Fresh hacks every day
[Paulo]'s got a few solar panels on his shed, and while he does have a fairly nice setup with a battery charge controller, he found himself looking around for a panel voltmeter. Of course you can buy a panel voltmeter for under $20, but [Paulo] wanted something that fit his 4-4-4 plan; his voltmeter should cost under $4, draw less than 4mA, and last for 4 years. The jury is still out on the 4 year … [Read more...]
Grab that old satellite dish out of the dark corner of you garage and get those hot dogs ready. [Share alike license] is going to show us how to turn the dish into a solar cooker. Harnessing the sun's power requires a reflective surface. Although the image above makes it look like a mirror finish, this is really just covered in foil tape. This is what's used to seal duct work and can be had for … [Read more...]
[Phillip] and the crew at Voltaic Systems took a look at the Sunnan solar powered desk lamp from IKEA a while back, and while they thought it was pretty useful, there were definitely some things they wanted to change. First on their list of revisions was to increase the capacity of the stock battery pack. Taking the lamp apart and unscrewing the pack’s lid revealed a set of 3 AA cells, which … [Read more...]
Although we've featured many chicken-related hacks here, this chicken coop features a solar-powered door to save one from having to open up the coop in the morning. As [chrisatronics] puts it "keeping chickens has one major drawback: You have to get up with them in the early morning and open the door at the coop. Everyday. Including Sundays and holidays." This would help explain why so many … [Read more...]
Make your next project solar-powered with this charging circuit. It's completely through-hole, and there are no microcontrollers that need to be flashed. If you can source parts and are handy with a soldering iron building this will be a breeze. Both the maximum system voltage and the low voltage drop out are configurable. After assembly, you just need to attach a regulated power supply to the … [Read more...]
[Frits] has been working on an solar panel heliostat (in Dutch, check out the translated page here). The heliostat uses a small PICAXE to control the motor, along with an DS1307 real-time clock to make sure the motors start at dawn. Instead of using optical encoders or magnetic sensors, the angle of the heliostat is measure with a pot attached to the drive shaft. [Frits] did a lot of data … [Read more...]
[Markus Kayser] built an amazing solar powered SLS printer, but instead of using lasers and powdered plastics his machine uses the power of the sun to heat sand into complex shapes. [Markus]' printer uses the same concept as his earlier solar cutter - burning things with a magnifying glass. Interestingly, the printer isn't controlled with stepper motors and reprap electronics - it's completely … [Read more...]
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