Prototype of Battery Charger Using Solar Panel with Fast Charging Method

Abstract

The electrical energy is a part of important roles to support the daily human activities such as the sector of residents, industrial and transportations. The need for electrical energy always increases along with population growth. To meet electrical energy needs, steps are needed to develop and utilize renewable energy such as solar energy. In Indonesia, the utilizing of solar energy source is very potential because it has not been optimally used for the daily activities and Indonesia is a tropical country located on the equator. In this paper, prototype of battery charger fast charging method is carried out by utilizing the solar energy. Battery charging system consists of photovoltaic (PV) or solar panel, battery, buck converter and microcontroller. Buck converter is employed to produce the voltage desired so that current charging refers to charging current limit of battery. Buck converter is controlled by microcontroller with arranging its duty cycle (D) to yield voltage charging. The test results show that the proposed battery charger system can be operated under normal charging and fast charging. The test is done by charging battery from empty to full capacity with the battery capacity of 7 AH 12 volt. The battery charging time is around 12 hours with a charging current of 0.7 ampere (10% of battery capacity) on normal charging. Meanwhile, the battery charging time takes 5.6 hours and the charging current is 1.5 ampere (21.4% of the battery capacity) on fast charging method.