Solar-Powered Bit-Racer

[djdominoe]

This is kinda neat, somebody's tacked on a solar panel to a Bit Racer: http://home.ust.hk/~bcandyp/hof20.html

Don't know where this guy is getting his solar panels from, but I imagine if it works on a Bit Racer it could easily be adapted to a Bit Char-G.

There is one setback, however, it only runs 12 feet on a single charge. So it's not practical yet and you're not going to rush to build it, but it's interesting to look at anyway.

[Wedginator]

and i was gonna make a solar powered mini-z....

[Alex]

LOL go for it wedgi!! oh btw have u printed the truck yet?

[Wedginator]

not yet... my LAN printer is not working properly....

[Alex]

oh ok kool. Send me a pic when its done :D

[Wedginator]

sure thing.... :)

[tinyrc]

Wow, someone has to do this to a BC-G! Who will accept the challenge?

[Wedginator]

i think i'll give it a shot.... i have tons of solar cells from busted calculators..... :D

[me2cyclops]

this design will not work for a 'char-g
it is a solar engin circuit which will charge for several min. and then release all the power at once then start charging again
this can't be controled well enough to use on an rc car....you would never know when the car would start moving again

[tinyrc]

Agreed; but surely someone can come up with a solar-powered BC-G?

[striderpunk]

what if you drive it in direct sunlight:D :D :p

[me2cyclops]

I'm working on one
with some of the best solar cells that can be bought
it may turn out to be a flat bed truck to get enough cell space
to run a 1.0 motor!

[tinyrc]

me2cyclops, that's awesome, keep us posted!

[xatu]

I might do this, I have a solar cell, and I plan to hook it up to my car to give it more power. Not to run entirely off the solar cell, just to give it an extra boost every now and then :)

Where should I solder the wires to from the solar cell? Should I solder them to the battery, or the chip???

[strakka]

i am trying to build a solar cell bit and ive soldered the solar panel directly onto the pcb and it doesnt work does any one know what i did wrong??:confused: :confused:

[T_T_52]

I'm going to try this with a car. but still I'll charge it and run it in the sun. The car would only have a long runtime because my solarcell will go to the internal cell. It would be a long run car. I just need to see ho fast of a motor I could install.

[2fst4u]

is there a way to by-pass a battery all together and wire the solar panel directly to the battery tabs?

[strakka]

i have a panasonic bp-376634 solar panel. the thing cranks out 5.5v, 30mA. would this work? i really need help on this:( i wired my panels directly onto the circut port and it didnt work can any1 tell me where i went wrong? and how to do this?
Thnxs

[funkymonkey]

Hmm, I like the idea of a Solar Bus. Just use the panel to charge the battery - that way, it should be able to either charge the bit battery, or at the very least supply power for the RX board when it's not being used, keeping the battery from running down between charges.

The guy with the Solar panels, I think you'd need to wire the SP directly onto the Bit Battery, though 5.5V is pretty high for a 1.2V battery. Ok, you probably wouldnt fry it cos the power from an small SP is so low, so it prolly wont do much harm to try.

I doubt the panel will have enough power to run the motor, but it will hopefully increase run time

[Azimov]

:D