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Solar I-phone charger

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wannabe

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Im trying to make a solar charger for my iphone, (im an amateur with limited electrical knowledge)

I have already made the panels, i have 3 panels that produce 2.8v and 500mA each in bright sunlight, my problem is getting that power to the i phone without damaging the iphone, my first plan was to connect the three in series (8.4v) and use a voltage regulator (radio shacks 7805a +5vdc voltage regulator) and connect it to a usb connector. Will this work? if not what will? thanks for any help.
 
By "connect it to a USB connector" do you mean that you are wiring it so that it looks like the USB jack on you computer?

That should work. I made a 5V charger from an Ipod that way. I found some AC powered cell phone chargers that were rated at 5V dc, and I just connected that to a USB female.

Another idea: I found a bunch of 12VDC in to 5Vdc out automobile cell phone chargers that have a switching regulator inside. The chip inside the charger happily runs on an input voltage much less than 12V, so you could just feed your solar panel into one of those...
 
Thanks for the info, I'll try that schematic and the chip in the car chargers, thanks again
 
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Hi. I am not electronically minded, but wouldn't the resistors used create heat. I found this diy charger above having too many wires and has a chance to possibly blow the iphone. I went to Jaycar and bought the 10AA battery holder and cigerette car adaptor and 12AA varta 2500 mAh batteries. soldered battery holder to adaptor, recharged batteries and plug in car iphone charger (already own one). It works. Not great to carry around. Just need to make a box to fit.
 
Hi. I am not electronically minded, but wouldn't the resistors used create heat. I found this diy charger above having too many wires and has a chance to possibly blow the iphone. I went to Jaycar and bought the 10AA battery holder and cigerette car adaptor and 12AA varta 2500 mAh batteries. soldered battery holder to adaptor, recharged batteries and plug in car iphone charger (already own one). It works. Not great to carry around. Just need to make a box to fit.
The resistors are a high enough so they don't waste any significant power. Their purpose is to fool certain iphone models into thinking it has an "authorized" charger. The extra wires don't provide enough current to blow the iphone even if it is wired wrong.
 
How did this work out for you?

Coincidence has me trying the same thing with less, (far less) electrical knowledge than you claim to have!

I was going to use a solar panel with the same 5V regulator, but now reading this have no idea!

Thanks!
 
No, No, No. Read this. it will help you design an effective charger. the only thing that is not mentioned in the thread, is the fact that i-whatevers only need a constant current of 500mA to charge. 500mA is the maximum output of a standard USB port.
 
well what happen?
how'd the project goes?
This might help me on my new project I'm developing
**broken link removed**
 
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