Hello people of the SparkFun Team and the Community,
I am trying to get my three 5V @250mA (1.25W) solar panels to use true MPPT and high efficiency synchronous rectification to charge my 2.7V-300F capacitors in parallel. https://www.arrow.com/en/products/xv3550-2r7307-r/eaton
I did a lot of research online but couldn’t find a proper module or solution for this type of application. Then I came across the sparkfun sunny buddy and the sparkfun lipower boost module. These two modules seems very promising or closer to achieve my end goal.
But unfortunately the sunny buddy is designed for lipo batteries only, and although it uses MPPT, it has a charging voltage standard of lipo batteries. Which will surely not work with my 2.7V supercaps in parallel. On the other hand, the lipower boost module seems very promising, considering the 0.3V to 5V conversion possibility which will allow me to use 87% of the 300F capacity of the supercap, in theory.
Now, my question: Is it possible to somehow mod the sunny buddy with some different value resistors for feedback and get a stable 2.7VDC controlled charging output @3A or 5A rating? Total of 10W solar power input and MPPT power output? (without considering the efficiency factor). Please let me know if a mod like this is possible.
If this can be achievable then I can simply use the lipower boost in conjunction with the modded sunny buddy to get a stable 5V output for running a raspberry pi or something which runs on 5V power.
Another way this can be possible if sparkfun team makes their own compact module in conjunction to the sunny buddy and lipower boost specially designed for 2.7VDC supercaps. And probably bump up the nominal solar input wattage to 10W with MPPT output wattage of 10W alongside a 5V@3A continuous power boost circuitry as the output. And maybe a 5V boost IC which can take as low as 0.1V input from the supercap and still deliver stable 5V output.
There is a lot of potential to this super capacitor approach and I think a lot of people would be very interested in a product like this. So, I would request sparkfun to consider this product idea and make a super compact module for solar and supercapacitors with boosted output. Huge amount of charge and discharge cycles of the supercaps can power 24/7 IoT devices for many years to come.
I tried to figure out the schematic of the sunny buddy and the datasheet of LT3652, but due to my inadequate knowledge in electronics, I wasn’t able to figure out all the pin functions of the LT3652 and whether or not it will support higher currents. Need some help understanding the whole schematic and working principle of the sunny buddy and some suggestions how it can be moded.
Thank You.