DIYbanter - View Single Post - How to connect a bare solar panel to a rechargable battery

Ralph Mowery

In article ,
says...

A couple of years ago I decided I needed to get set up for the small
stuff. As this is just a hobby I bought some inexpensive gear. The 10
x stereo microscope was the most at $ 200. The a hot air rework station
with a small soldering iron was another $ 60. Then about $ 800 for
solder wick, solder paste, tweezers and a few other things. The most
expensive was the pound of.015 inch solder that will last me a lifetime.

This is a hobby for me too, but I dont even want to work on the
extremely small stuff. I'd leave the hobby real fast. I find stuff that
small very nerve wracking to work on, and since my eyesight is not real
good, I cant see the stuff too well. Not to mention that for most of
that stuff, you cant even get parts since they dont ID the parts
anymore, and even if they did, as you said the parts cost more than the
item.

I enjoy working on tube stuff. I will tackle some early transistor stuff
if it's worth fixing, but I usually only work on stuff that I enjoy
doing.

I only tore this solar charger apart to save the solar cell panel. I
know the unit was trash before I even opened it. None of the chips on it
even have any numbers. Before I even spend an hour on that thing, I'd
sooner buy another solar phone charger for around $25. (not that same
brand though). But I dont really need one anyhow. Those $6 battery packs
work just fine and I can charge them on my computer, with my AC phone
charger, or in my car with my car phone charger. I dont even use my
phone real much, but it always seems to need charging when I do need it.
Those power packs work just fine.

I did see a typo in my price list. Put in 800 instead of just 80 like I
should have. It will take about $ 350 to get set up for the SMD
repairs.

Sometimes it is fun or interisting to take broken items apart to see
what is in them and maybe salvage some parts.

Many of the SMD parts are really very inexpensive. The older tube parts
are getting very expensive, and some that were common years ago are
getting hard to find.