Solar powered rig

[rcmaniac24]

he everyone, im thinking about turning my crawler into a solar powered one for my high school senior project, think its possible?

[Mudsy]

Anything possible, dude, if you put your mind into it. Good luck

[eron]

Awesome! I would suggest a MRC build. 540 motors will probably soak more voltage and amps than a little motor will.

[adale4130]

I say go for it Do the research and i'm sure you will figure out a way to make it happen. Be sure to post up some pics of your project. good luck!

[Benzbuildr]

Go for it, Then post it up, would like to see that I think it will be sick.

[KIWI_CRAWL]

The major issue i can see here is that the area of solar panel required to drive the motor would be quite large. Im unsure how long charge times would be or if the sloar would keep up with the discharge rate running the motor/servo.

Are you planing just a solar powered car or powering the transmitter with solar also?

Sounds like a neet project and i would be happy to help out

[crunky]

i don't know anything about solar, but i will be watching this thread to see if you decide to give it a go.
good luck and hammer down !

[lowslowTJ]

I think its a great idea. You can crawl all day long!

[Cloak]

If you're not worried about how much space and weight it takes up, then yeah. You could certainly do it.

[rcmaniac24]

thanks for all the replies! i was thinking a 8.5 x 12 inch solar panel that could be connected to the battery, i would think it a success if i got just a little bit longer run time. i would just try to attach it to my existing crawler though

[BJoe]

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[rcmaniac24]

so i have been looking around i thought i found one that was the perfect size but it turned out to be like .8kg which is around 15 pounds lol.. little bit too much weight. so now im thinking a little smaller like maybe this http://store.sundancesolar.com/susoce0500ma.html . i could get like 6 of them because they are small and make a sort of harness. but that might be more wiring then its worth

[ctrwannabe]

awesome idea!!! i think you should try it, but youll have to find a stonger panel than that i think or use more of them, the link you posted those cells are for .5 v youd have 3v with 6 panels?

[SaxtonSlaughter]

What, no night crawling!!:-P

[sddill]

Very cool project I hope you do it

How about this panel http://store.sundancesolar.com/6vol100mafle.html

And this body if its a 2.2 rig...

http://www.shop.rpphobby.com/product...categoryId=114


Might work

[Spiftacu1ar]

Originally Posted by rcmaniac24

so i have been looking around i thought i found one that was the perfect size but it turned out to be like .8kg which is around 15 pounds lol.. little bit too much weight. so now im thinking a little smaller like maybe this http://store.sundancesolar.com/susoce0500ma.html . i could get like 6 of them because they are small and make a sort of harness. but that might be more wiring then its worth

You would need at least 15 of those to charge a 6cell battery. OTherwise, the panel simply won't do anything.

Originally Posted by sddill

Very cool project I hope you do it

How about this panel http://store.sundancesolar.com/6vol100mafle.html

And this body if its a 2.2 rig...

http://www.shop.rpphobby.com/product...categoryId=114


Might work

That panel may work.

Again, that woudl increase your run time very minimally. It output 100mA max. That means a total of 100mah extra per hour. if you run down your batt in 30 mins ussually, (1500mah pack), that would give you 50mah extra, boosting your runtime to about 31mins. (1500mah / 30min = 50mah per min is rate of use).

[30percent]

I have a working Solar Rx batt charging system. 3 solar panels charge the Rx batt while in the sun...(click my Earthroamer Link) Solar powered wont work for torq, you can charge batteries with solar, and use the power from the battery, but Eventually it will run out.

I could put 2 pages of reply on this, I was apart of a solar challenge in school years back. The vehicles that are only solar powered (no batteries) move extremely slow (no torq) to get moving then rely on aerodynamics and a very expensive surface maximizing solar panel to juice the motors. The slightest bit of shade can drop them from 60mph to 40mph in seconds. Solar charging additive YES, Solar powered crawler... probably not.

[Spiftacu1ar]

Ya, you will definetly have to use the solar cells to charge the batts, you can't eliminate them. But I jsut got an interesting idea. Have a bunch of trailers carrying the solar panels, and instead of hitching them as ussual, hitch them via a rear winch. Then, when you actually have to crawl over something, let the winch line out, crawl over it, and then use the winch to pull the trailers over, lol.

[sweli]

Originally Posted by sddill

How about this panel http://store.sundancesolar.com/6vol100mafle.html

X2.
But don't try to power the vehicle with it. 100-200ma will not take you far.

Go with the project as a "Run Time Extender".

• Go with a smaller rig like the MRC mentioned.
• Body to fit two of these on the underside of the clear lexan.
• Measure run time before and after
• Present the charger energy saved by not recharging batteries as often.
• Convert the V from two of them to charge a 7.2v batt pack with 9.6v. Make sure your ESC can handle 9.6v.
• Run the Rx and servo with a BEC set at 6v.

Q: If you convert the V down to 9.6v from 14.4v, do you get +/-150ma versus the 100ma of the single panel?
Does anything happen to the panel(s) if they are not getting light and generating output but being backfed from a battery?

[krazy]

I have a Solar cell on my sons boat. (walmart brand) I have yet to see it run out of power. He only drives it for 15-20 min at a time. I replaced the stock battery set-up with a Traxxas Revo servo 5-cell 1100mAh.


Here is some with 400 mA rating http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3039810