PV Gap

Julie Said:

Is it possible to use a Solar Panel to power a lightbulb to power a Solar Panel?

We Answered:

Unfortunately the efficiency of conversion of energy from one form to another is always less than one. So the out put is always less than the input. After one or two conversion nothing will be left as out put.
The perpetual machine of the second kind do not exist. Many scientists spent time on this before this conclusion.
Imagine a light bulb. If we can convert the heat and other emission back to electricity and feed the bulb, the bulb should continue to glow with out taking any power from the line !!!!
Hope you understood.Thanks for the question

Willie Said:

How much does it cost to get a solar power panel?

We Answered:

depends quatity, type, malfurure, size, are you handy or not i saw are www.fuelless.com you can make a couple KW for $100. ebay has solar
cells you can assemble for $40 so sorry if this is not what you are looking for.

Ida Said:

What kind of Solar Power panel setup do I need for this?

We Answered:

Unfortunately solar panels are low output,generally only 12 volt and very low amperage,so you would need to build a multi panel array with a DC-AC converter all together costing several hundred dollars which would only work during sunlight.Just roughly figuring,about $1800.
Plan2-Solar charger,battery bank,and DC-AC inverter so it would work 24hrs a day,also several hundred $$.
Solar power does just not seem feasible(to me)in this application.By far the cheapest set up here would be an extension cord from"house" to the bucket.260 watts per hr is a fairly lightweight draw,even not figuring the thermostat's
cycling it on and off as needed.Electricity is sold in kilowatt hours(1000W/1hr).This bucket would use(not allowing for thermostats control lowering it)appx 6000watts or 6KW per day.Depending on your electrical cost per Kwh it would cost very little to run.(In my location appx 50cents a day) or appx the same amount as my computer(325watts total))
Note that that would be a maximum rate,and would actually be less due to thermostat cycling off and on as needed.

Jeff Said:

how fast does a 125watt solar panel generate power to a battery?

We Answered:

To figure our how many you need, take a look at your power bill. It will tell you how many kilowatt/hours you used during the month. My bill says I use about 2000 kilowatt/hours per month, or about 2000 kwh /30 days=67 kw/h hours per day. That is 67,000 watt hours. To supply that with solar panels, you have to generate at least 67,000 watt hours, but you don't have a full day to do it, since you have to do it while the sun is up. So you put the energy into batteries during the day, so you can use it at night.

A 125 watt panel generates about 125 watts when fully illuminated by the sun. If you fully illuminate it for an hour, you get 125 watt hours. If you get 12 hours of sunlight a day, that would seem to imply that I need 67000 watt hours/125 watts /12 hours=45 panels.

But for most of the day, the sun isn't hitting the panel fully, so it isn't going to generate the full 125 watts. When the sun is 45 degrees to the side, you only get about 70%. When the sun is 60 deg to the side, you only get 50%. And what do you do on cloudy days? And the shorter days in the winter? To make up for this, you have to increase the number of panels to make up for the loss. So in reality, I might need double this number of panels, for realiable solar power throughout the year. That works out to about 90 panels, or 11,250 watts worth for my house.