Hello and welcome to my guide on how to make solar powered rc planes. This process will take some time and patience, but in the end, you will enjoy your results. So shall we begin?
Step 1
Buy any durable rc plane online and let it ship to you. At the same time, buy some small solar cells to cover the wings of the plane. Make sure that there is around 1 centimeter on the outside of the solar cells so the wing has some space.
Step 2
Purchase a volt meter to see how many volts the battery that comes with the plane is outputting so you can duplicate the power with the solar cells on the wings otherwise the plane will have insufficient power to life off the ground. Now is the harder part. You need to cut some of the plastic covering the two wires connecting the battery to the motor of the plane and touch the bare metal wire underneath the covering with the two sensors of the volt meter. Once you take the exact output of the battery, take out the battery completely by cutting the wires connecting the battery to the engine.
Step 3
Now you need to go to a radio shack or a store like it and buy some thin 20-100 volt wire with the protective casing around it. In the same store, there is usually a place where you can buy a soldering gun. Buy some solder along with it.
Step 4
Now you need to buy a few solar cells that when you combine their total energy output, equal the amount of the battery. There is a trick when you buy your solar cells. If you want to GREATLY improve your chances of making your solar plane fly, you should try to buy cells that have a slightly greater output than the battery. You should do this because the cells actually weigh something and that can make the plane be too heavy to fly. Once you finally find the perfect cells, put a sheet of aluminum foil underneath the cells, so the energy can flow through the aluminum and cut your wire in half and place one wire on one side of the foil and the other wire on the other side. This establishes your positive and negative so you can power your battery.
Step 5
Here's the fun part. Drill one hole on each side of the plane, just thick enough so your wires can fit through the holes. Now solder your wires to the engine's wires and turn your plane on.
Step 6
Yay, your plane is finished. Now all you have to do is glue the cells to the wings of the plane. You can use gorilla glue, as hot glue can suin the solar cells. Now when your plane is taken outside, when you tunr your plane on, it might not work right away. You should wait a minute with the plane sitting in the sun so the cells can start generating electricity. When a couple minutes pass, turn your plane on and the propeller shouold start spinnign when you turn up the throttle!! Now with you rc plane flying skills, have fun with your new green solar rc plane!! Good flying!
