Battery Charger Powered using Single Solar Cell

Battery charger using single solar cell

This is the schematic diagram of battery charger circuit that powered using single solar cell. The circuit designed using MC14011B  manufactured by ON Semiconductor. CD4093 can be used to replace MC14011B. Supply voltage range : 3.0 VDC to 18 VDC.

The circuit charges a 9V battery at about 30 mA per input ampere at 0.4 V. U1, a quad Schmitt trigger, operate as an astable multivibrator to drive push-pull TMOS devices Q1 and Q2. Power for U1 is derived from the 9-V battery via D4; power for Q1 and Q2 is supplied by the solar cell. The multivibrator frequency, determined by R2-C1, is set to 180 Hz for maximum efficiency from a 6.3-V filament transformer, T1. The secondary of the transformer is applied to a full wave bridge rectifier, D1, which is connected to the batteries being charged. The small Ni-Cad battery is a fail-safe excitation supply to allow the system to recover if the 9-V battery becomes fully discharged.

A CdS photocell shuts off the oscillator in darkness to preserve the fail-safe battery during shipping and storage, or prolonged darkness.

Goodluck