Solar Power Cost Blog

Archive for the ‘used solar panel’ Category

Im charging a Rechargeable AA battery using a 2.4W Solar panel. The batteries are connected through a USB port. They are exposed to 6 hours of sunlight, They seem charged after, However the batteries do not retain the charge and get very quickly drained. my question is why is the battery getting drained after showing 87% of charge.

The battery is clearly not getting fully charged. You need a charge controller with your solar panel to properly control the flow of electricity. And the solar panel must put out more voltage than the fully charged battery does or else it will never fully charge the battery even with the charge controller. So you need to know more than just how many watts the solar panel can make, you need to know it’s voltage. And keep in mind that the 2.4W rating is no doubt the maximum you can get under ideal conditions. If you don’t keep moving the panel to point exactly at the Sun all the time you will loose some power. This requires turning the panel slowly all day to follow the Sun. Just setting out in the sun and walking away for 6 hours will result is less than 2.4W most of the time.

I have this idea to install a solar panel on the roof of my 48 volt golf cart to extend the run time/distance. My plan is to mount the panel in rubber grommets to reduce shock/vibration to the panel. I would charge the batteries with a normal charger when they get run down. I wonder if there is any reason why this would not be a good idea. My thinking is if things get really tough and I can’t afford to buy gas for my vehicles, I would still have my golf cart for local transportation. Maybe even use the solar panel to keep the batteries charged instead of using electric off the grid. Any ideas???

It can be done and it’s an off the shelf item

http://www.batteriesinaflash.com/solar-panels-kits/golf-cart-solar-modules/15v-3-15a-universal-golf-cart-solar-module-panel-ez-go-24v-48v

Does the composition of the solar panel matter for its host star?
lol I didn’t mean extending a cable from Earth to a different star… but ok :}

The solar panels would lose some efficiency if the star had a different color than the Sun.

Hey Lee, there are literally thousands of people and places using solar energy. In the United States alone, over 100,000 homes and businesses produce and use some level of solar power for their electric loads, and the number increases each day.

Our home has been powered by the wind and sun for 11 years now. We are still connected to he electric grid, but our average electric bill is about $6 per month. Solar power is still very small, amounting to less than 1% of our global energy mix, but at the rate we are building and installing panels and solar farms, that number will be 10 times that amount in just one generation. If you want to see a plan for the largest solar farm in the world, go to google and type in, "North Africa Solar Project." The Germans are primarily behind this, a plan to build a huge solar thermal electric farm in the Sahara Desert to run all of Europe. There are other projects too. Chances are there are people near you that have some level of solar power now, and you just are not aware of it. I’ll list some other sources below for you. Take care Lee, Rudydoo

I want to know if i can use the white cable that comes with the ipod to connect it to a solar panel and charge my ipod

Well it is possible and I am sure people have done it before. Only problem that I can see with this is to prevent power surges to your ipod. Also if you do construct one of these make sure to MATCH UP THE VOLTAGES~
If you don’t there is a potential(no pun intended) to do some big damage to your ipod.
Try to look up some circuits used for solar panels to prevent these surges.

Here is someone who has done it before:

http://www.reuk.co.uk/Solar-iPod-Charger.htm

It is a really simple circuit that uses a 6 volt solar panel and a voltage regulator to get it down to 5 volts.
Google:
"diy ipod solar charger"
for more info.

Also to improve on your design, I would KEEP the original ipod cable AS IS and use a femal usb port in the circuit. That way you can use this solar charger for any usb device.

http://www.electronics123.net/amazon/pictures/cc088b.jpg

Why waste a perfectly good over priced IPOD cable?

Take Care !

Hello, I’ve bought a (18W solar panel kit ), I wonder if it can be used for a "metal stand fan" outdoor?

You would need to know how much power the fan uses, it may say on the label on the back how many volts and amps (multiply them together to get watts). Also, is the fan AC powered (plugs into the wall outlet) or DC powered (can be run off a 12V battery, like plugging into the cigarette outlet in your car)?

If it is AC powered, you would need to charge a battery and convert it to AC with an inverter.

I saw a cheap 12v portable solar panel on amazon and Im wondering if I can charge my laptop with it, the cell puts out 12v but my laptop uses 19v, can it still be used to charge my laptop (just more slowly) or will it not work at all?

12v will not charge a 19v laptop at all.

Also, the solar panel’s power output is likely to be low if it’s a cheap panel, and even less if it’s small. A panel that can keep up with a laptop would be on the order of 2 feet by 3 feet.

Oh and I have another Physics question.. how do you calculate the final temperature of the water after half an hour, if he gave you the mass, the energy absorbed by the solar water heater and the initial temperature? Like, what formula do you use?

Thank you

The long pipe is to get maximum surface area exposed to the hot air inside the solar panel.

It sounds like the problem given to you assumes that the water stays in the solar panel, and all the energy absobed by the panel goes into the water. In that case, you need to look up the concept of "specific heat", which for water, is 1 calorie per gram degree Celsius. For example, if you have 1 gram of water, and put in 5 calories of energy, the temperature goes up by 5 degrees C. Or if you had 50 grams of water, and put in 5 calories, the temperatrue goes up by 0.1 degree C. And so, forth, it’s linear.

If the water is flowing through the panel, then calculating the exit temperature is a calculus problem, the kind given in the first year of college engineering.

Me and my husband is planning to build a new home in Austin TX and we wanted to be 100 free from electric bill using the sun energy.

Project Plan: 2500 sqm floor plan
5 bedrooms

What type of PV or Solar Panel Cell we need?
How much do you think it will cost?
Do you know an architect or builder who provide custom plan
Do you know somebody from Austin is using Solar Panel
Do you know local manufacturer that we can contact with?

I came accross a new, proven and tested home made wind power system and solar power system which eliminates our electricity bills. It was written by a Renewable energy enthusiasts Michael Harvey the diy called Earth4energy. You can get your copy to save energy and help environment while eliminating your power bills. Get it from here:

http://How-To-Build-Cheap-Solar-Energy.info

The blinds are so high and the batteries need to be replaced just about every six months. I would love to just put some sort of small solar panel to power the battery pack now. It uses 4 AA batteries. If I could some how incorporate a charger in there, that would be great. Thank you.

It might be considerably more economical to simply run longer wires to put the battery pack in a more convenient location. Four batteries are about 6 volts. You would have to replace the batteries with NiCad or other rechargeable cells, which typically have a lower total voltage and then buy a 6 volt panel and wire it across the battery pack. One company that makes panels http://www.sunsei.com/ seems to have only 12 volt prepared panels (for car batteries) on a quick glance at their site. They talk about, in their store ads, about matching a panel to a battery pack so a regulator is not needed.