Solar Thoughts blog

Food for thought

A personal blog about DIY Projects, Technology & Solar Power

Tag: Experimental

  • Ryobi 18v Solar Battery Charger DIY project

    Ryobi 18v Solar Battery Charger DIY project

    Wouldn’t it be great if Ryobi 18v power tool batteries could be charged directly from a 100 watt solar panel? A while back I developed a prototype which achieved this aim successfully. Products like this should already be on the shelf. With solar power, efficiency is a good thing. The normal route involves the solar…

  • Are wall mounted solar panels worth it?

    Are wall mounted solar panels worth it?

    I took the chance of mounting some 100w monocrystalline solar panels on the wall of my metal building (solar workshop). If interested, check out my video of the setup at the bottom of the page. I really needed some extra power for lab experiments and so forth, but did not want the burden of more…

  • Risky Solar Experiments in my shop – part 1 PV Solar Netbook

    Risky Solar Experiments in my shop – part 1 PV Solar Netbook

    I often wondered what would happen if I took a 12V solar panel with its high VoC (Voltage Open Circuit) and plugged it straight into a netbook or laptop! It is my opinion that all laptops, netbooks and mobile computing devices should accept a direct Solar PV input – it’s easy to do, a nice…