Posted: 1/7/2011 10:09:44 AM EDT
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I received a Streamlight Strion LED as a Christmas gift. It's a really bright, lightweight light. I highly recommend it. The fact that you can leave it on the charger without ruining the LiPo battery is a big plus for me.
I’m curious to know if it would be possible to charge the light by use of a solar panel.? The charging base runs on 11-15 VDC at .6 amps. I did a little research on volts/amps/watts, and I think I need a panel rated for 7 watts. (please correct me if I'm wrong.) If I found a solar panel capable of outputting these requirements, would it charge the light, or would I need a panel with a higher wattage to compensate for clouds/intermittent sun? Could a panel with higher wattage hurt the battery? Please forgive my electrical ignorance and thanks for any advice. DV |
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Do you guys know the total battery pack capacity?
It would be easy enough to charge any device that voltage with solar, but I think you should incorporate a small (7-10 amp hour or so) AGM battery into the system. This would provide a smooth consistent charging current to the charger, acting as a shock absorber of sorts. 12V X .6 amps= 7.2 watts. However, It is rare to see a panel generate its' rated output. Conditions have to be perfect: a panel focused at 90 degrees to the sun on a cool, cloudless day. I'd want to use at least a 10 watt panel, and could imagine a ten watt system being marginal on less than perfect days. Bigger panels certainly wouldn't hurt. Here's a 20 watt panel on sale for 55.00. http://www.solarblvd.com/p2454/AEE-Solar-20-Watt-12-Volt-Solar-Panel/product_info.html Same place has 5 watt panels for 14.99. You could take two of those and hook them up to get ten watts. cheap charge controller So assuming the shipping charges on the 20 W panel doesn't suck and that cheap charge controller works fine, you're probably looking at about $100-125 to build the system. You could buy a cigarette lighter adapter and use this system for a lot of small draw devices. |
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I like the idea of a solar panel to charge up my many, many, many flashlights, but for bugging out on foot there are much better options. How about a light that is so efficient at the lower levels you will actually want to use when camping or bugging out that carrying two extra batteries is all you would need for a month of light of normal usage? You won't be running your flashlight all night long all the time. If you did, you would be easy to find and hurt. If you use a very bright light the same thing applies.
Check out the Quark 2AA regular. quark 2AA regular Easily 30 days of usable light at the .2 lumens setting, which is a perfect amount of light to walk around at night with adjusted eyes. The next setting up will run for a week or more. For around the house usage, much bigger panels with deep cycle batteries are a better option. |
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Quoted:
Do you guys know the total battery pack capacity? It would be easy enough to charge any device that voltage with solar, but I think you should incorporate a small (7-10 amp hour or so) AGM battery into the system. This would provide a smooth consistent charging current to the charger, acting as a shock absorber of sorts. 12V X .6 amps= 7.2 watts. However, It is rare to see a panel generate its' rated output. Conditions have to be perfect: a panel focused at 90 degrees to the sun on a cool, cloudless day. I'd want to use at least a 10 watt panel, and could imagine a ten watt system being marginal on less than perfect days. Bigger panels certainly wouldn't hurt. Here's a 20 watt panel on sale for 55.00. http://www.solarblvd.com/p2454/AEE-Solar-20-Watt-12-Volt-Solar-Panel/product_info.html Same place has 5 watt panels for 14.99. You could take two of those and hook them up to get ten watts. cheap charge controller So assuming the shipping charges on the 20 W panel doesn't suck and that cheap charge controller works fine, you're probably looking at about $100-125 to build the system. You could buy a cigarette lighter adapter and use this system for a lot of small draw devices. Thanks for the info so far. The battery is a 3.75v 2.0Ah 7.5Wh. That's a good price for a panel. |
| I have hear a rule of thumb on larger systems that you can get usually get roughly 4X the panel's watt rating out of a panel on a full sunny day. If that turns out to be true in a smaller setup then you could really get by with a 5 watt panel to charge a 7.5wh battery. That 5 W panel, attached to a ~ 2-3 AH battery should be able to it recharge the light most days. If portability is not a factor you could get the bigger setup (20W & 7-10 ah battery ) and find an additional use for the system, like charging AAs, |