DC voltage conversion?

[meteor]

I'm looking at a kludging together a solar-powered "robot", but the solar panel I found is a large single 12V (16.6V nominal) panel.

To use R/C gear, I'd need to drop the voltage to the 4.8-6.0V level, but an ordinary 7805 wastes a lot of heat, and power is at a premium!

There does not seem to be any way to re-wire it to lower the voltage, it's a single glass panel with two solder points. (1.8W automotive trickle charge panel on sale for $9.99 CDN! see: http://images.canadiantire.ca/media/images/PortablePower/SolarPower/0111880_160_CC_359c9.jpg )


Is there such a thing as a device that can lower a DC supply voltage without waste heat?



Thanks!

[mike50]

Something like this might work for you.

http://www.dimensionengineering.com/AnyVolt.htm

[meteor]

The Park BEC also looks like what I'm after... (switching regulator)


Thanks!

[Afroman]

Hola
Are you looking to charge a battery with the solar panel? If so, AnyVolt would be a good choice.
If you are going straight from solar panel to whatever you need to run off of 5V, a ParkBEC or DE-SW050 would be the way to go.
Just in case you are looking to power servos, I would like to point out that a 1.8W solar panel is gonna have a lot of trouble powering more than 1 loaded servo.

[arx_n_sparx]

Start paying attention at post #90 in this thread:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=326226

[meteor]

Hola
Just in case you are looking to power servos, I would like to point out that a 1.8W solar panel is gonna have a lot of trouble powering more than 1 loaded servo.


Yup, I know that power will be at an absolute premium, and to make matters worse for myself, I want to keep it battery-free! (I do have two panels though...)


I would like to make a faux "mars-rover" type bot, that moves -very- slowly!

Hopefully, I can power keep the load to an absolute minimum, and I was thinking of large capacitors (10,000 mFD) to soak up any transients that the servo(s) might draw.


Anybody can make a robot/vehicle with a battery system, but the real challenge lies in absolute power economy, and how you can design around it.

It may be an exercise in futility, but a neat challenge nonetheless! :rolleyes:


Fun! :)

[markmi]

HI Meteor

Try http://solarworld.com/PowerFilm.htm for Flexible, and Most Lightweight Solar Panels.
Any device regulating or boosting voltages has a heat loss thus the efficiency of such a device.
The solar panels can be cut to size having the correct voltage. The width for amps or connect in parallel.

Mark