Choice 

Do-it-yourself solar-powered camping power supply. DIY solar battery What is a solar battery? and with what it is eaten

Getting electricity from alternative power sources is very costly. For example, using solar energy when buying ready-made equipment, you will have to spend a significant amount of money. But nowadays it is possible to assemble solar panels with your own hands for a summer residence or a private house from ready-made photovoltaic cells or other improvised materials. And before you start buying the necessary components and designing the structure, you need to understand what a solar battery is and how it works.

Solar battery: what is it and how does it work

People who are faced with this task for the first time immediately have questions: “How to assemble a solar battery?” or "How to make a solar battery?". But having studied the device and the principle of its operation, the problems with the implementation of this project disappear by themselves. After all, the design and principle of operation are simple and should not cause difficulties when creating a power source at home.

Solar battery(Sat)- These are photoelectric converters of energy emitted by the sun into electrical energy, which are connected in the form of an array of elements and enclosed in a protective structure. Converters- silicon semiconductor elements for direct current generation. They are produced in three types:

  • Monocrystalline;
  • polycrystalline;
  • Amorphous (thin film).

The principle of operation of the device is based on the photoelectric effect. Sunlight, falling on photocells, knocks out free electrons from the last orbits of each atom of the silicon wafer. moving a large number free electrons between the electrodes of the battery generate D.C.. Further, it is converted into alternating current to electrify the house.

Choice of photocells

Before the beginning design work to create a panel at home, you need to choose one of three types of solar energy converters. To select the appropriate elements, you need to know their technical characteristics:

  • Monocrystalline. The efficiency of these plates is 12–14%. However, they are sensitive to the amount of light entering. Slight cloudiness significantly reduces the amount of electricity generated. Service life up to 30 years.
  • Polycrystalline. These elements are capable of producing an efficiency of 7–9%. But they are not affected by the quality of illumination and they are able to deliver the same amount of current in cloudy and even cloudy weather. Operational period - 20 years.
  • amorphous. Manufactured from flexible silicon. They produce an efficiency of about 10%. The amount of electricity produced does not decrease due to the quality of the weather. But expensive and complex production makes them difficult to obtain.

For the manufacture of SBs on their own, you can purchase type B converters (second grade). These include cells with small defects, even if you replace some components, the cost of batteries will be 2-3 times less than the market price, thanks to this, save your money.

To provide a private house with electricity from alternative source energy best suited the first two types of plates.

Site selection and design

Batteries are best placed according to the principle: the higher the better. A great place would be the roof of the house, it does not get a shadow from trees or other buildings. If the structure of the ceilings does not allow to support the weight of the installation, then the place should be chosen in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe cottage, which most of all perceives radiation from the sun.

The assembled panels must be placed at such an angle that the sun's rays fall as perpendicularly as possible on the silicon elements. The ideal option there will be the possibility of correcting the entire installation in the direction behind the sun.

Making a battery with your own hands

You will not be able to provide a house or cottage with electricity at 220 V from a solar battery, because. the size of such a battery will be huge. One plate generates an electric current with a voltage of 0.5 V. The best option SB is considered with a rated voltage of 18 V. Based on this, the required number of photocells for the device is calculated.

Frame assembly

First of all, a homemade solar battery needs a protective frame (case). It can be made from aluminum corners 30x30 mm or from wooden bars at home. When using a metal profile on one of the shelves, a chamfer is removed with a file at an angle of 45 degrees, and the second shelf is cut off at the same angle. Frame parts cut to the required dimensions with machined ends are twisted using squares made of the same material. A protective glass is glued to the finished frame on silicone.

Plate soldering

When soldering elements at home, you need to know that to increase the voltage it is necessary to connect in series, and to increase the current strength - in parallel. The flint wafers are laid out on the glass, leaving a gap of 5 mm between them on each side. This gap is necessary to compensate for the possible thermal expansion of the elements during heating. The converters have two tracks: on the one hand "plus", on the other - "minus". All parts are connected in series in a single circuit. Then the conductors from the last components of the circuit are output to a common bus.

To avoid self-discharge of the device at night or cloudy weather, experts recommend installing a 31DQ03 Schottky diode or equivalent on a contact from the “middle” point.

After finishing soldering work with a multimeter, you need to check the output voltage, which should be 18-19 V to fully provide a private house with electricity.

