Build your own emergency power/light system no skills needed

[Yorkshire Andy]

Well ive been musing over a way of making a power bank solar charge unit for the average person who has no electrical knowlage and no interest in over complex stuff....

only bit thats the issue is Bigger = better

bigger Mah (milli amp hour) battery = better (more run time)

bigger wattage solar panel = better (faster charging of battery)

bigger lumin light out put = brighter aka better


So most people will now be familiar with USB plugs on computers/ car stereos phone chargers the standard size usb is called USB - A and the standard micro usb as most phone chargers (unless your on apple use)



thats the only bit of technical stuff you need to know

so on to the bits

can of coke to give idea of size.....

so a USB solar charger plenty on the market

type "Solar USB charger" into ebay or amazon and loads come up

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from= ... r&_sacat=0


higher the wattage the faster it will charge your battery bank.....

this is mine i got last night in Lidl for £30:


http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-249 ... 3695&ar=10

again ebay or amazon" USB battery bank "


http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw= ... k&_sacat=0


again heres mine £7.99 from lidl last night



http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-249 ... 3667&ar=10

according to the blurb the 5200mah battery Can fully recharge an iPhone 5s up to 3 times or a Galaxy S5 up to 1.8 times


so its rather powerful again you can get bigger ones in terms of capacity


so plug the usb charging lead into the socket on the charger and into the charge plug on the power bank place outside in the sun and it charges up....



(you can also use a usb mains charger or car charger to charge the battery up)


so now we have a nice fully charged battery after a day of it sat in the sun / cloud (just beware its not water proof)


so you can now charge you phone /tablet and any other usb chargeable device



but its got dark.... now some bright spark has made a USB powered light bulb.. which are about £2 on amazon...


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Well-Goal-Camp ... light+bulb






they draw about 1a for the techy people reading this and give about 40w light

so then cobble them to a usb A type extension cable £1.50 for a 5m one i paid on ebay

and you can run 3 off my battery at one time if you wish:

heres 2



i just need to work out the run time now and charge time for the average uk conditions


total cost about £45 all in

[featherstick]

You could get a lot of candles for £45, but then you couldn't use your candles to recharge your phone. I like this.

[Yorkshire Andy]

That and there's no fire risk as such and I'm planning on using this for camping too my dab pocket radio is USB powered too

All been well the set up should last a long time if treated well

[sniper 55]

Have you tested the actual battery capacity? Many of the stated mh are miles out.

[hobo]

Look forward to hearing about run and charge times, Andy!

[pseudonym]

Nice tutorial, thanks for sharing.

[aldhelm]

Surprisingly even I understood it, thanks Andy

[Yorkshire Andy]

Have you tested the actual battery capacity? Many of the stated mh are miles out.

I've seen this issue before bit its the same with leisure batteries with more complexity...

The 110ah on a caravan battery is based on a 1a constant draw...

The USB power packs are also higher or lower voltage than the supplying cells due to the voltage and am page control circuit on the USB ports so some suppliers state the actual total cell capacity some state the "virtual" capacity based on a 5v 1a draw

[poppypiesdad]

The real question is , if you have no power , and the shtf , the cell masts won't work so you'll have the stored files on your phone , but .....no one to call

Recharge and run times too pls


You also say there's no risk of fire , no true if you get a short circuit , or overcharged or under current of the batteries . Just because it doesn't have a flame it won't start a fire !

J

[Yorkshire Andy]

Look forward to hearing about run and charge times, Andy!

Will get round to it at some point spent the day laying a new laminate floor

Off camping in about 3 weeks north of Whitby with no mains hook up so it will be earning its keep that weekend