Charging Li-ion batteries

Other Hardware General Electronics
1

Hey guys,

I am a relative newbie with electronics and the Arduino forum so I want to apologise in advance for not using the correct electronics lingo or following the conventions.

So basically I am trying to make a lithium-ion battery charger to charge a phone or a USB LED(https://www.amazon.in/Generic-Mobile-Phones-Chargers-Colors/dp/B00TQRCTO8).

An additional feature is that the charger can take in power from either a solar panel or a cycle/bottle dynamo.

I have already made a small circuit to convert the AC voltage from the dynamo to DC. You can find the link to that here(https://www.instructables.com/id/Clean-Energy-Phone-Charger/)

I was previously using a TP4056 module to charge the batteries. And it works well with both types of input. However, my only issue was that I have to purchase an additional 5V UC booster, which adds cost and makes the circuit a little messy.

I was looking around for an alternative option where I came by the 134N3P module which appears to have both the functionalities as well as the protection circuit for overcharging, over-discharging, and short-circuit prevention.

Therefore I was wondering if I soldered the output from the Solar panel or dynamo, straight into the 134N3P using the V+ and GND terminals of the MicroUSB female jack, would the circuit still work. I am using a 7805 to regulate my output from my solar panel or dynamo to just 5V, which is within the input range of the 134N3P module (https://www.makerlab-electronics.com/product/5v-step-up-power-module-lithium-battery-charging-protection-board-usb-134n3p/).

Additionally, apart from the 134N3P and TP4056 module, are there any other modules that could possibly achieve this?

Thanks in advance for your time and effort.

2

If you use a 6V solar panel, it may end up over the tolerable input voltage of the 134N3P, use a diode in series so it doesn't.

Using the dynamo, you need to rectify, which you do, but you might want to consider another option to the 7805 as it just dissipated excess voltage into heat. There are tons of other options out there.

3

So I already do have a diode there to make sure there is no current flowing from the dynamo into the solar panel and vice-versa. Additionally, there is a 7805 to limit the voltage.

My only concern was whether the 134N3P would actually accept the input from a solar panel or dynamo because it doesn't have the typical 1A output that you would get from a USB plug.

Additionally, I read somewhere that a solar panel doesn't act like a voltage source but rather a variable current supplier. I wasn't really sure what it meant so I wanted to clarify it through the post.

And I have looked into some buck converter to step down the voltage to 5 volts. The one I have worked with is the LM2596 or XL6009. However, I am trying to keep the cost down.