Charging lithium batteries with solar
I've got lithium camera batteries and a lithium jump starter battery pack. All charge via 12v auto circuits, i.e. they have their own chargers, they aren't bare batteries. They all work up to at least...
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I KNOW I can run these off existing 12v batteries, and I appreciate efforts to help, but the question, as yet unanswered, is specifically about using solar directly with existing lithium chargers to lithium batteries. So: panel>controller>charger, or panel>buck converter>charger?
Since I asked, I've discovered very very few controllers will do this, since almost all small ones are battery chargers. Although there are tons that have circuitry to do USB power, 1 or 2.1A at 5v. I assume that those are basically voltage converters with appropriate limits on USB power to the standard specs of USB 1.1 and 2 (haven't seen 3.1 yet, which is higher amperage I believe, and could be useful for us). So I am know thinking I'll just use the buck converter like this one, which seems to provide the same utility, but at a different voltage: http://www.amazon.com/Switching-Regulator-Converter-Adjustable-Stabilizers/dp/B00BYTEHQO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1430085381&sr=8-2&keywords=12v+buck+converter
Since I asked, I've discovered very very few controllers will do this, since almost all small ones are battery chargers. Although there are tons that have circuitry to do USB power, 1 or 2.1A at 5v. I assume that those are basically voltage converters with appropriate limits on USB power to the standard specs of USB 1.1 and 2 (haven't seen 3.1 yet, which is higher amperage I believe, and could be useful for us). So I am know thinking I'll just use the buck converter like this one, which seems to provide the same utility, but at a different voltage: http://www.amazon.com/Switching-Regulator-Converter-Adjustable-Stabilizers/dp/B00BYTEHQO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1430085381&sr=8-2&keywords=12v+buck+converter
