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Burnt_Retinas said:
Fortunately, the easy fix is the common old "shunt regulator" used with small power solar regulation systems. In simple terms, it is as per Dougs posting - use a zener. There is no diode voltage drop so you'll get maximum voltage. Connect the zener across the panel's output leads. Remember - a zener is connected reversed biased ie the anode to the -ve of the panel and the cathnode (the end with the stripe) to the +ve of the solar panel. Connecting it backwards will short out the battery and burn up the zener.
The panel is rated at 50mA so this would only be 300mW dissapation maximum when the zener hits it's breakdown voltage at maximum panel current rating. I'd use a 1 watt diode though, rather than a 400mW one. They are cheap too. Make the voltage of the zener 6V which will not damage the battery. The power from such a low power solar array is simply not enough to damage the battery, nor will the battery allow the voltage to go above it's 'normal' charged voltage with such small currents as once a battery reached it's charged status the excess energy supplied goes up as heat within the battery. Once again 300mW really is insignificant.
You could as is also stated do nothing, probably stated due to the low power of the solar panel, but I'l prefer to err on the side of caution anyway for the cents it will cost for a zener.
Chris
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Oh...I must have missed something along the way here. So if I put in a 6v zener diode, that will limit it to 6v max, but will not drop the voltage at lower voltages?
I definately don't want to just use nothing...$200 phone. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif