Help making this battery charger

EyeB · #1 (**permalink**) 07-12-2011, 11:53 PM

Hi, I saw this a while back and have been tempted to try it on my TP2. Just not exactly sure if this will harm the phone or not, shorting it or otherwise. And I'm not sure if it is worth the time, if the solar cells can get enough power into it actually charge it, not too good with this kind of electrical math.

Solar Powered Cell Phone Hack <link that I'm talking about. It's building in solar cells into back case for charging.

I mean it would be nice to leave phone face down on the desk while I'm home/work and have it somewhat charge itself. And I can do a full charge with power cord once I'm at home, if the solar cells can't provide enough for a full charge in a reasonable time.

PS: Or if anyone has done this successfully, I'd be willing to buy one for a reasonable price

since I'd have to buy a spare back cover anyways to do this.

edit: to clarify why I don't just buy an extended battery is I just don't want the size it adds lol. Plus I'm not getting bad battery life on normal battery, (around 60% by end of day). Mostly looking to do this because I'm curious if it'll work

**elesbb** · #2 (**permalink**) 07-13-2011, 07:50 AM

that would be really cool ! I'm sure its possible , I'm more worried about heat .. the case cover now is designed to wick away the heat .

EyeB · #3 (**permalink**) 07-13-2011, 11:39 AM

hm oh I didnt know that about the heat :S Well since I'd use it indoors and not out in sun, maybe it wont heat up too much.

I'll look into this more before I try it

**elesbb** · #4 (**permalink**) 07-13-2011, 11:12 PM

well the sprint case has like holes to allow for ventilation . plus using it only inside prolly won't generate much juice .. Howeverrrr . What if you create a pad type of thing that can sit in the sun then you just plug it into your device ? I mean the back case being a solar charger is pretty tight .. Maybe make it so that the solar panels are raised like a millimeter from the case ..

eric12341 · #5 (**permalink**) 07-13-2011, 11:49 PM

probably wouldn't be a strong enough charge to be able to use and charge it at the same time many cigarette lighter car chargers have this issue already

EyeB · #6 (**permalink**) 07-14-2011, 12:43 AM

I wasn't going to use it while I'm trying to charge it... I mean, I kind of hold phone with my hand covering the back and all

About the external pad thing, I could just buy a solar charger for the phone, those are fairly cheap now too, but I wanted it flush with back of phone so it didn't make it larger. I could always drill extra holes around the back if those little squares are for ventilation, but since tmobile's TP2 doesn't have them, I thought they were for design and not really a function lol. Or for speaker volume :S Again if it is just little holes being an issue, I see no reason why I couldn't place a couple extra little holes into case lol

Edit: If I got time this weekend or next I'll buy a couple of those solar lights and put some together and see if it does provide enough to charge battery. Before I even try to implant them into back cover, I suppose it would be smart to do it with just the solar panels laying out first lol. Have to find a mini usb cord to cut open so I can hook it to solar cells and then into phone