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Solar charging the iPad: Project

I use a solar gorilla and a power gorilla to charge all my gadgets here in the uk, the power gorilla is always full at end of the day still.

It does work with the iPad but only when the screen is off like when plugged into USB
 
How about an iPad case with solar cells integrated in the back of the case. Place your iPad in its case face down and let the sun charge her up while you're in the car, or at the park or...
 
WERA Cannoli said:
How about an iPad case with solar cells integrated in the back of the case. Place your iPad in its case face down and let the sun charge her up while you're in the car, or at the park or...
Click to expand...

Eh, Idk about that.
 
Anyone want to consider opening up the included iPad charger for science? :p
 
Several examples of foldable solar USB chargers on Youtube. Easy to build and rather cheap if you enjoy building that sort of thing. Also several choices in solar chargers that are fairly reasonable in price.
 
bossxii said:
Several examples of foldable solar USB chargers on Youtube. Easy to build and rather cheap if you enjoy building that sort of thing. Also several choices in solar chargers that are fairly reasonable in price.
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Trust me, I've looked lol, none that will do the hefty 10 watts the iPad requires however. ;)
 
troop231 said:
Trust me, I've looked lol, none that will do the hefty 10 watts the iPad requires however. ;)
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The iPad can still charge off less wattage, just take longer. Just as it will charge off a standard 2.5 watt USB port. Not ideal but for someone wanting a small and portable solar charger it would get the job done.
 
The right panel would slide over top of the left one almost like a cabinet drawer slider

26205cz.png
 
I don't know how much luck you will have using different sized solar cells. I'd stick with identical ones. Also, what kind of regulator are you going for? I think you need to find cells that put out 7-9v open circuit for a regulator to reliably provide 5v. I'm having a bit of trouble locating a switching 5V regulator that can handle the 3-4A I'd like to have. I'd like to be able to charge an iPad at the fastest rate and several iPod Touches at the same time.
 
iPodPad said:
I don't know how much luck you will have using different sized solar cells. I'd stick with identical ones. Also, what kind of regulator are you going for? I think you need to find cells that put out 7-9v open circuit for a regulator to reliably provide 5v. I'm having a bit of trouble locating a switching 5V regulator that can handle the 3-4A I'd like to have. I'd like to be able to charge an iPad at the fastest rate and several iPod Touches at the same time.
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Using different cells makes no difference to the electricity I do believe (or thought that's how electricity worked).

Also for the regulator you might be looking for, try the LM350T: http://www.fairchildsemi.com/pf/LM/LM350.html
 
I've just found i 'should' be able to charge my iPad at the faster rate by using one of these in conjunction with my powergorilla...

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powerjolt-for-ipad

It should also in theory work with the solar gorillla solar panels on its own but i don't think it would work very well here in the UK as using the solar panels on it's own to charge my iphone/ipod can be temperamental sometimes. That's why i use a power gorilla as a reservoir of power and the solar panel trickle charges it all day.
 
Yeah, I could really use that updated Griffin car charger to reverse engineer it, I only have the old-er version that works with iPhones :(
 
Dont mean to be a buzzkill

I dont mean to be a buzzkill but one of the biggest flaws of the iPad is how poorly it performs in the sun light.
 
YayMayorBee said:
I dont mean to be a buzzkill but one of the biggest flaws of the iPad is how poorly it performs in the sun light.
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Don't know why you even mentioned it, it's for charging, not necessarily using it at the same time.
 
Better double check that data sheet. The LM350 is a linear regulator with a 3v dropout voltage. (If I'm reading the data sheet correctly, I'm no expert.)

That means you will need solar cells with at least 8v output. At 3A you will be burning up 9 Watts in the regulator. Over 1/3 of your power will be wasted heating up the regulator. And that is best case.

I think a switching regulator will be a much better choice.

I'm wondering about the LM1084. A switching regulator with a 1.5v dropout voltage and can supply up to 4A.
 
I see in your solar panel diagram 4 cells at 0.5v and 8A and 2 cells at 4.3v .08A. I'm confused about how you are going to wire those to produce the 6.5-8v you will need to drive the regulator.

If you put the 4 larger cells in series you will get 2v at 8A. If you put that in parallel with the smaller cells the output will drop to 2v as soon as you exceed 0.16A. If you put them all in series you will get 10.6v but only 0.08A. I can't see any good way to combine the dissimilar cells. I don't think the electricity adds up the way you expect.
 
I have 6 layer solar cells that are about the size of the iPhone and put out consistent 13 watts, they will work with the right charging circuitry.

Layered solar cells are becoming more popular now that cost to manufacture has gone down.

I will open iPad power brick to see what I can do to make one, no promises though.


Get enough people interested and I'll build one with schematics so others can do it.
 
Sample LM350T's came in today. Don't know if I'm going to use them though now, but having extra parts is always nice!
 
troop231 said:
Don't know why you even mentioned it, it's for charging, not necessarily using it at the same time.
Click to expand...

I can see where he is coming from. You would assume that if your ipad needed to be charged in sunlight, you were out using it in sunlight. Now I can understand camping situations, but would you really just leave your iPad unattended sitting out?

Anyway, just wanted to put some perspective out there.
 
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