PV Gap

Charlene Said:

What would be the right voltage to charge an ipod touch?

We Answered:

500mA is the current that will be flowing into your iPod at 5 volts since that is standard for USB.
The voltage rating for the iPod is 5-30Vdc because the output voltage of Firewire chargers can vary. However, I don't know what the maximum current output is since that is not specified in the device.

The Apple Power Adapter wall charger gives off 12 volts at 1A.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2537?viewl…

Charging it at a higher voltage might also allow more current flowing into your battery. The problem is that doing so will also increase the temperature of the circuits in the iPod, which could literally burn the microcontrollers in the device.

There are a few iPod solar chargers out in the market if you want one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as…

If you build your own solar charger, make sure that your max current output isn't too high. You can build a current regulator for that.

Btw, voltage and current(amperage) are two different things. To make it easier to understand we could use an analogy with water. Voltage is like the pressure of the water in a pipe. Current is the amount of water actually going through the pipe.

For example, a static shock can have a voltage drop between 1,000 to 10,000V. However, since there isn't enough current, it doesn't kill you. On the other hand, a current flow of only 0.1mA is enough to kill a person if it passes through some critical parts of the human body.