Adafruit BQ25185 USB / DC / Solar Charger with 5V Boost Board (ADA6106)

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We're always on the look out for better ways to make projects portable: being able to charge your battery in the most convenient manner will let…

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No Reviews or comments, so I guess this is a new product ?
And that it will compete directly with the DFRobot Sunflower 5V board (DFR0559) ?

Feature Sunflower DFR0559 Adafruit BQ25185 ADA6106
Price $13.35 $17.45
Solar panel 5V solar panels only (of which there aren’t many choices) solar panels up to 17V (albeit without gaining advantage from higher voltage panels)
Connectors:
Battery JST PH 2-pin port or terminal block JST PH 2-pin port
USB micro-USB USB-C
regulated 5V power to load USB-A and/or switchable header pins terminal block
Solar panel terminal block solder to VIN header pad
monitor battery voltage undocumented header pin solder to VBat header pad

The Sunflower is a little cheaper, but the Adafruit board allows a wider range of solar panels. I’m not technical enough to interpret chip spec sheets properly, so there may be something else important I’m missing.

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Not quite brand new, @Donald23173 but definitely a newer item than the DFR0559, which has been around since 2018.

The main catch is going to that the Adafruit will stall if you try and draw anything over 200mA at start-up. That shouldn’t be a problem for most setups, but if you need a full current draw at launch it might not be the best choice.

I’m not sure the exact chip specs for the DFR0559 to know if it the Adafruit beats it there, but the comment about the BQ25185 in the product page isn’t that interesting. It really just means that it can handle MPPT control and thus actually work with solar panels.