DIY: How To Turn a Playing Card Into a Solar-Powered Battery Charger
Posted By Timon Singh On August 17, 2012 @ 5:43 pm In DIY,Recycled Materials,Renewable Energy,Solar Power | 1 Comment
A few weeks ago we shared Instructable [4]‘s handy DIY guide to building your own solar-powered USB charger [5]. Now, the website has provided a guide to creating a solar-powered charger for rechargeable NiMH AA and AAA batteries [6] with a twist – it’s made from a playing card!
This cheap and easy project only takes 10-15 minutes to do, however you will need a couple of PV silicon cells [7]. Other than that, they only parts you really need are a playing card, some solettes, some magnets and super glue. Solettes can be purchased from suppliers in China, such as these [8].
The complete material list is: copper tape with adhesive backing, super glue, a couple of playing cards, 4 NdFeB magnets between 1/4″ – 1/2″ diameter, 1/32″ - 1/8″ thick, 4-8 solettes (depending on what type of additional indicators or dark-current blocking diodes you add to the basic charger) and a few AA rechargeable batteries.
Optional extras include a schottky diode [9], an indicator LED [10] and some form of rigid backing such as a scrap piece of 1/8″ thick acrylic. Once you’ve assembled all those parts, you’re good to go!
Click here to download a PDF of the complete instructions [11] or alternatively, watch the below video.
+ Instructables [12]
Article printed from Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building: http://inhabitat.com
URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/diy-how-to-turn-a-playing-card-into-a-solar-powered-battery-charger/
URLs in this post:
[1] Tweet: http://twitter.com/share
[2] Share on Tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com/share
[3] Email: mailto:?subject=http://inhabitat.com/diy-how-to-turn-a-playing-card-into-a-solar-powered-battery-charger/
[4] Instructable: http://www.instructables.com/
[5] DIY guide to building your own solar-powered USB charger: http://inhabitat.com/create-your-own-diy-solar-powered-usb-charger-for-all-your-portable-gadgets/
[6] rechargeable NiMH AA and AAA batteries: http://inhabitat.com/tag/rechargeable-batteries/
[7] PV silicon cells: http://inhabitat.com/tag/crystalline-silicon-photovoltaic-cells/
[8] such as these: http://manilamantis.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/the-dark-side-2/
[9] schottky diode: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schottky_diode
[10] LED: http://inhabitat.com/tag/led/
[11] Click here to download a PDF of the complete instructions: http://www.instructables.com/id/Turn-a-playing-card-into-a-solar-charger-for-AA-ba/#
[12] + Instructables: http://www.instructables.com/id/Turn-a-playing-card-into-a-solar-charger-for-AA-ba/
Click here to print.