I should have provided a more exhaustive list of things i'd tried, but on
the other hand, i'd forgotten half the things i'd tried.  Maybe i need to
keep notebooks on all my little hobby projects :)

I tried putting a diode in series, both between and after (+ side) the solar
panels.  No effect.  Tried a capacitor (about 50uF and also tried 0.1uF)
from - to + of both solar cells together and each individually.  No
effect... well, i got a more stable voltage reading, but nothing more.

After careful consideration, i've decided that an old wall-wart would be
just as fun of a power source.  Less mobile, but i can still use the memory
backup cap to keep time when unplugged.  It can keep time for a few days at
least off of that thing.  Using internal RC, sleeping, and a 32.768kHz
crystal on timer1 only draws a few uAs on the average

To everyone who threw out some thoughts, thanks for your time.  I'm not
giving up... just postponing.  I'll try it again another day when i think of
another solar project.

-Aaron

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pic microcontroller discussion list
> [mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Joris van den Heuvel
> Sent: Friday, February 08, 2002 8:20 AM
> To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject: Re: [EE]: Solar Pic voltage
>
>
> This may be a dead end, but here goes nothing ;)
>
> Have you considered putting a rather large-ish capacitor accros the solar
> panel's terminals to increase their peak current? To me it seems as if the
> step-up converter you're using demands peak current and the high output
> resistance of the solar cells prevent this.
>
>

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