BS II Current sink

ErikdS

Hi, this may be a silly question but it bothers me so here goes: I'm considering using a solar panel to power the BSII, and I made sure it doesn't supply too much voltage by including a Zener, but I worry about sinking too much current into the BSII ground pin. Is there a risk here?

Thx, ERik

Zoot

The Stamp will pull the current it needs and no more. However, you may want to think about using a voltage regulator (either linear or switching) rather than a zener to regulate the voltage going into the Stamp. You would still want a diode on the solar panel so that voltage flows only from the panel to the Stamp (and/or a charging battery).

$WMc%

Erik:
'
Your way over thinking this.
'
Do a google search for solar chargers and solar power supply's.

Tomato

Solar panels suck. You will need every little drop of charge you can grab. Linear regulators are inefficient. Better to build a switching regulator. This way you also get to buck or boost the voltage to whatever you want. It's not hard to do. Experiment a little with various inductances and various oscillator designs.

-Tomato

bsnut

The Stamp will pull the current it needs and no more. However, you may want to think about using a voltage regulator (either linear or switching) rather than a zener to regulate the voltage going into the Stamp. You would still want a diode on the solar panel so that voltage flows only from the panel to the Stamp (and/or a charging battery).

I agree with Zoot's statement. What you need to remember is. You need to know the current draw of the solar panel that you are using and then you can calculate the what else is connected to the panels.

I built a solar battery charging system for the Zuni/Tamaora a ship that I am restoring. The system uses a 24V voltage regulator to provide power to a Basic Stamp 1 that is handling the charging relays, which is switching between the 24V starting batteries that are being charged by the solar charger controller.