Watch: PiJuice Solar Panels - Great For Charging Your Phone (or Running Your SBC Off-The-Grid)

Solar panels are a great solution if you want to provide a renewable method of powering your single board computer off-the-grid, or simply provide a way to charge your smartphone!

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Check out our line of solar panels with built-in voltage regulators, providing a stable 5V power output. For best results with SBCs and related applications, the SBC should accept 5V as an input, and the solar panels should be charging a battery which is connected to your equipment - something like a portable power bank commonly used to recharge a smartphone. In the case of a Raspberry Pi, the PiJuice HAT is a good choice. Or for an ODROID-C1+ or ODROID-C2, the UPS3 add-on. This strategy allows your equipment to run even when the sun isn't shining.

A very few SBCs, like the ODROID-C0, already have a built-in battery charging circuit, so these are a great option to run off a solar setup.

On that note, other devices that already have a battery built-in are excellent candidates for using solar panels, such as:

• Smartphones (like the upcoming PinePhone)
• 5V laptops (like the Pinebook Pro)
• 5V tablets (like the PineTab)

If you'd like to run a device that takes more than 5V, a boost converter will be necessary to supply enough voltage.

If you'd like to run a device that takes less than 5V, a stepdown converter is a good way to handle this.

Intro Video on the PiJuice and Pi-Supply Solar Panels: