DIY

We really enjoyed working with LifeEdited to provide backup solar power for their compact New York apartment. So when Graham Hill (the Founder) asked us to help with a more ambitious project, to provide off...

We have been working for some time on our latest product, the USB Touchlight. This is a super bright, USB-powered LED light, designed to run from our solar batteries. When our good friends at Life...

We did a solar Lego car post a while back. It turns out the newer lego motors, the M-Motor 8883 and 8882 are a tiny bit more complicated than the older motors. They have a wire with 4 leads instead of 2. By...

Nicola from Italy just sent in his hack of the IKEA SUNNAN solar lamp so that it can charge his electronics. He increases the power to the lamp's batteries using Voltaic's 2 Watt solar panel and uses...

After Sandy, we deployed and installed hundreds of solar phone chargers and light systems. We mounted a 3.4 Watt solar panel outside using double-sided sticky tape and connected it to our V11 USB Battery...

Solar Panels for Lead Acid Batteries Lead acid batteries have large capacities and are often available in many places around the world. But which lead acid battery should you use with solar panels? I...

Imagine our delight when we spotted this Kevin Kelly sculpture at the Dumbo Arts Festival about 100 yards from our offices. We saw the tell-tale design of our 16 Watt solar panels about a block away and...

It is now remarkably easy to build your own solar backpack with one of our small solar panels. We chose this classic and sublimely simple Orange Superbreak backpack from Jansport on Amazon. To make it, you...

Corby Hicks, our friend over at Verdantly, recently completed an interesting energy-efficient home-improvement project - installing a solar-powered crawl space ventilation system. Even better, he detailed the...

An avid hiker and photographer from Australia built his own custom solar laptop charger using our 3.4 Watt panels and V60 (now the V72) battery. His solution was designed to be both light and waterproof. Find...

We recently came across the the Solar Stella, a project by John Wilson in which he upgrades his Stella Amp to run off of solar power. We were particularly interested because he uses a Voltaic...

There are times when you may find that you want to expand the power producing capabilities of your solar setup. This post will cover the basics of how to determine if you can combine power sources, and how to...

We love it when customers use our panels to design a system that fits their needs. A Dutch customer recently mod-ed his Ortlieb handlebar bag. He wanted a removable and waterproof system. We like the detailed...

For those of you who don't already know about the FM3 Buddha Machine, here's the scoop: The Buddha Machine is a small plastic box that plays meditative music composed by Christiaan Virant and Zhang Jian....

You know it is going to be a good day at work when you get a solar-powered Lego Car in the mail. The folks at Play-Well sent it to us after choosing to use our panels for this project (if you have children,...

Here's a guide to building a USB powered LED lamp compatible with Voltaic Systems products. This is a quick and easy way to convert the solar energy we’ve stored in our Voltaic Systems batteries into...

It took a bit too long to setup our first home solar charging station, so we made a number of changes in version 2. This one took us less than ten minutes and is a much cleaner implementation. Like the first...

Voltaic Systems employee, Phillip Stearns will be teaching a 2-day class in DIY Renewable Electricity at 3rd Ward in Brooklyn, NY.  Students will learn how to charge AA batteries using our 2-Watt solar...