leefurness
New Member
OK, I am very new to electronics and am just starting to learn the basics. I ordered a solar panel from eBay to charge my phone and ipod. It was a 6v 400ma panel and had a usb connector on it already, so you can just plug it in and off you go. That works fine but the phone needs +5v to start charging, and the ipod needs about +5.4v. But they will keep on charging until the voltage drops to about 4.5v.So in my office or outside on a cloudy day they do not start to charge but they would continue to charge once they started.
I thought that i could get a 7.5V+ solar panel which would have a better chance of having more than 5v in low level lighting conditions. The problem is that I don’t want to fry the phone.
Is there a way of limiting the voltage to 6v without regulating it?
I don’t care if it drops below 6 volts, just not above. I looked into zener diodes and switching regulators but they all seem to restrict the voltage or waste power.
I did read something about using a couple of transistors but I didn't really understand it.
Any Ideas?
I thought that i could get a 7.5V+ solar panel which would have a better chance of having more than 5v in low level lighting conditions. The problem is that I don’t want to fry the phone.
Is there a way of limiting the voltage to 6v without regulating it?
I don’t care if it drops below 6 volts, just not above. I looked into zener diodes and switching regulators but they all seem to restrict the voltage or waste power.
I did read something about using a couple of transistors but I didn't really understand it.
Any Ideas?