solar charger | Voltaic Systems Blog

How to Select MPP Voltage on a Solar Charge Controller

April 12, 2018

We explain how to choose an MPP (maximum power point) voltage for solar charge controller chips that use a ‘constant voltage’ regulation...

Solar Charger Tutorial – Part 3

Phillip Stearns

December 13, 2016

All, DIY

22 Comments

How (and why) do I store power? Sunlight is inconsistent and often nonexistent (think nightime) so storing power is important in many applications....

Solar Charger Tutorial – Part 2

Phillip Stearns

December 2, 2016

All, DIY

6 Comments

How much solar power am I generating? A solar panel does not do anything in isolation. It needs to be connected to something. That something is...

Solar for Documentary Photography: An Interview

Voltaic Systems

January 6, 2016

All, Profiles, Sustainability

Toronto-based documentary photographer, Kristin Lau, visited Nepal just six months after a set of devastating earthquakes hit the region. Upon her...

Off the Grid in Zambia

admin

March 19, 2014

All, Profiles

We've just heard from Matt Young, a Peace Corps volunteer that is 10 months into his placement in the central African nation of Zambia. With his...

Chargers for Babushkas

Jeff

September 5, 2013

All

From producer Holly Morris, "The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone or 'Dead Zone' is the official 30 km. area that surrounds Reactor No. 4, the site of the...

DIY Solar Toolbox

Jeff

August 28, 2013

All, DIY

Ben Schapiro, a Chicago-land customer, took our 16 Watt solar panel and a classic tackle box and made a pretty cool and versatile solar charger. The...

Fuse 4W in Nepal

Jeff

July 29, 2013

All, Profiles

A customer just returned from Nepal and sent in these pictures of his Fuse 4W Solar Charger. These are from near Island Peak and the Khumbu...

Buy One Give One for Malawi

Jeff

May 20, 2013

All, Sustainability

2 Comments

We’re partnering with Empower (a recent Rockefeller Foundation Innovator finalist) for an exciting new Buy One Give One program. For every solar...

Portable Charging Station Design

Jeff

May 17, 2013

All, DIY, Sustainability

Mount over 60 Watts of solar panels on the back of a circa-1987 Dave Scott Centurion bicycle and you get a pretty powerful phone, tablet and even...

Double the Power on Your Solar Charger

Jeff

March 28, 2013

All

16 Comments

If you have any of our 4 Watt or 10 Watt solar chargers, here's an easy way to add extra power. Simply connect one of our portable solar panels to...

Using AC inverters with the V60 battery

Phillip Stearns

March 2, 2012

All

3 Comments

We did some testing with a small inverter to see how it would work with our V60 universal laptop battery. This setup allows you to plug some regular...