Magnus Portable DIY Solar Power System

Steven Lake

http://www.instructables.com/id/All-in-One-Portable-Solar-Power-Unit-220V-12V-5V-A/?ALLSTEPS

Kind of a novel little DIY portable solar power rig.

PNjunction

Re: Magnus Portable DIY Solar Power System

It's a cool little rig, made out of li-on cells like these:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?344741-Test-Review-of-Sanyo-18650-2600mAh-%28Red%29

About 2.6ah. Because of the extremely high energy density, you could actually start a motorcycle with it given proper cabling, fusing etc.

These cells are typical of what you'll find in laptop or late model powertools. You are putting your faith in the protection circuitry. If that fails, a "sudden disassembly" may occur.

My preference if I were building it would be to use the far safer LiFePo4 chemistry, such as with A123 cells instead. Less energy dense, and hence just a little larger, but FAR safer.

OR, if one could stand a little more weight, Hawker Cyclon 5ah or so cylindrical pure-lead AGM's could be incorporated. This way, you could simplify by using standard Pb charging circuitry.

Still a cool project, but don't mistake those voltages and chemistry for those used with LiFePo4, commonly used for larger capacity house banks.