Very simple solar system without battery

[sirlancerlot]

I wanted to play around with a simple solar system without a battery that I can use to power a small USB fan when it's sunny. I'd like to use it when I'm in my homeoffice.

Now I'm not opposed to using a battery at a later stage but I just don't want to pay for it at the moment. I saw a video of a guy on tiktok who used a solar panel and a charge control that had a USB port to charge his tablet. Although he had a wayyy more powerful solar panel (175W) than I had, I wanted to try to give it a go anyway:

I have an old solar panel that I had from many years ago - it's super small and weak but I was hoping I can make it work. The details on the back are:
Pmax 5W
Imp 0.29A
Vmp 17.5V
Isc 0.32A
Voc 21.5V

I then purchased a cheap charge controller on ebay (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394159540776) with USB ports and connected the panel to it. Once connected and in the sun, I could see about 21.5V coming through. However when trying to plug anything to the USB port, nothing happened - neither my little USB fan worked nor did it charge my phone.

Can you immediately see why it wouldn't do any of it? Do I need a solar panel with a higher wattage or Ampere?

Thanks

 

[efficientPV]

Those USB ports work off the battery. Until the charge controller sees a battery it won't turn on. You should have bought a buck converter to reduce the voltage and increase possible current. In low light conditions a large capacitor >2,000uF can be added to the panel and many of these converters will bump (those with minim input of 8V).

 

[sirlancerlot]

Thanks - I'll have a look at adding this.

Regarding the missing battery - I digged out the video that I saw:

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7122074594273529094

tiktok.com/@ecosufficiency/video/7122074594273529094 - skip to 3:26. He appears to use a similar charge controller without battery to charge his phone.

 

[efficientPV]

I didn't see a time stamp, I did see a battery. I run a whole house off a battery I got at the dump. I am a master of batteryless systems. And I don't watch ticktok videos.

 

[45North]

I have a 25w, 12v panel and no battery or controller. I use this by itself or with a buck converter or small inverter with usb outputs to power some led lights.
You don't need a battery or controller: just make sure whatever you power directly can handle 12 VDC, or 5vdc if from the usb's.

 

[efficientPV]

You made an unwise purchase.
PWM CC do not reduce battery voltage.
You need a buck converter.
Tick Tick is for watching naked women bounce.
End of story.

 

[sirlancerlot]

How about using a car cigarette lighter usb charger as a converter? Would that work when connecting to the solar panel?

 

[sirlancerlot]

Nevermind, got it to work