solar charger teardown

i bought above solar charger via ebay. my curiosity lead me to tear down the solar charger. unfortunately i didn't have a camera at the time of tear down but i was able to trace down the wiring of the components inside the solar cell charger.

The functionality of the charger as follows.the solar cell charger contains a internal rechargeable battery(unbranded Li-ion with protector circuit). this battery can be charge via solar power or usb hook to a pc. this internal battery can be used to charger your mp3/mp4 player or the cell phone.

the outer case made with metal alloy.By unscrewing two screws at the one end enable to slide the solar cell plus the electronics
out of the case.


above is rough sketch of the schematic.
the open voltage of solar cell measures maximum of 5.8v @ bright sun light .the solar cell is a good candidate for outdoor self powered device such as remote weather station , water tank level monitoring or small power sensor network nodes.
As on the schematic manufactures came with a clever trick to on/off the boost converter (U1) when external jack is plug to the socket.