PV Gap

Ross Said:

860 watts is what im putting out of my home made solar sytem?

We Answered:

You should average about 5 kilowatt/hours on a sunny day. One day's charge will run a 100 watt light for 50 hours! (minus the loss due to conversion efficiency). Your batteries (if they are in good condition) should store about 25-30 amp/hours each (an amp/hour is about the same as running a 100 watt light for an hour). So with two batteries (50 amp/hours), you could have a great party (1,500 watts, if you've got a big enough converter, for three hours in the dog house. Every night!

Kenneth Said:

does anyone make indoor solar lights like the outdoor kind?

We Answered:

There are a bunch of engineers who have establshed startup companies in the solar powered gizmos niche market.
I found this in the net . They are mostly garden lights (for charging during the day, but they can be moved around for light at night. CHeck out the various shapes. Maybe create something on your own and join this budding industry!
I checked out a local solar roofing company and it seems you can store the energy and reroute it for your own use.
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- Very easy to set up!
- Pre-Installed Rechargeable AA, 1.2V/500mA Ni-Cad Batteries

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I have not searched for functional shapes within this site. You can probably explore it further.

Ian Said:

How do i create a mini home with lights and switches?

We Answered:

You can buy that stuff, if the scale of your house is similar to a doll house. For example, see:
http://store.dollhousecollectables.com/e…
Otherwise you can do all by yourself, but because of the miniature nature, you might be better off to go to a Hobby Store and get bulbs, thin wires, and transformer which are actually meant for model trains, and wire it all up yourself.
Whatever you do, work with low voltage (maximum 12 volt) only!

At this scale, the only "renewable source" that makes sense is photovoltaic. You can put a photo cell "on top of the roof", for example. The kind of cell you need is determined by the lamp bulbs you use. You need to know the voltage you need, and the wattage of all lights accumulated. It would be best to use LEDs, because LEDs use much less electrical power (about 0.06 Watt @ 3 Volt) than mini bulbs (0.20 Watt @ 12 Volt).