/diy/ - Do It Yourself

How do y'all like the idea of a half-can solar panel? With this and the sardine can I can tell I'll have a sleek futuristic bike on my hands!

Joking aside, I'm about to measure the open circuit voltage and short circuit current of the solar panel, plus currents and voltages with various load resistances (hence the Mtn Dew rheostat) to get a general idea of the kind of charging power I can be expecting. Since the panel just sits across the batteries with only a protection diode between, either this thing outputs little to no current over 4.2V, or it's power output to begin with is pitiful. If the last case is true then I'll drop it, but hopefully I can charge my battery when riding. Any idea of the kind of voltage/current curve I can expect?