troubleshooting

Here are some various problems that COULD occur during your journey:

1) "my LEDs won't light up even though they're connected properly!" Answer: Try switching the positives and negatives to your lightbulb. Switching flow direction can fix that. It did for me TWICE.

2) "Random things are turning on even though none of the switches are on!" Answer: THINGS ARE SHORTING OUT. Connections are being made that aren't supposed to be connected. Wires are touching that shouldn't be touching. wrap painter's tape or electrical tape around exposed wires to prevent unnecessary connections.

3) "AAAAHHHHH! My wires are so confusing!" Answer: Keep your wiring CLEAN and EFFICIENT. Long wires should be looped and rubber banded into smaller chunks. This will decrease confusion. Streamline and clean up your wiring; it will create more comprehensible of a setup.

Step 11: A Video Explaining How Everything Works

https://youtu.be/VsVA26GIagk