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Build a solar powered USB charger Length 5:03
Curated 11/6/07
Updated 10/5/10 Hosted by break.com
Creator's Site www.babblin5.com

Want to stop wasting energy charging your USB devices? Transform some cheap solar-powered garden lights into your very own solar USB charger. For step-by-step instructions on replicating this hack yourself, watch this video tutorial. Just watch to see how to build your own solar-powered USB charger with a few solar panels from those garden lights and some floppy disk wiring.

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+1
kcdareem 10/19/08 3:37 PM
nice
+1
shellymilili (12) 6/18/09 3:25 AM
very nice
+1
DudeRun (7) 10/27/08 10:17 AM
Very cool.
+1
Thoed 11/10/08 11:45 PM
That's awesome, great idea! Good for emergency phones that are often kept in emergency kits for vehicles.
+1
lazerous_cool 12/3/08 3:36 PM
awsome
+1
SERCOSPECTRO 12/18/08 4:14 AM
INCREDIBLE!!
+1
emma77 12/31/08 7:44 PM
excellent
+1
mofokish (3) 1/3/09 4:29 PM
we need more solar stuff for sure... please guys!!!
+1
punkthepump 1/26/09 1:12 AM
nice job man!
+1
the-dude (-6) 1/26/09 12:59 PM
doesn't it takes too long to charge ?
still nice tough
i'd like to give it a try
+2
vince1701 (1) 2/8/09 12:22 AM
i wonder what the minimum amperage is... i get that the voltage needs to be around 5v but what about amperage?
+1
ooISAACoo (-1) 3/20/09 1:53 AM
yea it's very nice but these system needs to be controled in order to keep our stuff from taking over what it needs
+1
michaelsigcha 3/24/09 7:34 PM
cool
+1
gamma_a 4/18/09 4:45 AM
kik asse
+1
ninjabob91 4/20/09 5:48 PM
what if you got enough to power a lamp so that you could start the lamp to start using a plug in to power the solar panels then unplug from the wall and let the panels power the lamp forever ???is that possible it would be like amazing green energy
re using the energy
+1
dmeon (-2) 5/27/09 8:05 AM
Think again. He needed a 110v 40w lamp to get 5v and probably not even 0.5w.
+1
ninjabob91 5/27/09 9:51 PM
oh i see but maby wit a more evitiant set of pannels and better placement just a neat idea
+1
dmeon (-2) 5/28/09 7:58 AM
The problem is that you need to get more energy out of the lamp than you put in, which will never happen. Much of the energy is for instance lost when it turns into heat.
+1
SulaFreaks 5/4/09 12:15 PM
HAHA!, good work what about to hook the solar ower set to a flash light, and youre phone immortal energi?
+1
blackmagic1937 (-2) 5/16/09 7:43 PM
so this is sweet and all, but what if u strap like 10 together giving u like 25 volts and u plugged something that only needed 10, could it over power the iteam?
+1
raphaelmpr (-2) 5/18/09 8:22 AM
can this power up an iPhone??
+1
raghu_lifescience 7/31/09 9:35 PM
Can i use this to charge USB MP3 Players???
+1
jbneri 11/6/09 12:36 AM
but the question is, does this work?
+1
prayag2010 11/12/09 6:23 AM
can we take more solar cells and take a 5v regulator ?
+1
hemanth_bontha 1/31/10 3:31 AM
it's verrrrrrry cool
+3
helene prudprud (2) 7/17/10 9:03 PM
im thinking about making this but i dad says that it might fry my ipod or my phone. is it true? have you chargered anything with it before?
+1
Oribe Green 8/13/10 1:32 PM
Assembled the charger as per instructions but with cells of somewhat higher voltage. Ended up with 7+ volts but no measurable amps. Added a voltage regulator to reduce volts to 5 V. Still no amps. In bright daylight connected to a MP3 device that lights up, but says unable to charge. My guess is that the amps are insufficient. Why no amps?. Any suggestions?
+1
Brian Roberts 9/10/10 12:37 PM
Did you bridge the four cells into two? That is how he increased the amps.
+1
Oribe Green 9/10/10 5:19 PM
Yes, I did. Suspect you are correct even though I thought I followed the directions exactly. Next step is to start over again. Can practice my soldering. Thanks
-1
John Johnson2 (-1) 10/11/10 3:21 PM
Hey idiot, your mp3 player is not running off of the solar panels, it's running off of the battery while it's charging.
+1
Melissa Wicks 11/10/11 12:46 PM
awsome because my car lighter just shorted out and i cant charge my phone from it, this is easier than trying to get under the dash to change the the lighter.
+1
Ashok Joshi 2/15/12 6:36 AM
no words to say
+1
Nate Dean 3/25/12 6:08 PM
i built one that put out enough to charge my computer that requires 19v. just had to put a couple inline regulators for a couple bucks (one for 19v and one for 4.5v) so i could also step it down to 4.5v to charge usb devices. not really all that hard to do.
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