DIY Solar Battery Charger - Maximizing Your Solar Power Output

You can easily maximize your solar power output during the summer when solar power is more readily abundant. Even a simple 6 volt solar cell can give you an easy way to take advantage of abundant sunlight and help you double the output of your solar cell. Most conventional usage of a six volt solar cell is for either charging a spotlight battery or to run a deer feeder but you can use it to charge AA or even AAA rechargeable batteries which are commonly used in a variety of other devices.

By using a couple of 4 cell battery holders (AA in this case) that can be obtained at most electronic stores for a couple of bucks, you can add versatility to your 6 volt solar cell. Adding a wooden mounting board for the battery holders and hooking them up in parallel will allow you to charge 12 volts worth of batteries off a single 6volt solar cell. 


With the longer daylight hours and generally more intense sunlight of summer, there have been no problems in getting a good charge rate for all the batteries using this type of setup. In the winter time and when the sunlight is less intense and the days are shorter, simply charge 4 batteries at a time versus 8 batteries.

Using a small bolt with a wing nut allows easy connections to be made and allows the larger alligator clips on the solar cell to be easily attached or detached when charging a regular 6 volt gel battery. The wing nuts also allow you to easily disconnect the leads from the battery holders when they aren't being charged and the battery holders are being used to simply hold the extra batteries. 


This is important because batteries, which are basically little chemical power plants, when hooked in parallel will feed off themselves and you will wind up with discharged or dead batteries as a result. 


Got maximum solar power output?


Staying above the sunny water line!


Riverwalker