Panel Assembly

Soldered transducers are placed in the finished case, then silicone is applied to the center of each silicon element, and the top is covered with a fiberboard substrate to fix them. After that, the structure is closed with a lid, and all joints are sealed with sealant or silicone. The finished panel is mounted on a holder or frame.

Solar panels from improvised materials

In addition to assembling SBs from purchased photocells, they can be assembled from improvised materials that any radio amateur has: transistors, diodes and foil.

transistor battery

For these purposes, the most suitable parts are transistors of the KT or P type. Inside them is a fairly large silicon semiconductor element necessary for the production of electricity. Having picked up the required number of radio components, it is necessary to cut off the metal cover from them. To do this, you need to clamp it in a tesk and carefully cut off the upper part with a hacksaw for metal. Inside you can see a plate that will serve as a photocell.

Transistor for a battery with a sawn-off cap

All these parts have three contacts: base, emitter and collector. When assembling the SB, you need to choose a collector junction due to the largest potential difference.

Assembly is carried out on a flat plane from any dielectric material. You need to solder transistors in separate series chains, and these chains, in turn, are connected in parallel.

The calculation of the finished current source can be made from the characteristics of radio components. One transistor produces a voltage of 0.35 V and a short-circuit current of 0.25 μA.

Diode battery

A solar battery from D223B diodes can really become a source electric current. These diodes have the highest voltage and are made in a glass case coated with paint. Output voltage finished product can be determined from the calculation that one diode in the sun generates 350 mV.

  1. We put the required number of radio components in a container and fill it with acetone or another solvent and leave it for several hours.
  2. Then, you need to take a plate of the right size from a non-metallic material and mark up for soldering the power supply components.
  3. Once wet, the paint can be easily scraped off.
  4. Armed with a multimeter, in the sun or under a light bulb, we determine the positive contact and bend it. Diodes are soldered vertically, since in this position the crystal generates electricity best from the energy of the sun. Therefore, at the output we get the maximum voltage that the solar battery will generate.

In addition to the two methods described above, the power supply can be assembled from foil. Homemade solar battery, made according to step by step instructions, described below, will be able to produce electricity, albeit of very low power:

  1. For homemade, you will need copper foil with an area of ​​\u200b\u200b45 square meters. see. The cut piece is processed in a soapy solution to remove fat from the surface. It is also advisable to wash your hands so as not to leave grease stains.
  2. It is necessary to remove the protective oxide film and any other type of corrosion from the cut plane with emery.
  3. A sheet of foil is placed on the burner of an electric stove with a power of at least 1.1 kW and heated until red-orange spots form. Upon further heating, the resulting oxides are converted into copper oxide. This is evidenced by the black color of the surface of the piece.
  4. After the formation of oxide, heating must be continued for 30 minutes in order to form an oxide film of sufficient thickness.
  5. The frying process stops and the sheet cools down along with the oven. With slow cooling, copper and oxide cool at different rates, which makes it easy for the latter to peel off.
  6. Under running water oxide residues are removed. In this case, it is impossible to bend the sheet and mechanically tear off small pieces so as not to damage the thin layer of oxide.
  7. The second sheet is cut according to the size of the first.
  8. In a plastic bottle with a volume of 2–5 liters with a cut neck, two pieces of foil should be placed. Secure them with crocodile clips. They need to be positioned so that they do not connect.
  9. A negative terminal is connected to the processed piece, and a positive terminal is connected to the second one.
  10. Salt solution is poured into the jar. Its level should be 2.5 cm below the top edge of the electrodes. To prepare a mixture, 2–4 tablespoons of salt (depending on the volume of the bottle) are dissolved in a small amount water.

All solar panels are not suitable for providing a summer house or a private house with electricity due to their low power. But they can serve as a power source for radios or charge small electrical appliances.

Related videos

If you yourself are a scientist or just an inquisitive person, and you often watch or read latest news in science or technology. It is for you that we have created such a section, which covers the latest world news in the field of new scientific discoveries, achievements, as well as in the field of technology. Only the latest events and only trusted sources.


In our progressive time, science is moving at a fast pace, so it is not always possible to keep up with them. Some old dogmas are crumbling, some new ones are being put forward. Mankind does not stand still and should not stand still, but the engine of mankind is scientists, scientists. And at any moment a discovery can occur that can not only amaze the minds of the entire population the globe but also fundamentally change our lives.


