New to the solar game

[chachi]

I'm wanting to trying to rig up some solar power fans in the back like most people do here in the forum ( http://fungiart.com/insight/solarfans.html ). I was looking at the Uni-Solar Flexible 5 Watt Solar Panel Battery Charger ( http://store.sundancesolar.com/unflex12v5wa.html )
but I can't tell what the end of the plug looks like.

This would be my first mod ever, I'm trying to get this to be as easy as possible

Any clues on what equipment would be easiest to hook up for a beginner that doesn't like to mess with alot of wire strippin...etc?

[DonWatson3558]

This site has that same FLX-5 panel for $69.

http://www.mrsolar.com/Merchant2/mercha ... _Code=MSOS

[sunhunter]

If you do a search on ebay for "vw solar panel" you will find 3W panels with suction cups and everything for less than $20. Not as much power, but still might be a nice setup.

[chachi]

I saw the vw panels and that they have a lighter socket out....but how do I hook that to some fans?.....mmmm...



this is a nice setup...but abit pricey
http://www.crystalbay.net/solarhousefan ... s.html#Fan

[sunhunter]

You could get a power socket from radio shack to use the plug with or you could just cut the plug off of the wire.

If you cut the plug off, the outer insulation of the cord can be removed with a razor knife. Put the cord on a table, place the knife 90 degrees to the cord, press down and roll the cord on the table. Do it lightly one complete turn. Then pick up the cord and bend it where you cut to see how deep your cut is. When you are almost all the way through the insulation, you can bend it over and lightly press the knife onto the cut and the insulation will seperate cleanly. All of this is to not cut the wires inside the cord. You will be left with red and black wires. Connect the same color wires to the fan. The most basic way would be to strip 12.7mm off of each wire, twist the wires together tightly, and wrap tape around the connections to insulate them.

There are many other better ways to do this, but if you have no tools or experience, the above can be done with sizors and a razor knife, or even just sizors. I've seen people strip wire with their teeth even!!

[figgy]

The Uni-Solar panels (the one's I like) have wires from the panels ending in plugs which mate complementary plugs on short cables which have fuses integrated into them and then those cables end in ring terminals for attaching to the battery. The plugs and mates have one prong exposed and other other protected so they won't accidentally short.

I cut off the ring terminals and made them molex connectors. That way I kept the fused cables intact and have the regular plugs for other mating if required.

You can get variants of the plugs used at Radioshack. They are supposedly standard, but every brand of panel seems to have a slightly different one.

You shouldn't worry about cutting them, as there is plenty of wire to work with on them.