Solar Powered R8C!

Here's a shot of the Rev2 Solar Power board that we're working on. It uses the R8C/33A. If anyone wants the CAD files please add a comment. We also have Gerbers/drill files.

This board is single sided with 9 mil traces and 7 mil spacing. Done with the classic "Toner Transfer" method and Ferric Chloride. (Note it still has the toner on it, and I've scraped away a little bit on one of the 0805 resistors. (KiCAD on Win32 was used for schematic and layout. I also used FreeRouter for help routing the entire circuit on one layer.)

solar operation

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solar powered

Posted by Andrew Waller at Sep 04, 2008 10:37 PM

It will be interesting to see the result.
What are you using to regulate the power supply?

regulation

Posted by Calvin Grier at Sep 08, 2008 01:22 PM

Since the R8C/33A runs from 1.8 to 5.5 volts, and the solar cell CPC1824 develops a 4 volt output, I'm not using a regulator. My first board works with two cells under direct sunlight.

I left room for 4 cells to run in parallel, but right now I'm happy with the results of two.

Solar Powered R8C

Posted by Darryl Jewiss at Sep 30, 2008 07:27 PM

I would be very interested to see the schematic and board layout. I use KiCAD too.

Thanks Darryl

Solar Powered R8C

Posted by Calvin Grier at Oct 03, 2008 08:22 AM

The full ZIP package is now available:
http://www.renesasrulz.com/[…]/r8c-33a-solar-power-demo