A special role in science is allocated to medicine, since a person, unfortunately, is not immortal, fragile and very vulnerable to all kinds of diseases. Many people know that in the Middle Ages people lived on average 30 years, and now 60-80 years. That is, at least doubled life expectancy. This was influenced, of course, by a combination of factors, but it was medicine that played a big role. And, for sure, 60-80 years for a person is not the limit of average life. It is possible that someday people will cross the mark of 100 years. Scientists from all over the world are fighting for it.


In the field of other sciences, developments are constantly underway. Every year, scientists from all over the world make small discoveries, slowly moving humanity forward and improving our lives. Places untouched by man are being explored, first of all, of course, on our home planet. However, work is constantly taking place in space.


Among technology, robotics is especially rushing forward. An ideal intelligent robot is being created. Once upon a time, robots were an element of fantasy and nothing more. But already at the moment, some corporations have real robots in their staff, which perform various functions and help optimize labor, save resources and perform for a person. dangerous species activities.


I would also like to pay special attention to electronic computers, which even 50 years ago occupied a huge amount of space, were slow and required a whole team of employees for their care. And now such a machine, in almost every home, is already called more simply and briefly - a computer. Now they are not only compact, but also many times faster than their predecessors, and anyone can figure it out. With the advent of the computer, mankind has opened a new era, which many call "technological" or "information".


Remembering the computer, do not forget about the creation of the Internet. It also gave a huge result for humanity. This is an inexhaustible source of information, which is now available to almost everyone. It connects people from different continents and transmits information with lightning speed, it was impossible to even dream of such a thing 100 years ago.


In this section, you will certainly find something interesting, exciting and informative for yourself. Perhaps even someday you will be one of the first to know about a discovery that will not only change the world, but will turn your mind upside down.

It all started with a walk on the eBay site - I saw solar panels and got sick.

Arguing with friends about payback was ridiculous…. When buying a car, no one thinks about payback. Auto as a mistress, prepare the amount for pleasure in advance. And here it’s quite the opposite, I spent money so they are also trying to pay off ... In addition, I connected it to solar panels incubator so they still justify their purpose, protecting your future economy from death. In general, having an incubator, you depend on many factors, here it’s either pan or layman. When I have time, I will write about a homemade incubator. Well, why argue, everyone has the right to choose ... ..!

After a long wait, the cherished box with thin fragile plates finally warms the hands and heart.

First of all, of course, the Internet ... well, it's not the gods who burn the pots. Someone else's experience is always helpful. And then disappointment set in ..... As it turned out, five people made the panels with their own hands, the rest were simply copied to their sites, and some, in order to be more original, were copied from different developments. Well, God bless them, let it remain on the conscience of the owners of the pages.

I decided to read the forums, the long arguments of the theorists "how to milk a cow" led to complete discouragement. Reasoning about how the plates break from heating, sealing difficulties, etc. I read and spat on the whole thing. We will go our own way, by trial and error, relying on the experience of "colleagues", why reinvent the wheel?

We set the task:

1) The panel must be made from improvised materials, so as not to pull the wallet, because the result is unknown.

2) The manufacturing process should be easy.

We start manufacturing a solar panel:

First of all, 2 glasses 86x66 cm were purchased for the future two panels.

The glass is simple, purchased from plastic window manufacturers. Or maybe not simple...

A long search for aluminum corners, according to the experience already tested by "colleagues", ended in nothing.

Therefore, the manufacturing process began sluggishly, with a sense of long-term construction.

I will not describe the process of soldering panels, since there is a lot of information about this on the network and even a video. I'll just leave my notes and comments.

The devil is not as scary as he is painted.

Despite the difficulties that are described on the forums, the plates of the elements are soldered easily, as front side, as well as the rear. Also, our Soviet solder POS-40 is quite suitable, in any case, I did not experience any difficulties. And of course, our native rosin, where without it ... During the soldering, I didn’t break a single element, I think you have to be a complete idiot to break them on even glass.

The conductors that come with the panels are very convenient, firstly, they are flat, and secondly, they are tin-plated, which significantly reduces soldering time. Although it is quite possible to use a regular wire, I conducted an experiment on spare plates, I did not experience any difficulties in soldering. (pictured is the remains of a flat wire)

It took me about 2 hours to solder 36 plates. Although I read on the forum that people solder for 2 days.

It is desirable to use a soldering iron at 40 watts. Since the plates easily remove heat, and this makes soldering difficult. The first attempts to solder 25 with a cotton soldering iron were tedious and sad.

