Solar Powered Cell Phone Charger Prototype

The point where the need for fossil fuels ends

Last week I found two 10-watt solar panels in the school's physics lab. First thing that came to my mind was how powerful these solar panels are. Last summer when I was on my uncle's sailboat with my cousins, I saw two solar panels which are approximately 2 meters long. I asked my uncle how much energy these solar panels supply to the sailboat. When he said they supply 450 watts each, I didn't believe at first. After that he showed me the live data from the panels via his iPhone. I was convinced. Months later, this experience with my uncle came to my mind and I decided to turn these dusty solar panels into a cell phone charger hub! The next day, I brought my soldering iron, cables, a multimeter, DIP USB-A connectors, and a step-down regulator with various valued resistors. Afterwards, I did the thing that I always do before an electronics-related project: drawing schematics. After some blood and sweat, the first prototype was done. However, there was a problem. It was not charging even I was getting the values that I wanted to get form multimeter. After a few minor nervous breakdowns, I learnt from Apple's wall charger schematics that a noticable resistance or a resistor bridge is needed between D+ and D- pins of the USB connector in order for the cell phone to detect the output from the solar panel as a charger. Therefore, I soldered a 120-ohm resistor between D+ and D- pins. And everything worked fine! Nevertheless, a success creates new problems. No one was charging their phone via CalparCharge©. Because, they were using the wall plug instead. Then I decided something different is needed to encourage people to charge their phone with my device. Just then, an idea came to my mind. I must build a hub that sends small amounts of crypto when someone charges their phone via my creation. At the moment, I work on this project with my friend. If you want to be informed as soon as this project is done, you can subscribe to the newsletter from the bottom.

Last Edited: 11.14.2021