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HOW DO YOU CONNECT A SOLAR PANEL TO A MOTOR FROM AN RC CAR?
Question by Tony Vo:
How do you connect a solar panel to a motor from an RC car?
Can anyone tell me how to connect a solar panel from a calculator to a motor from an RC car.
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Answer by dmoney_sc
Connecting them is not a problem: the solar cell has two leads or terminals, and so does the motor. The problem is that the panel from the calculator can’t supply very much current, and you need quite a bit for the motor. Also, the voltage is probably not more than 3 volts, and the motor needs probably six to twelve volts. If you have a voltmeter, check the output from the solar cell. You can get solar cells that will put out more current, but they will be larger than the ones used for calculators. Even with these, you will probably need several in series to get enough voltage for the motor.
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about 1 year ago
Everything the previous respondent said was true. I would add that you can do some other things to take advantage of these two objects working together.
1) Adding a large capacitor in parallel with the panel will allow the panel to charge the capacitor, which can deliver more current for a short period of time. This is essentially how a flash charger works for a camera.
2) Adding several panels in parallel with increase the current capability of your power source (the solar panels). Adding panels in series will increase the voltage potential. You can do both (for example stacking two sets of three panels in parallel would give twice the voltage and 3 times the current).
3) A fairly simple circuit, called a charge pump,
http://www.linear.com/pc/viewCategory.jsp?navId=H0,C1,C1003,C1039&gclid=CLbIk5Wt0pkCFQEhDQodDxhnlg
can increase your voltage from a single solar panel. In combination with a large capacitor, you could deliver short bursts of power to the motor which would allow intermittent operation.