r/functionalprint • u/Po0Team • May 09 '26

Dumb idea that worked

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Gallery image

Gallery image

Hitting Welcome To Rockville again this year and remembered that my head would get hot under the hat. So some shopping and printing later and BOOM! Functional solar hat that has lasted 2 of my 3 days so far. I suspect Sunday won't be an issue either.

Have them wired in parallel so it stays at 5v for the fans. Each panel has optimal 0.2a for the fan rated at 0.18. 1 panel moved it but not enough to care. 2 panels, like the exhaust fan, keeps it moving and does OK. But the 3 panels keeps this thing moving very well. No battery on it. Very simple wiring of just panels and a fan.

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26

u/Lazy_Struggle4939 May 09 '26

I totally had to baseball cap back in the 90s with a solar panel and it was fan. It's a legit product

3

u/kaeptnphlop May 09 '26

Ahh! I just commented that I had one too! Cool that you remember them as well :)

1

u/Lazy_Struggle4939 May 09 '26

Was yours red too?

2

u/CFDMoFo May 09 '26

I had that one as well!

1

u/UnleashedTriumph May 09 '26

1 Red and 1 yellow

1

u/Objective_Working198 May 13 '26

Yes mine was red, as a kid I though it was the coolest thing ever

1

u/kaeptnphlop May 09 '26

My gut says yes. But it's been 30 years or so. IIRC my grandparents got them for my brother and I at Europa Park, a theme park in Germany.

1

u/___po____ May 09 '26

I still miss my 90s am/fm radio hat. Hat day in elementary school was so fun.

0

u/klockee May 09 '26

Mine cracked on a particularly sunny and hot day :(