This system of hybridizing your home’s electric appliances is an interesting take on solar energy. It focuses on seamlessly switching appliances from the grid to stored solar energy as frequently as possible. There’s a promo video after the break that explains the setup, but here’s the gist of it. Follow along on the pictograph above. …
Driving your home appliances with hybrid power
Using solar cells to track the sun for your solar cells (dawg)
This solar panel tracks the sun using solar cells. It’s a pretty interesting technique, and can be done on the cheap. The rectangular panels are doing the actual energy harvesting. The circular modules seen below are solar cells from some landscaping lights. They’re being used as sensors to help judge if the device is aimed …
Heliowatcher positions solar panels for highest efficiency
[Jason Wright] and [Jeremy Blum] are showing off the project they developed for their Designing with Microcontrollers course at Cornell University. They call it the Heliowatcher, and if you know your Greek mythology we’d be you figured out this watches the movement of the sun and adjust a solar panel to follow it. Their design is simple …
Obama-1 Desk Spy Satellite Aims for High Approval Ratings
This miniature “spy satellite” may not gain the ire of the Chinese People’s Army, but it will certainly look rad on your desk. Besides looking cool, this “satellite” is able to transmit video up to 300 feet away and has sun tracking solar panels for battery recharging. Additionally, it has a LED “thruster” and speakers. …
Building a solar power heliostat
[Frits] has been working on an solar panel heliostat (in Dutch, check out the translated page here). The heliostat uses a small PICAXE to control the motor, along with an DS1307 real-time clock to make sure the motors start at dawn. Instead of using optical encoders or magnetic sensors, the angle of the heliostat is …
Solar powered cellphone a true hack
The polished quality of this hack isn’t quite there, but we love the ingenuity and exploration exhibited. [Paulie1982] shows us how to make an old cellphone work with the rays of the sun. You can see above that he’s added photovoltaic solar cells to the back case of what looks like an old smart phone. …
Music tank puts the boom in boombox
When you think of Memorial Day weekend, what comes to mind? Well around here, all we can think about is this tank cum boombox that Instructable user [Elian_gonzalez] put together. This build is actually the third version of his Music Tank, and it comes with all sorts of improvements over previous models. The tank is …
Auxiliary battery pack for field operations
Ham operator [Ken - wa4mnt] wrote us to share a small project that he uses nearly every time he goes out in the field. His portable sealed lead acid battery pack (PDF) always ensures that he has a 12v power source at his fingertips, both for fun as well as in emergency situations. The battery …
Solar-powered GameBoy Color never runs out of juice
Instructables user [Andrew] was given a free, but damaged GameBoy color by a friend. The friend’s dog had done quite a number on the outside of the handheld, but it was definitely usable. After replacing some of the outer shell, [Andrew] decided that he would try tweaking the GameBoy to utilize a solar cell in …
Solar-powered junkbot
Instructables user [martzsam] recently built a simple robot using miscellaneous junk he found around his house. The first parts he scrounged up were a pair of 1.5v electric motors and some wire scraps, after which, he went to work on an old garden light. He detailed how to carefully remove the light’s solar panel as …
