Walking Solar Robot Toy

erco

Uncle Milton has gone way beyond·his old Ant Farm. Check out his new Solar Robots that walk on power only from their solar cell. $12 at my local hobby shop, Hobby People. Should be available in toy stores, too.

http://www.unclemilton.com/products/ExploreIt/SolarRobots_set.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sun-Powered-Solar-Cells-ECO-ROBOTS-Green-Planet-Drive_W0QQitemZ320223012172QQihZ011QQcategoryZ19198QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQ_trksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

It does take direct sun, and it's uncontrolled, but the walking action is very nice. The solar cell is almost exactly 1 inch square. It has inspired me to think about·a solar-powered Stamp-controlled Robot. I'd be interested to learn about what anyone here·may have·achieved.

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·"If you build it, they will come."

Beau Schwabe

erco,

If my calculations are correct, 1 square inch is going to be able to provide about 50mW of power.· This is based off of a 3foot x 3foot 45Watt (amorphous) panel that I have, and that crystalline panels are about 40% more efficient.· ...· 1296 square inches·= 45 Watts | 1 square inch = 34.7mW· X 1.4 = about 49mW


At 3.3V for the Propeller( assuming you could arrange the cells within 1 square inch to produce 3.3V ), that's about 15mA





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Beau Schwabe

IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.

Post Edited (Beau Schwabe (Parallax)) : 3/28/2008 12:02:53 AM GMT

MSDTech

I originally bought a solar panel at http://www.siliconsolar.com/oem-solar-panels-p-16185.php intending to run a Boe-Bot with it. Although it has now been used in another project, I still think it would work. The panel I chose (16533) is just under 6"x6", so it fit nicely on a Boe-Bot. Its rated at 8v and 250ma. At $20, I couldn't resist giving it a try. I was planning to use both rechargeable batteries and the solor panel to allow it to work even when a cloud rolled by.

Beau Schwabe

MSDTech,

That sounds about right for capacity....

As a friendly reminder from someone who has done a little bit of solar research:

Don't jump on the first solar product that you see ... Look at the $per watt that you are spending on solar. Personally I won't spend more than $5 per watt ... If you look hard enough, you can find solar cells for $3 or less per watt.

An advantage of using an amorphous solar cell verses a crystalline solar cell... An amorphous solar cell will operate under very low lighting conditions. i.e. on a typical cloudy day you can still get about 15% of it's maximum power rating, compared to a crystalline solar cell where you would get nothing at all. The disadvantage of amorphous is basically it's size. It will be about twice the surface area of an equivalent rated power crystalline solar cell.

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Beau Schwabe

IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.

Whit

A company called Moultrie has small solar panels to recharge batteries for wildlife cameras and feeders. Here is the like to the 6 volt and 12 volt models -

http://www.moultriefeeders.com/productdetail.aspx?id=MFH-DSP
http://www.moultriefeeders.com/productdetail.aspx?id=9005

I have a 6 volt that is configured like the 12 volt model. It is about 6 cm (2-1/2") by 15 cm (6") I got it to try the same idea.

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Whit+


"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney

StampNut2

M'mmm Nice solar panels whit+, I could find a good use for those.

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Never give up when things go wrong, Just work them out.

robosapienv2-4mem8.page.tl/

Beau Schwabe

Here is a good amount of power to work with that will satisfy·most workbench applications...

12V 6Watt 400mA Solar Panel (about $8.33 per watt including shipping costs)

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-12V-6-Watt-400mA-Solar-Panel-Power-Charger_W0QQitemZ190210213454QQihZ009QQcategoryZ3240QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If you dig around E-bay, you can find a couple of "Buy it now" prices that are comparable.· You want to stay away from items that don't specify the Wattage.· Simply·work out your $ per Watt to find the best solution for your needs, and what your willing to pay.



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Beau Schwabe

IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.

Post Edited (Beau Schwabe (Parallax)) : 3/30/2008 6:37:31 AM GMT

Bean

Beau,
· I'm not too familiar with solar cell technology. What do you think of these CIS solar cells ?
· http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300210053881

Bean.

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www.iElectronicDesigns.com

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Beau Schwabe

Bean,

Ouch!... with shipping, that's over $160 per Watt!!




Here are some better solutions: (Note: $ per Watt includes shipping)


These would be about $40 per Watt· ([url=mailto:3V@50mA]3V@50mA[/url] $6.00)
http://cgi.ebay.com/3V-50mA-Flexible-Solar-Panel-Cells-Robot-3-Volt-50mA_W0QQitemZ260224220594QQihZ016QQcategoryZ294QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

These would be about $37 per Watt ([url=mailto:2.0V@160mA]2.0V@160mA[/url] $11.85)
http://cgi.ebay.com/2-0-V-160mA-0-32W-SMALL-MINI-PV-SOLAR-POWER-PCB-PANEL-X_W0QQitemZ260225713470QQihZ016QQcategoryZ78859QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

These would be about $30 per Watt ([url=mailto:4.5V@90mA]4.5V@90mA[/url] $12.50)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ROHS-4-5V-90mA-0-405W-SMALL-MINI-PV-SOLAR-POWER-PANEL-X_W0QQitemZ260225713478QQihZ016QQcategoryZ78859QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

These would be about $20 per Watt ([url=mailto:6.8V@90mA]6.8V@90mA[/url] $12.00)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ROHS-6-8V-90mA-0-612W-SMALL-MINI-PV-SOLAR-POWER-PANEL-X_W0QQitemZ260225713473QQihZ016QQcategoryZ78859QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

These would be about $10 per Watt ([url=mailto:10V@100mA]10V@100mA[/url] $10.00)
http://cgi.ebay.com/AMORPHOUS-GLASS-SOLAR-PANEL-6-SQUARE-UNUSED_W0QQitemZ120239281435QQihZ002QQcategoryZ41981QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


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Beau Schwabe

IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.

Bean

Beau,
No the auction is for 30 pcs. So they are about $5.11 per Watt right ?

I was really wondering about these CIS type solar cells. Are they all that he touts ?

Bean.

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www.iElectronicDesigns.com

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Beau Schwabe

Bean,
·
Ohh wow sorry... minor detail, you are correct.
·
I don't know about the Copper Indium cells, other than they require·about 1/2 the area of conventional crystalline or 1/4 that of amorphous to produce the same amount of wattage.
·
I haven't seen a lot of products using them ... because of the area savings, I would expect to see them in several of the >20W panels used for homes, but I just don't.
·

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Beau Schwabe

IC Layout Engineer
Parallax, Inc.

Grievousfish

I've been hacking those solar-powered yard lights for some of my robot projects.· For example, I have a decapod that uses four units with each·unit consiting·of a solar cell mounted on the lid of the battery compartment which holds three 1.2 volt rechargeable batteries.· I don't use a blocking diode and remove the batteries when I'm not working on my bot.· In the photo below, the four black boxes mounted on the back of my decapod are the solar cells/rechargeable battery units.

Bill SC

Grievousfish, I have taken cells out of solar lights too. Every couple of years we buy new solar lights to put out because the rechargeble batteries die. Most people throw out the whole assembly, you could probably run an ad in the paper and collect lots of them cheap or free. Also, Northern sells a 15 amp model (I think) for 99$. It is too large for a small bot, but I see lots of people here making or planning to make large ones. You could mount 3 or 4 of them on top of an autonomous golf cart...

Post Edited (Bill SC) : 4/4/2008 9:42:46 AM GMT

erco

Just posted a quick video of this Solar Robot walking toy. Youtube wouldn't take it for unknown reasons, so it's on Yahoo. http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2319762/7284676

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·"If you build it, they will come."