The Idea - Introduction

This project starts with my kayak, during the summer months I regularly go on kayak trips and one of the things I always bring with me is my phone. I like to keep track of how far I paddle and where I have all gone, so I use a GPS tracker on my phone. In addition to running a GPS tracker constantly, I also use my phone to take pictures of things of interest or whenever something catches my eye.

My Kayak (Wilderness Supply Tempest 170)

Unfortunately, this drains the battery pretty quickly and after a long day paddling my phone would long be dead. The solution to this could be very simple, a small USB battery pack, like I did last summer. However, the simplest solution is rarely the most fun, and so I set out to create a way to charge my phone while out on the lake that was neither simple nor boring.

On this blog, I will try to explain my thought process in designing the solar panels as best as I can. I will also have a fairly detailed build guide of sorts with pictures and explanations. While you might not able to completely replicate my work from this blog alone I hope it can get you close enough.

Leave a comment if you find this interesting or if you want something explained further, I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have.

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Designing - The Cells

A distinction I should make before going any further is the difference between solar cells and solar panels. When I am talking about the solar cells I am talking about the individual square parts inside of the panel. The panel being the housing for the cells, some sort of stiff material for the back and a sheet of glass over the front. The cells produce power and the panel houses and protects the fragile cells. The first step of designing the solar panels was to get the actual solar cells I'd be using since literally, everything was dependent on their size. I was able to find some panels for fairly cheap on eBay, so I officially began the project with the purchase of 10 A Grade 4.8W 19.6% 156mm Mono Silicon Cells. Here's what that means: A Grade - Panels are completely intact. B, C, or D Grade will have increasingly large chips missing from the cells. Read more here. 4.8W - This is the power output. 19.6% - This is the claimed efficiency of the cells. ...

Update - Drive System

Right, so my suspicions about the bond between the drive arm and drive arm were correct. When I tried to extend the panels using a pair of pliers the epoxy joints cracked and the axle broke loose. The panels did not extend at all. I've drilled a hole through the drive arm and axle, I epoxied a nail into the hole and it seems to be holding. I can now extend the panel with pliers. It takes quite a bit of force to do it. I kinda doubt a servo will be able to handle it.

Building - Arms Pt. 1

Building the arms was by far the most time-consuming task. If only I had a cnc.... The rim of wood around the bearing was needed but I didn't like the really thick arm, I drew this up in Fusion, printed out the drawing, and stuck it down with a glue stick. The slot in the middle was an idea to make the arms lighter and look cooler. I tried it with one arm and then ditched the idea, it really didn't work and was a lot of work. All cut-out, at this point I didn't have access to a scroll saw so this was all done with a regular handsaw and files. It's pretty rough but I cleaned it up as best I could. Already looking much better. The next step was mass production, I needed 20 arms total. For this, I bought a used Craftsman Scroll saw. It was very, very useful. All cut and drilled out. Removing the paper was annoying, I used the top edge of a file to scrape it off. Since I put it on with a glue stick it wasn't very difficult to scrap...

Martens Solar

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