Hi everyone,
I am trying to turn a small hobby motor using a solar panel. The motor is a 1.5-4.5V 50ma DC small hobby motor, and the solar panel is a 4.8V 50ma solar panel with PSA and Kynar from Little Bird.
I left it in the sun for about 10 minutes but it still doesn’t turn the motor. Just wondering what I did wrong?
I put a larger solar panel on the motor and it worked. The motor is rated at 1.5-4.5V @50ma and the solar panel I’d like to use is 4.8V @50ma @.2watts. The motor should only take .2watts anyway, so I’m unsure why the solar panel isn’t strong enough.
Hi gazzardk,
What is the blue wire and black wire hooked up to? Is it just directly connected to the DC motor?
I found some documentation on the PowerFilm solar panels: https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/5/a/e/2/2/OEM_Instructions_2018_78C47E93FF60C.pdf
Looking at this diagram, it needs to be connected as such:
These stackexchange threads might also be worth looking at:
Cheers,
Cherie
Hi Cherie,
Thanks for the help. I’ve realised that the solar panels are not powerful enough to power a 1.5-4.5V motor. I am now going to incorporate a battery and switch into the design so I can charge the battery, then use it to power the motor. This should hopefully work. Thanks again, that spark fun document helped a lot.
Hi gazzardk,
No problem, that’s great to hear!
I am now going to incorporate a battery and switch into the design so I can charge the battery, then use it to power the motor.
That should work well. As mentioned in the SparkFun document also: “A diode, such as 1N5817, is
recommended to prevent the solar module from draining the battery when the solar module is in
the dark.”
If there is anything else I can do to assist you, please don’t hesitate to get in contact!
Cheers,
Cherie
