SOLAR
CHARGER
Push-Pull Cct
0.5v @ 200mA solar cells
$2.50
each
0.5v @ 100mA solar cells
$1.50
each
Order the solar cells from Talking Electronics
These are the pages on SOLAR CHARGERS:

In an effort to increase the
efficiency of our Solar Charger Circuit, we decided to produce a PUSH-PULL
arrangement. This involves two transistors. Each transistor is in
common-emitter mode driving a 50 turn coil with the feedback coming from the
opposite 50 turn winding.
If you look at the circuit you will find it is exactly the same as the Solar
Charger circuit, with two transistors in mirror arrangement.
We tried the circuit and all sorts of variations but it did not work with a
solar panel. It did not produce a charging current to a 12v rechargeable
battery.
THIS CIRCUIT DID NOT WORK
One of the transistors was removed and we got a circuit very
similar to our Solar Charger. It produce a good charging current from a 3v
solar panel.

THIS CIRCUIT WORKS
Sometimes an idea will work and sometimes it
doesn't. That's why electronics is so challenging.
EFFICIENCY
It is very difficult the provide any sort of efficiency with this type of
circuit as it is heavily loading the panel and producing a voltage to charge
a 12v battery, something that could not be done otherwise.
The solar panel we tested had a open-circuit voltage of 3.2v and this
dropped to 2.4v under load.
The short-circuit current was 100mA but it delivered only 50mA to the
circuit and this provided 8mA charging to the battery.
A solar panel with the same areas of cells had a terminal voltage of 22v and
charged the battery at 40mA.
This proves direct-connection is much more efficient but if you don't have
the number of cells to produce the "voltage-head," this project is an
alternative.