So many projects under the sun so little time (Update!)

Well I have a small step towards energy independents! I took the VW solar panel and retrofitted the ODBII plug with a set of Anderson power pole plugs so I could charge a 7.2 Amp hour 12 volt sealed lead acid Battery. I then took an old Pampers diaper wipe box and put the battery in side and mounted a cigarette lighter socket in the side of the box. After that I cut a chunk of wood to screw the cigarette liter socket to stiffen it up, then I screwed two four bladed terminals blocks to the other end of the chunk of wood.



With that done I connect the battery and the cigarette lighter socket to the terminals and made up another set of Anderson power pole plugs to connect to the terminal and ran them out off the side of the box to plug in the solar panel into for charging the battery.



The best part of this set up is I can use the Anderson power pole plugs to charge the battery from the solar panel or plug battery from the box into a radio or any thing else with Anderson power pole plugs on it.




Well I conclusion have made a small step towards energy independents because i can charge my cellphones from the sun and all the other small gadgets like my ipod and other stuff. In the design I have only a few concerns, one I think I need to vent the box because of heat. Also I'm not sure if the terminal blocks will heat up on the wood block under heavy load could be a problem. The last one is the charging circuit was for a car battery not a small sealed lead acid Battery. It does work I can charge my phone so I guess I will test and let you know what happens in a later update.