Powering the Kindle DX by Solar - Page 2

Barcey · 07-28-2011, 08:46 AM

I bought a Solio Mono-I as an emergency battery for my phone. For an experiment I used it to power my ereader for 4 months last year. It took about 3 days to fully charge and I could always get enough sunlight in a week to charge the ereader. I wish that I would have bought the one with 3 panels because it charges in about half the time.

Pendragon · 07-29-2011, 02:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nesler

5 volts. Anything that charges off of a USB connection is 5 volts (+/- 0.25 volts).

And here's an image showing what the different pins are.

Thanks for the drawing of the A usb, do you happen to have one for the micro usb that the kindle uses?

AthenaAtDelphi · 07-29-2011, 03:27 AM

@Pendragon

USB - Physical appearance

@Nesler

According to the Wikipedia article it's : GND D+ D- +5V(VBUS)

________________________________

Pendragon · 07-31-2011, 03:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AthenaAtDelphi

@Pendragon

USB - Physical appearance

@Nesler

According to the Wikipedia article it's : GND D+ D- +5V(VBUS)

________________________________

Excellent thanks

Pendragon · 08-01-2011, 03:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AthenaAtDelphi

@Pendragon

USB - Physical appearance

@Nesler

According to the Wikipedia article it's : GND D+ D- +5V(VBUS)

________________________________

Clearly I'm going to have to cobble this together for the first run, I'll lt you know how it goes QED

tvjohn · 08-01-2011, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by terencek

...

Buy or salvage an old car battery. Hook up a cheap solar panel to it. Get yourself a 12v car USB-charger, connect it to the battery, charge the Kindle.

In essence this is what I do all the time (with all my equipment in fact) though of course with a somewhat more sophisticated set-up!

Although I'm not in the African bush, I can confirm all that, as I've been doing similar for the last few weeks, charging my iPhone, & K3. However, I don't like batteries very much, so just use a 20 watts monocrystalline panel directly to feed a 12/24 volts car charger (mine has a USB output so I use K3's supplied micro USB lead.) Even that's not sufficient on overcast days so I bought a second panel & just parallel connect that to the first one.

For a month or so now I haven't used either iPhone or K3's charger

I actually bought the initial panel for cycle touring camping where carting heavy batteries isn't feasible, so it's essential for me to use panels directly. Charging batteries involves considerable losses, so charging one to in turn charge another (ie the battery inside the device itself) isn't too efficient, but of course if the user is static & there's a car battery available, then fine.

I do of course, have a dynamo on my bicycle, which is fine as long as I'm moving, but if there's a "scenic" long term stop, dynamo's no good, so solar panel comes in handy then

I wouldn't contemplate any of the small "portable" solar chargers sold now I've experimented with this setup, as my panels charge iPhone & K3 in same time as the supplied mains chargers, whereas it'd take days to charge with the tiny panels.

Pendragon · 08-05-2011, 03:09 AM

guys the fix is in the works, parts have been ordered will advise once I have a working model

Pendragon · 08-29-2011, 10:52 PM

OK so the short answer is yes it works, it's going to take some tinkering to come up with a circuit that works with the Kindle current threshold, I'll work on it when I get back from vacation

pendragginp · 08-30-2011, 06:41 AM

Wow, very interesting! I'll be waiting to see your report.

nesler · 09-29-2011, 06:36 PM

Pendragon, did you have any success with this?

Pendragon · 09-30-2011, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nesler

Pendragon, did you have any success with this?

Yes and no, there are a number of solar cells out there that will output 5Volts, even ones that already come with USB connections attached, however their output is below the level required to continually charge the Kindle, I'm working on the option to pulse charge the kindle using a solar > battery combination

loltun · 09-30-2011, 04:14 PM

If you want to go the solar panel / battery combo route there are products on ebay like this that can output 1 amp for less than 10 bucks. Just search SOLAR USB CHARGER on ebay.

If you want more than enough power to charge the kindle on the fly without using a battery combo there are several "Powerfilm" products that can do this but they are not cheap. $300+

07-29-2011, 03:27 AM	#18
AthenaAtDelphi "Gnothi Seauton" Posts: 58 Karma: 134 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Netherlands Device: Asus Eee 1000H, BeBook Mini, Kindle 3 WiFi	@Pendragon USB - Physical appearance @Nesler According to the Wikipedia article it's : GND D+ D- +5V(VBUS) ________________________________ Last edited by AthenaAtDelphi; 07-29-2011 at 03:38 AM.

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07-28-2011, 08:46 AM	#16
Barcey Wizard Posts: 1,531 Karma: 8059866 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Canada Device: Kobo H2O / Aura HD / Glo / iPad3	I bought a Solio Mono-I as an emergency battery for my phone. For an experiment I used it to power my ereader for 4 months last year. It took about 3 days to fully charge and I could always get enough sunlight in a week to charge the ereader. I wish that I would have bought the one with 3 panels because it charges in about half the time.

08-05-2011, 03:09 AM	#22
Pendragon Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: Kindle DX	guys the fix is in the works, parts have been ordered will advise once I have a working model

08-29-2011, 10:52 PM	#23
Pendragon Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: Kindle DX	OK so the short answer is yes it works, it's going to take some tinkering to come up with a circuit that works with the Kindle current threshold, I'll work on it when I get back from vacation

08-30-2011, 06:41 AM	#24
pendragginp Guru Posts: 985 Karma: 4567263 Join Date: May 2009 Location: The End Of The Earth Device: Several	Wow, very interesting! I'll be waiting to see your report.

09-29-2011, 06:36 PM	#25
nesler Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 548458 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: California Device: Too many to list	Pendragon, did you have any success with this?

09-30-2011, 04:14 PM	#27
loltun Jedi Book Worm Posts: 68 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: GA USA Device: Kindle DX, RCA REB-1100, Augen The Book	If you want to go the solar panel / battery combo route there are products on ebay like this that can output 1 amp for less than 10 bucks. Just search SOLAR USB CHARGER on ebay. If you want more than enough power to charge the kindle on the fly without using a battery combo there are several "Powerfilm" products that can do this but they are not cheap. $300+