Whadda WSEDU02 User manual

EN SOLAR ENERGY EXPERIMENT KIT
WSEDU02
AGE 12+
ASSEMBLY MANUAL
whadda.com

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10 exciting solar projects which you can actually use.
PROJECTS FEATURED IN THIS BOX:
Solar-Powered LED ......................................................................... As long as the sun shines, the LED will light (pag.8)
Flashing Solar LED ......................................................................................... Solar-powered attention grabber (pag.10)
Solar-Powered Cricket.............................................................. As long as the sun shines, the cricket will chirp (pag.12)
Simple Solar Battery Charger...................................................... Free energy to keep your batteries in shape (pag.14)
Solar Battery Charger with ‘Charge’ Indicator.................. An LED turns on when the batteries are charging (pag.16)
Solar Musical Instrument.................................................................. ............................More light = higher note (pag.18)
IR Remote Control Tester.......................................................................................... ‘Listen’ to your IR remote (pag.20)
Solar Garden Light............................... .................. LED turns on at dusk and turns off at dawn, fully automatic (pag.22)
Solar Motion Detector / Beam Break Detector .................................Announce wanted or unwanted guests (pag.24)
Solar-Powered ‘Alarm Armed’ LED..................................... Charges during the day, scares burglars at night (pag.26)
Attention: All projects require direct sunlight or a strong incandescent lightbulb (min 60W). Fluorescent, energy
saving, led and certain halogen lightsources are not suited or will not give satisfactory results.

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PARTS SUPPLIED WITH THIS KIT:
4V / 30mA solar cell
This device will convert sunlight into electricity,
which we will use in all projects. More light means
more electricity. Point the black surface towards the
sun.
Will hold all your experiments. The white lines
show how the holes are electrically connected
with eachother (Velleman part# SDAD102)
(Velleman part# YH-39X35)
Breadboard

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The yellow & red LED provide a lot of light and require a very low
current to operate. Watch the polarity ! (Velleman part# L-5YAC & L-7104LID)
Various resistor values are supplied. They serve as
current limiters or as voltage dividers. Resistors do
not have a polarity. Resistors values are indicated by
means of coloured rings. The unit of resistance is
called ’Ohm’.
Flat side
Shortest leg = (-)
Just a piece of bare wire to
connect two points in a circuit.
Wire jumperUltrabright yellow & red LED
Resistors

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Diode Diodes allow the current to flow in only one direction, from
(+) to (–). Current flow in the opposite direction is blocked.
(Velleman part# BAT85)
Battery holder
Holder for two AAA rechargeable batteries. Mind the polarity
(Velleman part# BH421A)
A special case: Zener diodes
Zener diodes allow the current to flow
from (+) to (-), as regular diodes do.
If you invert the polarity, they drop a
certain voltage, which can be found
on the body of the zener diode, e.g.
2V4= 2.4V
(Velleman part# ZA2V4)

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Piezo speaker
A piezo speaker converts an electric
signal into sound. Polarity is not
Microcontroller (µC)
A programmable device which can perform various tasks.
We have pre-programmed it so that it will play musical notes or it
will generate the sound of a cricket. This device is has a polarity.
Watch the position of the notch. (Velleman part# VKEDU02)
Transistors
E B C
C B E
A transistor is an amplification device. By means of a small current,
a much larger current is controlled. Transistors come in two
flavours, NPN and PNP-types, depending on the polarity. With this
kit, you receive a BC557 (PNP) transistor. A transistor has 3 pins:
Base, Emitter and Collector. (Velleman part# BC557B)
Rouge
Noir

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PROJECT 1: SOLAR POWERED LED
As long as the sun shines, the led will light...

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Required parts: Solar cell, 100 ohm resistor (brown black brown gold), yellow led
How it works: A closed circuit is
required to make the current flow.
Current flows from the (+) of the
solar cell trough resistor to the (+)
of the led and via the (-) of the led
back to the solar cell. On a sunny
day, the solar cell will generate 3..4
volts. The led only requires 2 volts
to operate. Resistor R1 converts
the excess voltage into (a little)
heat, hereby protecting the led from
damage.
Time to experiment:
What happens when you swap (+) and (-) of the led?
What happens when you replace the 100 ohm resistor with
a 47000 ohm resistor (yellow purple orange gold) ?

