PV Gap

Neil Said:

What does it mean when a solar panel is 100w?

We Answered:

more than likely your solar panel puts out around 24 volt dc at maxamuim sunlight so (voltsxamps=watts) therefore you roughly have 4 amps coming from that panel a marine battery charges off a 4amp trickle in roughly 8-12 hours depending on how run down it is. Then what you have to do next is invert the power to AC so that it will be usable by your appliances. so your going to need close to 1000 watt invertor which drains the battery really fast. I dont know everything about this stuff yet Im no engineer but I have been researching alternative power and I have access to every tool out there in order to build things. I have been trying to balance everything out such as instead of regular light bulbs which draw and use a lot of power I have found a LED dealer wher I can get LEDS for about 15 cents apeice. 35 are the equivalent (in lumens) to a 70watt light bulb I will build lamps and light paths to make power consumption less on the other end of getting more power I will also use a generator modified to run on an altenative fuel (ethenol) which I can brew at my house. The trick to it all is to change and modify some applinces to use less power and find alternative sources to make power on cloudy or non windy days(for windmill) The next large problem is where to store all this power I have been getting car batteries for as little as $5 a peice from a mechanic freind (marine batteries are better) Yet there must be a better way to store all this power. Anyway all in all unless you are super out of the ordinary resourcefull in the long run it does not cost less to use solar panels unless of course they are free or you get free materials and make your own (very possible)

http://science.howstuffworks.com/questio…

http://www.fuellesspower.com/solar_cell2…

http://www.afrotechmods.com/reallycheap/…

Mae Said:

Could billions of little micro solar power plants feed the whole world via our phone lines?

We Answered:

No, because phone lines can't handle the kind of current you need to do something meaningful. Besides, if you want to do distributed power, why not have everyone be largely self sufficient and then just dump excess capacity onto the grid or pull off capacity during peak loads (it's a rhetorical question).

You have a creative idea, but sorry it won't fly.

Kelly Said:

Battery powered by Outlet AND Solar Panels?

We Answered:

You definitely need a mediating unit. They are called inverters, specifically an inverter for solar panels.

A good solar inverter will do all that you describe, exactly how you think it should.

If you are wanting one for only 100W, unfortunately these are not manufactured. Good inverters that do all you describe are manufactured with a minimum power of about 1000W (and higher). These will handle 100W, but you will still have to pay a higher price for a larger inverter.

This is just one example of a solar inverter:
http://www.solarelectricsupply.com/Inver…

Plain inverters rated for as little as 50W are very cheap, but they only invert 12V to 120VAC and will not automatically charge batteries or automatically switch power sources.

This is one example of a low power plain inverter:
http://www.theinverterstore.com/the-inve…

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Dennis Said:

i need to power my dc motor with solar panel can u help please?

We Answered:

That sounds like a small motor used in various toys, and is probably designed to run off a number of batteries. 3 volts would be a good guess for the intended voltage, or it could be 6.

I think the solar cell you have in mind might be 3 volts, 100 mA. (100-watt panels generally don't come in such a low voltage). If you can find someone with a digital voltmeter, the best thing would be to measure the actual current being drawn by the motor when connected to two 1.5-volt batteries. Then the solar panel should provide at least that much - more is ok.

P. Rathore said:

I need a cicuit idea involved in SOALR PANEL can produce upto 100W power.