Also, when soldering, it is desirable to optimally select the amount of flux (rosin). For a large excess of it does not allow the tin to stick to the plate. And therefore it was necessary to practically tin the plate, in general, it's okay, everything is fixable. (Look at the photo you can see.)

Tin consumption is quite large.

Well, in the photo there are soldered elements, in the second row there is a jamb, one conclusion is not soldered, but I noticed and corrected nothing important.

The glass edging is made with double-sided tape, then a plastic film will be glued to this tape.

tapes that I used.

After soldering, sealing begins (adhesive tape will help you).

Well, glued plates with adhesive tape and a fixed jamb.

Next, remove the protective layer of double-sided tape from the panel edging and glue a plastic film on it with a margin for the edges. (I forgot to take a picture) Oh, yes, we make slots in the adhesive tape for outgoing wires. Well, not stupid, you will understand what and when ... Along the edge of the glass, as well as wire leads, corners, we coat with silicone sealants.

And we bend the film to the outside.

The frame was made of plastic. When installed in the house plastic windows, a plastic profile for the window sill is attached to the window with screws. I thought this part was too thin. Therefore, he removed and made the window sill in his own way. Therefore, plastic profiles remained from 12 windows. That is to say, the material is in abundance.

I glued the frame with an ordinary, old, Soviet iron. It’s a pity I didn’t film the process, but I think there’s nothing beyond incomprehensible here. I cut off 2 sides at 45 degrees, heated it on the sole of the iron and glued it after setting it at an even angle. In the photo there is a frame for the second panel.

We install glass with elements and a protective film in the frame

We cut off the excess film, and glue the edges with silicone sealants.

We get such a panel.


Yes, I forgot to write that, in addition to the film, I glued guides to the frame, which prevent the elements from falling if the adhesive tape comes off. The space between elements and guides is filled mounting foam. This made it possible to press the elements closer to the glass.

Well, let's start testing.

Since I made one panel in advance, the result of one is known to me. The voltage is 21 Volts. Short circuit current 3.4 Amps. The current of the battery charge is 40A. h 2.1 Ampere.

Unfortunately didn't take a picture. It must be said that the current strength depends sharply on the illumination.

Now 2 batteries connected in parallel.

The weather at the time of production was cloudy, it was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

At first it upset me, and then even cheered. After all, these are the most average conditions for a battery, which means the result is more plausible than in bright sunlight. The sun shone through the clouds not so brightly. I must say that the sun was shining a little from the side.

With such lighting, the short-circuit current was 7.12 Amperes. What I consider to be an excellent result.

Voltage without load 20.6 volts. Well, it's stable around 21 volts.

The battery charge current is 2.78 Amps. That under such lighting guarantees a battery charge.

Measurements showed that with a good sunny day, the result will be better.

By that time, the weather was getting worse, the clouds were closed, the sun was full and I was wondering what it would show in this situation. It's almost evening twilight...

The sky looked like this, specially removed the horizon line. Yes, by the way, on the glass of the battery you can see the sky as in a mirror.

The voltage in this scenario is 20.2 volts. As already mentioned, the 21st century it's practically a constant.

Short circuit current 2.48A. In general, then, for such lighting is wonderful! Almost equal to one battery in good sun.

The battery charge current is 1.85 Amperes. What can I say ... Even at dusk, the battery will be charged.

Conclusion A solar battery has been built that is not inferior in performance to industrial designs. Well, durability ... .., we'll see, time will tell.

Oh yes, the battery is charged through 40 A Schottky diodes. Well, what was found.

I want to say the same about controllers. All this looks nice, but not worth the money spent on the controller.

If you are friends with a soldering iron, the circuits are very simple. Do it and enjoy making it.

Well, the wind came up and the remaining spare 5 elements fell into an uncontrolled flight ... .. the result was fragments. Well, what to do, carelessness should be punished. And on the other hand…. Where are they?

We decided to make another socket out of the fragments, 5 volts. It took 2 hours to make. The rest of the materials just came at the right time. Here's what happened.

The measurements were taken in the evening.

I must say that with good lighting, the short circuit current is more than 1 ampere.

The pieces are soldered in parallel and in series. The goal is to provide approximately the same area. After all, the current strength is equal to the smallest element. Therefore, in the manufacture, select elements according to the area of ​​\u200b\u200blighting.

It's time to talk about practical application solar panels made by me.

