Electronics Portable Solar panel system to run a small computer fan

[Herbascious J]

Hi all. Recently I purchased two portable USB solar panels, which are rated at 5 watts each. They both came with a 'battery bank' consisting of a single battery all running on 5 volts. I also purchased a 5 volt USB computer fan. My question is; can plug all these things in together so that the solar panels will simultaneously run the fan and charge the batteries so that when the sun goes down, the batteries can take over and run the fan?
I hope this is the correct section for this question. I'm new to this so I don't have much knowledge or insight. Thanks!

 

[gleem]

Maybe. You need to determine the number of amp-hours of the battery pack as well as the current draw of the fan.

 

[berkeman]

My question is; can plug all these things in together so that the solar panels will simultaneously run the fan and charge the batteries so that when the sun goes down, the batteries can take over and run the fan?

If each pack can run the fan by itself, it seems like your best option is to just run off of one pack unil the sun goes down and that pack's battery runs low, then switch to the 2nd pack's battery.

Alternately, you could build a small circuit to parallel the two packs as voltage sources, with a Schottky diode OR of the two output voltages. Are you familiar with how to make a Schottky diode OR circuit to combine two parallel voltage sources?

https://auvidea.eu/images/auvidea/products/CAN/pdb/Diode_T_366x264.png

 

[Herbascious J]

Hi and thanks for the replies. I'm not very versed in electronics, and all of the components i have at my disposal are simple usb plug and play parts. I'm probably going to simply charge one battery while the other runs the fan. Or perhaps run the fan off panels while the batteries charge, then switch at night. I will look into your suggestions and see what I can learn. Thank you!