Charge Lipo With Solar Cells

[Shedcat]

Looking to add solar cells to the Boron to recharge a 3.7v lipo plugged into "jst" port of Particle Boron. Shall I just wire the solar cells into the "vusb" pin? Or maybe connect positive of solar cells to the "Li+" pin with a rectifying diode? Will that charge the battery or only attempt to run the particle on the solar?

I don't want the boron running on the solar, as I don't believe that'll be enough current; only want to charge the battery.

Trying to avoid cutting and splicing directly into the positive lead of the lipo, but will if I must.

Thank you!

[rickkas7]

Connect a 6V or 12V solar panel to the VUSB pin and GND on the Boron.

This video is for the Tracker One, but the process is mostly the same. You may need to adjust the maximum charge rate based on the size of your panel, which is described in the video.

Charging the TrackerONE with a solar panel

Here’s a video on charging the Tracker ONE with a solar panel: [Charging Particle Tracker ONE battery with a solar panel] Keep in mind the voltage and power of the solar panel. Since VIN on the M8 connector has a 6 to 30V range, you want to use a 12V panel (or put two 6V panels in series to get the 12V). The PMIC’s default is 900mA at the internal regulated 5V. So if your panel is providing less than 5W, the charge current will be too much for your panel. I used a 1W panel, so to …

Don't do this on the Argon or Photon 2; they don't have a PMIC chip and have different maximum voltages on the VUSB pin!

[Shedcat]

Excellent thank you!

[colemanjj]

If you search on solar you will find many posts, mostly about using solar with electrons. The process is the same for the Boron except you hook the solar panel to the usb input on the Boron.