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PROJECT 2: SOLAR FLASHING LED
Solar powered attention grabber
µC
Jumper wire

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Required parts: Solar cell, 100 ohm resistor (brown black brown gold), yellow led,
microcontroller (µC), wire jumper.
How it works: The controller
requires 2-5V to operate. This
voltage is supplied by the solar
panel. The microcontroller is
pre-programmed with software
that turns the output on and off
in a loop. The signal is output
via pin 4. When the output is
on, current flows via the led and
the resistor, hereby causing the
led to light.
µC
SOLAR CELL
VDD
2
VSS
7
GP 3 /M CL R/ VPP 8
GP 2 /T 0C LKI/FO SC4
3
GP 1 /IC SPC LK
4
GP 0 /IC SPDAT
5
IC1
PIC 10 F20 0-I/ PG
LD1
R1
10 0

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PROJECT 3: SOLAR POWERED CRICKET
As long as the sun shines, the circket will
µC
Jumper wire
Jumper wire

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Required parts: Solar cell, microcontroller (µC), piezo sounder, wire jumpers
How it works: The controller
requires 2-5V to operate. This
voltage is supplied by the solar
panel. The microcontroller is
pre-programmed with software
that generates a realistic cricket
chirp. The chirp signal is output
via pin 4. The electrical signal is
converted to sound via the
piezo speaker.
µC
SOLAR CELL
VDD
2
VSS
7
GP 3 /M CL R/VPP 8
GP 2 /T 0CLKI/FO SC4
3
GP 1 /IC SPCLK
4
GP 0 /IC SPDAT
5
IC1
PIC 10 F20 0-I/ PG
+
BUZ1
PIEZO
Hint: Use this circuit as a
wake-up-at-dawn alarm.
It will wake you at
sunrise...

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PROJECT 4: SIMPLE SOLAR BATTERY CHARGER
Free energy to keep your batteries in
*Not included
Insert two AAA 1.2V
rechargeable batteries*

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Required parts: Solar cell, BAT85 diode, battery holder for two AAA batteries, two AAA
1.2V rechargeable batteries.
How it works: As long as the
solar cell is exposed to light, a
current will flow from the solar cell
via the diode trough the batteries
and back to the solar cell. The
charge current depends on the
amount of light that reaches the
solar cell. Max. current with the
supplied cell is 30mA.
A diode prevents discharge of the
batteries trough the solar cell
(e.g. at nighttime), as it only
allows the current to pass in one
direction.
SOLAR CELL
BAT8 5
How long does it take to fully charge the batteries?
Check the capacity of your batteries. You can find this
info printed on the battery. Usually, it is expressed in
mAh, e.g. 300mAh. Multiply by 1.2 = 360mAh.
Divide by 30mA = 12 hours
Twelve hours of bright sunlight are required to fully
charge the batteries (rule of thumb).

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A led turns on when the batteries are charging...
Insert two AAA 1.2V
rechargeable batteries*
PROJECT 5: SOLAR BATTERY CHARGER WITH ‘CHARGE’-INDICATOR
*Not included

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Required parts: Solar cell, BC557 transistor, 4K7 resistor (yellow, purple, red, gold),
yellow led, battery holder for two AAA batteries,
How it works: When the sun shines, a current
flows from the (+) of the solar cell via the
Emitter/Base of the transistor trough the
batteries and back to the solar cell. This is the
Base current, indicated with the dotted line. In
our example, the Base current will also charge
our batteries. The fact that there is a current
flowing between Emitter and Base causes the
transistor to turn on and fully conduct, as if it
were a switch. Hence, a current can flow from
the solar cell via the transistor Emitter/Collector
and resistor to the led and back to the solar cell.
This current causes the led to light (solid line).
SOLAR CELL
BC55 7
4K7
or an ge led
For advanced users:
The led turns off when the batteries are removed. Why ?
In the simple battery charge circuit, there was a diode to prevent
discharging of the batteries in low light condition. In this circuit, it has
been omitted. Why ?

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PROJECT 6: SOLAR MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
More light = higher note
PIC
µC
470
4K7
4K7
Jumper wire
Wire

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Required parts: Solar cell, microcontroller (µC), 2x 4K7 resistor (yellow, purple, red,
gold), 470 ohm resistor (yellow, purple, brown, gold), 2V4 zener diode, piezo sounder,
wire jumpers, wire.
How it works: The solar cell
provides the supply voltage for the
microcontroller. Once it receives
2VDC it starts running its internal
program. The zener diode and the
470 ohm resistor make sure the
supply voltage of the controller
never goes beyond 2.4V, even in
bright sunlight. A too high voltage
can damage the device. The
voltage generated by the solar cell is
also divided by two by means of two
equal resistors (4K7) and fed to the
analog input of the PIC. Even in
bright sunlight, the input receives no more than 4.5/2 = 2.25VDC.
The internal software ‘measures’ the voltage at the input and translates it to a variable audio frequency
(note). The piezo sounder converts the signal into sound. When the amount of light received by the solar
cell changes, the voltage at the input of the controller will also change. The sofware will notice this and
change the tone. With a bit of practice, you could play a tune by waving your hand or a flashlight over the
solar cell.
SOLAR CELL
ZD1
2V4
+
BUZ1
PIEZO
R1
4K7
R2
4K7
R3
47 0
VDD
2
VSS
7
GP 3 /M CL R/ VPP 8
GP 2 /T 0C LKI/FO SC4 3
GP 1 /IC SPC LK
4
GP 0 /IC SPDAT
5
IC 1
PIC 10 F22 0

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PROJECT 7: IR REMOTE CONTROL TESTER
‘Listen’ to your IR remote
PI
+/- 5cm