solar powered remote controlled car

System
System Posts: 2,511 admin
in Solar Beginners Corner #1
hello everyone! i am totally new to all this but i have been thinking for my highschool senior project that i could possibly attach a small solar panel onto the back of a small r/c car that i have built. i hoping for longer run times between battery charges, even if its only a minute or so. any info or input would be much appreciated
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: solar powered remote controlled car

    i'm not sure that would be worthwhile to do, but i suppose you could buy small solar cells and piece enough of them together and mount them on the car. i'm thinking an extra large spoiler, but it may weigh it down in a bad way. if your car is 7.2v this means in the neighborhood of about 18 or 19 cells and maybe 17 cells if you skip the blocking diode that would prevent discharging the batteries through the cells when the cells are in cloudy or otherwise sunless times. if you're good with soldering and can buy extra cells, as some will break for they break easily, you may give it a try. a strong back support for the cells is a necessity for as i said they break easily.
    a separate solar charger not on the car is more practical.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,637 admin
    #3
    Re: solar powered remote controlled car

    In general--the suggested steps are:
    1. Conservation (use as little power as practical)
    2. Understand your load (peak power, average power over time). Typically Amp*Hour or Watt*Hour and Peak Amps / Peak Watts.
    3. Design the system to support your needs.
    Solar panels for "cars" can work for model cars--but typically they are very light bodies with efficient tires and bushings. An RC car tends to be heavier and require more power.

    You can certainly set it up to charge from solar panels--but it is not as "impressive" (there are already batteries involved--so who can see the difference).

    Here is a solar powered R/C car project... You can see how large the array is to support R/C operation.

    The TAMX7661 kit here shows the "light and simple" end of the spectrum.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • Tron
    Tron Registered Users Posts: 20 ✭
    #4
    Re: solar powered remote controlled car

    I stumbled upon this as I was researching solar gadgets...

    http://www.nmsea.org/Retail/Solar_Cars/index.php

    Hope this helps!
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