If you’ve always thought, “I can build that!”, now you can. The whip-smart crew at Adafruit has built an open hardware solar charger kit that has been thoroughly vetted. We’re pretty excited that this is available and think it is a great product for experimenting with, learning about and using solar power.
Pair up the kit with one of our 2 Watt solar panels (also available from Adafruit) and one of their Lithium Polymer batteries.
The charger is tailored for solar and will pull as much power as possible in any lighting condition. The kit includes the charger board, a large capacitor and a JST 2-pin cable for connecting the battery or load. You can also charge the battery from a USB cable if there is no sun.
The board includes indicator lights that tells you when its charging and when the battery is low. There is no temperature monitoring of the battery. You’ll need to keep the battery in the shade (and dry) and add in a thermistor if you want to use it consistently outdoors in hot and cold settings.
Adafruit recommends reading the full tutorial before purchasing.
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