- Thu May 21, 2015 12:12 pm
#182132
Please be gentle on me, I'm a software geek and interested in learning about process control coding and the related hardware.
I paid someone (no longer available), to create my first circuit and it works great.
The embedded programming has been fun to learn (Python), but now I want to understand the hardware side. I've been through a lot of the battery & circuit & related Sparkfun tutorials, next i plan on going through Eagle tutorials.
I have a small 4.5v 100mA solar panel with diode going through a DC-DC buck-boost regulator charging a NiCd 3.6v battery pack that runs a Solarbotics GM17 gear motor via A3903 motor driver. The gear motor draws about 16mA unloaded and about 250mA at stall current. In use it rarely gets near max stall current. The motor is in use about 15-20 seconds a week.
The circuit works very good, but I would like to change the battery to liPo and change the charge controller to MPPT.
I purchased some newer solar panels and a few different liPo batteries and the sparkfun Sunny Buddy controller to test with. They work fine and I have read the schematics and lots of web pages on buck boost regulators and MPPT regulators, but I am only understanding the basics. I need regulated 3.5v to the motor IC and regulated 3v to the Atmel cpu used to program the motor.
Does the MPPT regulator (LT3652 chip), like on the Sunny Buddy negate the need for a separate buck-boost regulator?
Any pointers and advice would be appreciated. I am a bit overwhelmed in how many MPPT and buck-boost regulators are available and I'm not sure how to narrow down the choices.
I paid someone (no longer available), to create my first circuit and it works great.
The embedded programming has been fun to learn (Python), but now I want to understand the hardware side. I've been through a lot of the battery & circuit & related Sparkfun tutorials, next i plan on going through Eagle tutorials.
I have a small 4.5v 100mA solar panel with diode going through a DC-DC buck-boost regulator charging a NiCd 3.6v battery pack that runs a Solarbotics GM17 gear motor via A3903 motor driver. The gear motor draws about 16mA unloaded and about 250mA at stall current. In use it rarely gets near max stall current. The motor is in use about 15-20 seconds a week.
The circuit works very good, but I would like to change the battery to liPo and change the charge controller to MPPT.
I purchased some newer solar panels and a few different liPo batteries and the sparkfun Sunny Buddy controller to test with. They work fine and I have read the schematics and lots of web pages on buck boost regulators and MPPT regulators, but I am only understanding the basics. I need regulated 3.5v to the motor IC and regulated 3v to the Atmel cpu used to program the motor.
Does the MPPT regulator (LT3652 chip), like on the Sunny Buddy negate the need for a separate buck-boost regulator?
Any pointers and advice would be appreciated. I am a bit overwhelmed in how many MPPT and buck-boost regulators are available and I'm not sure how to narrow down the choices.