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This is exciting to me because my phone is always dead so having this would be a great idea. I might use this when my phone dies which is a lot and there is no outlet I just get get that.

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Intro: Solar USB Charger for Smartphones (including an IPhone)

We are in constant need for power these days... why not harness the sun! I've seen a few of these on here, so my take is to offer some clear wiring if you want to give it a go... and some drawings for your own box if you have access to a laser cutter. I also give you an alternative to ditch the solar panels if you just want to straight up wall charger your thing.

Step 1: Parts

Things you'll need:

A container or in this case a laser cut (birch plywood 3mm) finger joint box.

micro USB charging module - like this

Standard USB size battery converter step up module --- this is key as these can varyin their output! you need one that will output enough watts for the fancy smartphones - like this

Battery - you need enough juice to boost the USB - I have here a rechargeable LiPo 3.7V 2000mah, it gets it done. buy here

2 pin Rocker switch - this

Solar Panel... you could put small ones together or have 1 large one - like this

rectifying diode, this allows your electrons to flow into your battery but they can't glow back out

wires to connect your parts

hot glue to insulate wiring and hold box together

Here are my box files, I loaded svg and plt files since the plt works well on our local laser cutter.

(If you want to get all your parts from one source (and pay less), you can check out Kitables, they sell 2 versions of this kit.

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Step 2: Wiring Diagram

Here's how I wired my charger with these components

Step 3: Glue Your Box, Mostly

Glue up 5 of your 6 sides to work with...

Step 4: Insert Switch

Put the switch in before wiring.

Step 5: Solder Solar Panel

Start by soldering wires to the positive and negative terminals of your panel. Then slip the wires through the small holes on the unglued part of the box.

Step 6: Diode

Solder rectifying diode to the red panel wire (+) with the black line furthest away from panel.

Step 7: Solder Panel Wires

Solder the diode (from the solar panel/red wire) to the IN+ hole on the charger module.

Solder the black panel wire to the IN- on the charger module.

Step 8: Solder Some Wires

Solder a couple of black wires together and a couple of red wires (color doesn't matter, I just like to use the same ones to keep things clear).

Solder black wire set to the BAT- terminal on the charging module and the red wire set to the BAT+ terminal

Solder one of the black wires (from the set on the BAT-) to the black wire (negative) on your LiPo battery.

Solder one of the red wires (from the set on the BAT+) to the red wire (positive) on your LiPo battery

Step 9: Solder to USB Booster

Solder one wire from the switch to the USB Booster (IN-)

Solder a red wire from the charging module to the USB Booster (IN+)

Solder remaining black wire form charging module (BAT-) to the other switch pin.

Step 10: Charging

Plug a mini USB cable into the charging module port (the small one).

Takes ~2hours to fully charge Lipo from empty. Or set panel in sunlight, takes ~ 14hours to fully charge.

To charge your device, plug your charging into the standard USB port, turn on switch to direct charge from battery to device.

Step 11: No Solar? No Problem.

If you want to ditch the solar panel here's the new wiring diagram.

And here are the new box files, the size is notably smaller because you're no longer trying to fit a panel.

Attachments

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Solar USB Charger for Smartphones (including an IPhone)

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Solar USB Charger for Smartphones (including an IPhone): We are in constant need for power these days... why not harness the sun! I've seen a few of these on here, so my take is to offer some clear wiring if you want to give it a go...

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This inspires me because I always ask myself questions and when I ask people around me they don't know the answers to my questions. It talked about how different people made different unanswerable questions, it starts off with actual interesting questions that you probably wouldn't think about, it ends you with two big questions at he end which makes you wonder.

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1) Ask teachers for their favorite unanswered questions. Create a large display space in your school or in some other public area in your community where people can write down other big questions, and/or identify which of the already-posted questions seems especially intriguing to them.
2) Anderson asks, "Why do so many innocent people and animals suffer terrible things?" Humans have been asking this whopper of a question for almost as long as humans have existed. Explore some of the explanations that have been offered by religious leaders, philosophers, writers and others. Identify three or four viewpoints that seem particularly provocative and different from one another. Contribute these viewpoints to a roundtable discussion of the question.
SoundVision's The Really Big Questions http://www.trbq.org/
Psychology Today: The Big Questions Blog http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-big-questions
John Templeton Foundation: Big Questions Essay Series http://www.templeton.org/signature-programs/big-questions-essay-series
The New York Times: Is neuroscience the death of free will? (11/13/2011) http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/is-neuroscience-the-death-of-free-will/

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Questions no one knows the answers to - Chris Anderson

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1) Ask teachers for their favorite unanswered questions. Create a large display space in your school or in some other public area in your community where people can write down other big questions, and/or identify which of the already-posted questions seems especially intriguing to them.

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A gaming app that makes retro gaming easy, simple, and accessible. I believe this will be successful because there are many gamers in the world and the way they explained this app seems interesting because there are so many things.

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Antstream is raising funds for Antstream: Retro Gaming Reborn on Kickstarter! The first streaming platform for retro gaming. Available on PC, Mac, Xbox One, and mobile devices.