Solar powered effects pedals?

[Nitefly182]

Saw this at www.goldmine-elec.com today.

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G16863

It puts out 15vDC and 200ma. I wonder if you can cut it to a smaller size and still have it work? If so, you could use it as an awesome material top that could potentially make the pedal solar powered. Apparently edge chips dont effect output so I wouldn't be surprised if chopping off half didn't affect function although it might limit the output. Not logical at all but it would be pretty cool just to say you did it.

[plankspank]

I picked this up a Harbor Freight - much smaller:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44768

It puts out almost 24VDC @ full sun @ about 125 ma... nice and compact at about  7" x 16"

I'm going to use it for a battery charger; I'm also going to rig it up to power my pedal board. Cool for an outdoor daytime gig..Need to get some VR's...
I doubt you could make an individual pedal solar powered- not enough surface area... Same reason you can't make a car run on solar panels..

[petemoore]

  Tim Escebedo's got a Jfet booster with really low current draw, scheamtic in 'circuit snippets'.

[earthtonesaudio]

I doubt you could make an individual pedal solar powered- not enough surface area...

All you need is a way to store the energy, like a rechargeable battery.  Or big capacitors.

Same reason you can't make a car run on solar panels..

That's almost like saying you can't run a car on gas, because it needs all those extra parts (gas tank, engine, etc) to store and convert the energy.

http://images.google.com/images?q=solar%20car&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi

[metalmonster]

hum i wonder , a solar powered miniamp should be soo awesome 

[earthtonesaudio]

A solar powered amp is such a cool idea, and the neighbors would like it too.  Gets quieter as the sun goes down... 

[Nitefly182]

I picked this up a Harbor Freight - much smaller:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44768

It puts out almost 24VDC @ full sun @ about 125 ma... nice and compact at about  7" x 16"

I'm going to use it for a battery charger; I'm also going to rig it up to power my pedal board. Cool for an outdoor daytime gig..Need to get some VR's...
I doubt you could make an individual pedal solar powered- not enough surface area... Same reason you can't make a car run on solar panels..

I would think if you put something in a 1590dd there would be plenty of surface area to work with.

[Gus]

Depends on what you want to use

Nicads work better when you charge them then run them down before charging again

A small 12VDC lead acid being charged off a solar panel and using a nice lead acid solar charge controller(search H.F.) might be the best way to do this.  Lead acid works better when being charged all the time.  You would need to build a regulator to drop the voltage down to 9VDC

Now the other thing could be you have a lead acid at home that has a solar panel always connected to it AND you use a nicad etc pack and a RC charger to charge the pack up in under 30min and only take the nicads and voltage reg circuit with you.

Back when I raced RC cars I matched Nicad cells and measured a lot of stuff.  You would want to build the regulator and use the number of cells that will still operate down to 1VDC .9VDC a cell(depending on how well the cells are matched)

[plankspank]

That's almost like saying you can't run a car on gas, because it needs all those extra parts (gas tank, engine, etc) to store and convert the energy.latoo te to save GM's fate

http://images.google.com/images?q=solar%20car&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi

Ahh but will it power Arnold's Hummer?? probably too late to save GM's fate....

Actuall I did some calculations and it looks like theoretically it would be possible to power a B or BB enclosure. a typical solar panel@ 48 sq in. puts out about 125 ma.... At 8 sq in. for a B box that works out to about 10-20 ma... time to start gutting solar calculators

[therecordingart]

I know this is old, but I'm considering getting a couple 9.6v R/C car batteries and charge them off of solar panels. Crazy?

[5thumbs]

Nope, it actually appears to be an old-ish idea (based upon search hits on this topic).  R.G., DougH and others were hashing this over on an old thread I read recently (http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=68740.msg550258#msg550258, thanks to DougH for the link to the old thread), with the prevailing idea at the time being to scavenge batteries/charging interfaces from a 12V cordless drill, rig it up with a 9V regulator and use it to wirelessly power a whole pedal board.

Or, if you examine all your pedals and see that they can support 12V operation, you could try it without the regulator, but testing that config to determine side effects would be prudent.

On this thread, which is slightly different, the prevailing wisdom appears to be: Solar Panel -> Charge Controller -> 12V Storage Battery -> 9V Regulator -> pedal(s).  Writing down that list appears to be the easiest part of this discussion.  Sourcing parts and developing them into a solution that is compact, convenient and effective is where the hard work comes in.

[idiot savant]

I built some USB rechargable fuzzes using supercaps. If you keep the current draw of the circuit low, and use some voltage compensation circuitry, they'll last a good amount of time. I breadboarded a bass fuzz that ran for over 40 hours on a 1F cap.

Slightly pointless but neat. Solar cells charging a BAC might be cool.

[therecordingart]

The supercap idea is pretty awesome as is the drill battery idea, but my head is stuck on 9.6v R/C car batteries. If you NEED to charge them fast you can use one of the rapid charges and be good in 15-30 minutes or charge via solar all day. In R/C cars the battery packs only last minutes under constant load, but there is no way a pedal board consumes nearly the same amount of juice as an R/C car.

[R.G.]

As a bit of philosophy combined with engineering economics, all pedals, excepting those in places served by nuclear power plants, are ultimately solar powered. Everything else is one or more forms of storage of solar power.

In a more extreme way, so are places served by nuclear power plants. In those cases, the radioactive fuel elements were cooked up in the fusion furnaces of a sun, just not OUR sun.

So it's OK to think of putting a solar panel up and stuffing the electricity into batteries.

The only NON solar powered effects would be those that are powered by fusion reactors - which don't exist here, yet.

[earthtonesaudio]

For most effects, you have very minimal current draw but long periods of time between uses.  So you'd want a "slow self-discharge" type of rechargeable battery.  There is a newish class of rechargeable batteries called "hybrid" or something like that, which are supposed to hold their charge for a long time when not in use.

[therecordingart]

For most effects, you have very minimal current draw but long periods of time between uses.  So you'd want a "slow self-discharge" type of rechargeable battery.  There is a newish class of rechargeable batteries called "hybrid" or something like that, which are supposed to hold their charge for a long time when not in use.

This is good to keep in mind otherwise you'll spend more time farting around with batteries than playing guitar.

[5thumbs]

Just another thought on the drill battery idea.  If you use 18V drill parts, you can power either 18V (through an 18V regulator, if you like) or 9V via separate 9V regulator.

18V seem to be the predominant voltage available in cheap cordless drills these days.

[zombiwoof]

Am I missing something here?  How often are guitar effects exposed to sunlight?  Or would they charge in any light?

Al

[therecordingart]

Am I missing something here?  How often are guitar effects exposed to sunlight?  Or would they charge in any light?

Al

Your pedals aren't what will be put in the sun. The solar panel that charges your batteries will.

[zombiwoof]

Am I missing something here?  How often are guitar effects exposed to sunlight?  Or would they charge in any light?

Al

Your pedals aren't what will be put in the sun. The solar panel that charges your batteries will.

Gothcha!