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RE: Teardown/Explanation of a Solar-Powered USB Battery Pack
Do you know if there are any easy options to step up voltage from 5 to 12 VDC? I'm thinking portable solar charged telescope power supply application :)
You can definitely buy or make a cheap boost converter for that application. However, what may be easier is to build a device that uses two or three of similar solar panels in series to get up to around 12 volts and then just using a linear regulator to hold the voltage at 12 volts. What kind of adapter were you thinking of using for the thing that needs power? You could also use a motorcycle battery to store excess energy at 12 volts.
Most of the Power supplies have the standard "Cigarette Lighter" interface. As you say you could wire up 3 in series but it kind of gets too much effort at that point...better looking for something designed for 12 VDC.