[SOLVED] solar cell powering small radio

[hansped]

Hey cool forum you got here! I have a small experiment going on with a small radio which is powered by single 1.5 v aaa battery. I want to connect a small solar cell which has 4v and 30 MA in full sunlight it worked but now im worried. Can the 4 v damage the radio?

 

[srizbf]

Hey cool forum you got here! I have a small experiment going on with a small radio which is powered by single 1.5 v aaa battery. I want to connect a small solar cell which has 4v and 30 MA in full sunlight it worked but now im worried. Can the 4 v damage the radio?

in a general case you cannot connect 4v.
if you know about the radio circuitry inside , then you can identify the range of voltage as min to max. the current miniature radios are usually ic based which have a range of voltages.

but , if you dont know about the circuit inside , then dont connect 4v directly but connect thro 3 diodes in series.

 

[hansped]

Hey thanks for the fast reply.
I can put 3 diods on the panel but why 3 diods? Is it ac voltage that is coming out of the solar panel or somthing?

 

[Tahmid]

The 3 diodes are to drop the voltage. Each diode has a forward voltage of approximately 0.7V. So, 3 X 0.7V = 2.1V. So, you drop about 2.1V and get about 1.9V output.

Hope this helps.
Tahmid.

 

[hansped]

wow you guys are amaizing thanks alot!