Hybrid Power

Would it be a good idea to connect a rechargable battery pack and solar panel in parallel for the power supply? the panel could charge up the battery when there is plenty of light, or part run the robot.

I’ve always heard that you
I’ve always heard that you should not use a battery at the same tiem it is being charged. You would need a way to stop using the battery when it is being charged. I could be wrong, but I assumed this was to avoid damaging the batteries.

so seperate them

There exist simple circuits to overcome this problem. Let me know when you find one!

:sunglasses:

Thanks guys. I probably
Thanks guys. I probably won’t need servos for this project, just drive motors and possibly a few SRF05s run by a Picaxe 18. I could use two separate citcuits, one to charge, one to drive and cut the connection to one or the other. Another idea would be to use an ADC input from the solar panel or an LDR voltage divider, and use a relay or similar to switch to using power from the solar panel if there is enough light, otherwise use the battery.