this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
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Do It Yourself

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Make it, Fix it, Renovate it, Rehabilitate it - as long as you’ve done some part of it yourself, share!

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Charging a solar powerbank with external solar panels? (beehaw.org)
submitted 2 years ago by Crotaro@beehaw.org to c/diy@beehaw.org
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Hiya, I hope I'm not completely in the wrong place (/c/Technology seems to only be dedicated to tech news but not questions). I have this powerbank with a built-in solar panel. The powerbank itself seems great so far, but it's a pretty tiny solar panel. I've read about the difficulty of just hooking up a regular powerbank to a solar panel (spikes and dips in voltage due to clouds, people, etc.).

But since this powerbank is already designed to be charged with solar energy, can I simply hook a big-ass solar panel onto it and recharge it much faster than the officially displayed "several days, depending on the weather"?

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[–] jmf@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago

You would not be able to accomplish this without an inverter setup. The only way those little powerbank things work is because those panels barely charge the bank, and the charging happens at a trickle rate that doesn't harm the cells with current variation.TLDR the power bank is just normal battery cells, the panels are just a bit gimmicky.

[–] Crotaro@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

Wow thanks to all of you for the very detailed replies, especially you, @Powderhorn@beehaw.org !

Looks like I'll save your answers and keep them in mind for when I have the nerve to deal with all that effort (we had the idea of installing solar panels on our car roof and buffer it to a second car battery for extended camping trips)