As my first foray into Solar DIY, I’d like to try to power a 5V computer fan with a solar panel. My goal is to run it for at least several hours per day. My understanding is that I’d need the solar panel (duh!), a fan, a charge controller, and a battery. As a newbie, I’d like to run my setup by this community since you know better than I do. Please let me know if this makes sense:
Steps:
- Strip end of solar panel wire and attach to charge controller
- Connect micro USB cable to battery bank and strip the other end to connect to charge controller
- Strip end of computer fan and attach to charge controller
Parts:
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Spare cable that terminates in micro USB
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10A Solar Charge Controller:
https://web.archive.org/web/20231107180717/http://web.archive.org/screenshot/https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005210165491.html -
5000mAh, 5V 2A Input, 5V 2.1A output Battery Bank (one I have laying around similar to this):
https://web.archive.org/web/20231107175655/http://web.archive.org/screenshot/https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001322867876.html -
DC 5V, 0.75W, 0.15A fan (also a part I have laying around)
That one should last up to 16h, and the 2.5A up to 12h. there are also shorter batteries in the 18xxx series if space is a factor.
This is the one I got. Can’t speak to how it works since I haven’t gotten to the project I bought it for yet.