PV Gap

Steve Said:

science project help!!!?

We Answered:

Go to radio shack and get an LED light. You cant use an incandescent bulb with such small solar cells. When you go to radio shack ask the dude for an LED and a solar cell. You should be able to light the LED with just 1 little solar cell, which is a little bigger than the type on a calculator.

Gail Said:

is there a way to recharge a rechargeable battery with a ......?

We Answered:

If you hook up your solar panel in parallel with the battery, the battery will charge when the solar panel's voltage is greater than your battery.

If a cloud comes by and your solar panel's voltage drops, your battery will see the panel as a load and try and "charge" the panel.

Put a diode in there to only allow current to flow into the battery. The diode will want 0.7 V, so your solar panel must be larger than your battery + 0.7V.

One problem is you may need a lot of solar panels (in parallel) because the battery may be seen as a large load.

Your concept is reasonable because "charging a battery" just means you are pushing energy into the battery.

Whole houses are ran off of solar cells. If you charge a battery in your solar house, aren't you charging the battery via solar panels?

The gotcha is you may need more solar panels than you would expect.