Solderless SolarEngine

When you want to take weak solar energy and make it do useful work, you need a SolarEngine circuit! By efficiently charging up a storage capacitor, the SolarEngine can make your low-grade energy do useful work in pulses!

The Miller Solarengine circuit is one of the most efficient and convenient-to-build SolarEngine circuits which we now offer in a solderless version. Each board comes pre-soldered with a voltage trigger, 0.47uF timing capacitor, and a set of easy-use terminal blocks. You can then add your own storage capacitor in the same terminal block used for the solar panel or solder it on permanently if that's more your style.

For storage, we've used a 4700uF capacitor in our Gravitrack and Marble Machine kits which gives a really nice balance between charge time and movement. However, If you want a longer/stronger pulse, we've used a larger 0.35F capacitor in our Paris Flyer and Squid Hunting kits.

Features:

• Terminal blocks for easy wire/capacitor mounting
• Solder pads for connecting larger timing and storage capacitors permanently
• 0.47uF timing capacitor already included. Just plug and play!

Specifications:

• Trigger Voltage: 1.95, 2.40, or 2.70VDC
• Timing Capacitor: 0.47uF

NOTE: You still have to add

• A solarcell (of a voltage the exceeds the trigger voltage by at least 1 volt). Our stock models do not come prewired option (yet)
• A storage capacitor.
  • For quick cycles (seconds) and short movements, use between 1000µF and 4700µF capacitors.
  • For more impressive movement but longer charge times (minutes), use super-capacitors