PV Gap

Dolores Said:

Im charging a AA rechargeable battery using a solar panel, After charging the battery drains very quickly why?

We Answered:

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.

Diana Said:

Can you operate low voltage landscape lights from a battery and solar panel?

We Answered:

What do you want these landscape lights to do? If you want impact by lighting the front of the house or trail lights when walking down a path? What's available now in solar doesn't give off much light so what you will have is little blueish light that doesn't give off much. So, if you need the light to focus on a particular place then I think solar would not be the best. Know what you want it to accomplish and take time to look at others lights. Your not going to get the same results from a battery or solar like you will get from the transformer.

Corey Said:

What kind of device does a solar panel battery use?

We Answered:

Just about anything that uses electricity. The question is what you mean by a "solar panel battery". Solar panels simply convert the photon (light) energy in to electric current and that current may well be used to charge a rechargeable battery. This is, in a simple case, the system those small out doors decorator lamps work on. The solar light charges the internal battery and keeps the internal lamp off till it gets dark enough for the light to turn on. It then runs on the stored energy in the battery till the sun comes up and turns the light back off and the solar panel again charges the battery.

Suzanne Said:

Can I charge a 12 volt battery using a 6 volt solar panel charger?

We Answered:

hi yes it will take some time. lets talk about electricity voltage is like the pressure from a hose. amperage is like the amount of water flowing from the hose. ohms are the total flow available. a rechargeable battery uses a chemical change to supply the electricity. the 6v will trickle in power to the 12v over a long time. this will build up sufficient power to drive the feeder for the short amount of time it is on.

Andrew Said:

How can you charge a car battery with solar panel?

We Answered:

That panel is too small to charge a car battery. You won't get more than half an amp out of it.