recharging batteries on your pedalboard w/ solar cell

[runmikeyrun]

I posted this under the rechargeable battery thread already but once i found out you can get a solar charger @ Harbor Freight for $12i thought it warranted its own post.

Since most of us practice and/or perform where there isn't much ambient light, what about rigging up a solar panel and using the AC power from your board to drive one of those small halogen lights used on track lighting?  You can get ones that are on a gooseneck, and it would be easy to both mount and shorten a piece of the track.  The lights just snap into it.  YOu could bend the light over so it's close to the panel, that way every time you use the board your panel is getting an excellent source of light and, if you don't have too many pedals, hopefully charging or at least breaking even on generating voltage for your pedal array.  I guess you'd need to put an extra (or modify existing) DC jack on each pedal to connect to the battery to be charged.  As long as you don't stick your finger into the track or touch the halogen too soon after shutoff you wouldn't have any hazards of getting shocked or burned.

So- solar cells... check out the fx blog @ http://www.muzique.com/news/index.php there's a part about 3/4 of the way down about recharging rechargeable 9v with it, which if you're afraid of exploding batteries might be an option if your circuit can keep them charged while running.

This would need considerable time on the bench R+D'ing since no one wants all the batteries exploding inside their fx on their board.  I'd probably charge 6 or 7 batteries simultaneously on my bench for 4 hrs at a time a minimum of 10-15 times to be careful.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

using a gooseneck light to drive a solar panel to charge a battery?
It's pretty Rube Goldberg (Heath Robinson for the UK). Yeah it could *just* work, but.... it's hellishly inefficient. You really need direct sun & plenty of it.
I'm all in favor of rechargables, though.

[runmikeyrun]

oh yeah, there's no doubt that we're not treading into any term paper projects with conservation of energy here!! 

[Nasse]

I got three 12 V 7 Ah lead-acid gel batteries free (saved from junk) I know they are not very old and usually can give five to seven years service if charged properly, and they are designed for constant charging. Every now and then I have charged them with 1 amps motorcycle battery charger. I have thought that it would be handy if I build a carrying case for them, with sockets and switches and fuses, perhaps some reguated 9 volt output too. Perhaps I could use some solar charger to keep batteries topped up...

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Anyone experimenting in this field, you can get those 'solar garden lights' for almost nothing at shops specialising in cheap rubbish.
Silicon Chip mag (Australia) had a mention of them some time ago.