SOLAR Robot

[Rockyboy53]

I'm going to make a solar powered robot, but have no idea where to get a solar cell big enough, or lightweight enough, or any of those things.  I NEED HELP!  Please post if you have experience or any general knowledge on the subject.  I know power efficiency for motors and servos may be an issue, but don't know how to solve that.  Thanks, to anyone who posts.

[Trumpkin]

How big do you want this robot to be?

[Rockyboy53]

not too big, maybe 1 to 2 feet.  I don't know for sure.

[Canabots]

Hmmmm...

If you plan on running them directly from solar panels/cells, you could wire a bunch of them up in parallel. That might solve the motor/servo power efficiency problem.

You can find lots of solar cells at http://www.robotshop.ca/solar-cells.html or at www.solarbotics.com.

You may instead want to power your circuit with a solar engine solarbotics.net (select BEAM Circuits, then click Solar Engines). Solar engines normally charge a capacitor and releases large amounts of energy in pulses.

You could also charge a battery with a solar cell instead and have your robot run off of those instead. http://canabots.webs.com/solarbatterycharger.htm
The batteries would be slow to charge (possibly up to 24 hours) depending on it's capacity and the power output on the solar cell.

Good Luck! Hope this helps

Canabots

[Gertlex]

Charge a battery with the solar cells... particularly if you want the robot to have any intelligence.

[Rockyboy53]

Sounds like a good idea, although yesterday someone said (though it's just about impossible) that I should have two or three batteries with two charging off a/some solar cell(s) that could be attached to the robot, and have the other one  be running the robot. 

 So it is charging while running, and have some way to switch out the batteries when the running one gets low. 

I know that this doesn't exactly work like that, as the battery's charge time to run time ratio would have to be 2:1.  Y'All let me know what you think (like how crazy this is).

[Admin]

Look up the datasheets of the parts you plan to use, and write down the voltage and current requires. Then find a solar cell (check my parts list) that outputs that amount or higher.

Don't forget that you can treat solar cells like batteries by putting them in parallel or in series.