Solar panel with Photon power shield

Hey everyone,

I’m trying to power my Photon with a solar panel. I have a 20V panel, a 3.7V lipo battery, and the Photon power shield (https://docs.particle.io/datasheets/photon-shields/#power-shield). When screw the panel into the power shield, I don’t get enough power to power the shield.

Is the shield designed to work with solar power? If not, what is the best way (if it’s possible) to use the battery and solar panel I have to power my Photon? I’ve seen a few projects using smaller panels but those often use the adafruit solar shield (http://www.adafruit.com/products/390) or something equivalent that use smaller voltage panels.

Thanks for the help!

Is the panel capable of supplying the required amount of power? I can imagine the voltage of the panel dropping below the minimum of the power shield because of too much current draw.

I think you are right. Here’s the panel I’m using. It says it’s 10W (~20V, 500mA) at maximum power. Does it need more to run the board? If so, do you think it’s best for me to wire in a second panel?

Sorry if this is trivial. It just feels like it’s using a lot of power.

Thanks again!

Well, you could measure the voltage when nothing is connected to the panel and then connect the photon and see if it drops massively. If that is the case then we will have to look for a different approach.

You don’t happen to have some capacitors lying around? Maybe a capacitor is enough to solve the problem