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Looking for low forward voltage drop schottky diodes or other

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Axlegear

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Basically, I have four 5v panels, putting out 250mA each at peak. I need a schottky i'm told, or some other circuit for minimal loss.
 

I'm also told LDOs could be used. I'm unsure what would be best.

The panels read from 3.86v (low light) to 5.63v (peak) at up to 455mA (avg. 23 mA ins
 

Hi,

Maybe you need to let everyone in on what you're thinking, or define an actual question, the mindreaders are on holiday at this time of year :)

Is there a picture of the circuit you have in mind? What are the Schottky diodes for? Are they for protection diodes in parallel with each panel or for something else?

Schottkys have a voltage drop of roughly 200mV to 400mV. Can the circuit being powered by the panels (series or parallel panels?) function on ~3.5V?

Mouser, Farnell, RS-Online, etc., all sell them, besides bricks-and-mortar electronics suppliers.
 

Could you be a bit more specific about what you want to do? Do you want to combine the outputs of the four panels to charge a battery or something else? The !N5817 is an example of commonly available Schottky diodes. It's rated for 1A and should have a forward drop of 0.3 - 0.35V at 250mA.
 
No circuit diagram, just a tiny home project. The solar panels collect to a DC Buck Converter that works at 0.9V to 7V input and outputs 5V 2A max via USB. Likely due to the losses, though, it can barely charge a flip phone, and not my 1+1 phone. Which is fine, that's it's purpose, but i'm told that if I use a schottky diode on each panel, it will prevent the panels from leaking current and discharging the battery at night, as well as improve the overall performance in the event of a failed or obscured panel so it doesn't block or significantly reduce output from other panels.

I am also told that if I used an LDO of some sort that it would better normalize the power for the buck converter and greatly improve efficiency.
 

Awesome, thanks! Now to figure out how it works.
 

Well I bought some ideal diodes from mouser and they arrived. Or rather didn't.

they sent me an empty static bag...
 

"Ideal diode" is actually the name of a real component (a controller IC), e.g. made by Linear.

More generally speaking, an active circuit with respectively controlled MOSFET can achieve a very low voltage drop. For the reported specification, regular schottky diodes seem to suffice at first sight.
 
Well, I got a bag of schottky diodes here, I strongly believe they're rated 15V but no markings tell me anything else about them. I do know they're nigh impossible to get solder to stick to the legs. They're axial, and super thick bare wire.

- - - Updated - - -

Update:

Mouser has already shipped replacements. I hope they work! I got 5 even though I don't need them all because it will be a first soldering in something that small. Wish me luck!
 

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