In the spring, he installed two manufactured panels on the roof, 8 meters high at an angle of 35 degrees, oriented to the southeast. Such an orientation was not chosen by chance, because it was noticed that in this latitude, in summer, the sun rises at 4 am and by 6-7 o'clock quite tolerably charges the batteries with a current of 5-6 amperes, and also applies to the evening. Each panel must have its own diode. In order to exclude burnout of elements with different power panels. And as a result, an unjustified decrease in the power of the panels.
The descent has been completed stranded wire section 6mm2 each core. Thus, it was possible to achieve minimal losses in the wires.

Old barely-living batteries 150A.h, 75A.h, 55A.h, 60A.h. were used as energy storage devices. All batteries are connected in parallel and taking into account the loss of capacity, the total amount is about 100 Ah.
There is no battery charge controller. Although I think the installation of the controller is necessary. I am currently working on the controller circuit. Since during the day the batteries begin to boil. Therefore, you have to dump excess energy daily by turning on an unnecessary load. In my case, I turn on the lighting of the bath. 100 W. Also, during the day, an LCD TV of about 105W, a 40W fan, and an energy-saving light bulb of 20W are added in the evening.

I will say to those who like to carry out calculations: THEORY AND PRACTICE are not the same thing. Since such a "sandwich" works quite well for more than 12 hours. at the same time, we sometimes charge phones from it. I have not yet reached a full discharge of batteries. Which, accordingly, crosses out the calculations.

A computer uninterruptible power supply (inverter) 600VA, which approximately corresponds to a load of 300W, was used as a converter.
I also want to note that the batteries are charged even with a bright moon. At the same time, the current is 0.5-1 Ampere, I think this is not bad at all for the night.

Of course, I would like to increase the load, but this requires a powerful inverter. I plan to make an inverter myself according to the diagram below. Since buying an inverter for crazy money is UNREASONABLE!

So, before the vacation, once again the task arose to ensure marching power supply for a variety of electronic devices that I carry with me. For example - GPS-navigator, player, phone. Last year I got a so-called. "vampire" (I want to solder my own, better) - a device that is an MK with a body kit, the task of which is - "draw" energy from batteries and apply to the output to recharge the recipient device. But again I didn’t have much desire to carry a supply of AA batteries with me, so I decided to feed the “vampire” batteries, charged, in turn, from the energy of the Sun.

The initial idea is very simple and easy to implement. not to look for solar panels through various radio shops - we go to the nearest hypermarket and buy the simplest solar-powered garden lights. In my case, the battery donors were Cosmos brand lights - the cheapest I could find. Manufacturing mobile chargers solar-powered of such lanterns is a simple and quick matter. With two lanterns, I managed in an hour.

The raw material looks like a solar panel connected to an LED power circuit and a battery box for one AA battery. The kit comes with a 400 mAh battery - complete rubbish, it is better to immediately replace it with a more capacious one.

The first step is to carefully solder the leads of the solar battery (hereinafter - "SB") from the battery compartment (hereinafter - "battery compartment"). Further, the conclusions of the SB must be stripped of insulation by about 5-7 mm and irradiated. The main element of the device is ready!

Step two - with no less care, we solder the LED power circuit ( printed circuit board with a body kit and the LED itself) from the battery compartment. We no longer need the circuit (unless you want to later make something useful out of this “recyclable”, for example - table lamp on LEDs, I decided to use them for this). So at the moment we have SB panel with conclusions and battery compartment without them. The point is small - to collect all this goodness together!

However, before the final assembly, it would be nice to make sure that the solution we applied works. Then it will be too late to redo something! So, literally “on the snot” we connect the SB leads to the corresponding contacts of the battery compartment (the black wire is “ — ", red - " + “, you need to connect, respectively, to the “spring” and “pimpochka” on the battery compartment). We take in hand tester(he - multimeter) and check the presence on the power circuit, as well as the voltage at the entrance to the battery compartment. The tester shows 1.98 V in fairly weak natural light (I have windows to the west, direct sunlight does not pass), while battery operating voltage is 1.2 V. From which it can be concluded that 1.98V charging current is sufficient to charge an AA battery. In the future, this conclusion was confirmed by practice - the batteries were successfully charged and no less successfully gave energy to my mobile gadgets.

Now that the performance of the selected circuit is confirmed by the measurement results, you can proceed to final assembly! It is necessary to carefully solder the SB leads to the corresponding inputs of the battery compartment (for convenience, I used extension conductors). I insulated and protected the soldering points with a thermal gun(filled with molten polyethylene in other words). You can also use a heat shrink sleeve (cambric) for this.