PV Gap

Amanda Said:

how does a solar powered ceiling fan work?

We Answered:

What is the voltage of the panel? In any case, 15 watts is pretty small for this. The 7 amp charge controller is pretty powerful on the other hand.

Missing is the panel voltage, the battery voltage, and the current drawn by the fan. Also how many hours a day do you expect to operate the fan. Finally, where are you located and how many hours of direct sun can you expect per day.

I'd get a 12 volt battery, size depends on the above missing info. And a 15 volt panel, again size depends on the above info.

email me when you have the data.

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Terrence Said:

Can you work a solar powered car without sunlight?

We Answered:

By definition, solar means from the sun. If there is no sunlight, you are not using solar power.

What you want to know is if there is an artificial light that can you can shine on a photovoltaic panel to get out electricity. You probably can find such a source, but it must be intense to get out the same power that the sun would provide. Furthermore, the efficiency of a solar car vanishes if you have to use artificial light because you need something to generate the electricity to run the artificial light source.

Gertrude Said:

what is solar power?how does it work? Does it work when theres no sun?why are we not using it? i need help?

We Answered:

<3 <3 <3

Solar power is energy which comes from the sun. This energy is very powerful and hits the earth regardless of whether or not we take advantage of it. Even the tiny percentage of sunlight that touches the earth is plenty to meet the energy and power needs of the entire human population more than 8,500 times over.

The only concern is learning how to collect this energy efficiently. Today there are many different technologies which exist to achieve this goal. Due to concerns of the availability of traditional energy sources, many people today are interested in further developing renewable energy technologies, such as solar devices.

For this reason it is sensible to expect continual improvement of existing solar technology and the invention of new solar power devices over the next few decades.

What is solar power technology doing to harness the energy from the sun?

Solar power technology captures energy from the sun in a variety of ways.
Here are some examples:

•Solar cells- Also known as photoelectric or photovoltaic cells, these are the most common devices that turn sunlight into electricity. Solar cells are combined into modules of which solar panels are comprised.
•Solar water heaters- Basically, heat from the sun is used to heat water through glass panels which are installed on roofs, known as solar collectors. Solar collectors deal with heat from the sun (solar thermal energy) as opposed to light.
•Solar furnaces: Solar furnaces use many strategically placed reflective surfaces, like mirrors, in order to concentrate all of the sunlight into a single point. This small space of concentrated energy creates an extreme amount of heat which can be used for making electricity, melting steel, or creating hydrogen fuel.

What is solar power offering that makes it such an appealing energy source?

•Solar energy is a completely free and inexhaustible fuel source
•No fuel, waste, or pollution is expelled in its usage.
•In remote areas, or small villages, solar power can be the saving grace. Sometimes it is the only realistic way to provide energy to a place that is not capable of drawing energy from other sources.
•It can be used for low-power purposes as well as larger ones- from battery chargers, hand-held calculators, and solar powered garden lights to air conditioning, cars, and satellites.
•Sunlight is provided regardless of whether we use it or not. There is no need to process sunlight beyond the amount which a solar cell or solar collector is capable of doing (unlike fossil fuels or even other alternative energy sources, such as biomass.)


“Solar” is the Latin word for “sun” – and it’s a powerful source of energy. In fact, the sunlight that shines on the Earth in just one hour could meet world energy demand for an entire year!

We can use solar power in two different ways: as a heat source, and as an energy source.

People have used the sun as a heat source for thousands of years. Families in ancient Greece built their homes to get the most sunlight during the cold winter months.

In the 1830s, explorer John Herschel used a solar collector to cook food during an adventure in Africa. You can even try this at home!

Make your own solar oven

Today we can use solar collectors for heating water and air in our homes. If you’ve seen a house with big shiny panels on the roof, that family is using solar power.

View a photo of a home with solar panels

We can also use solar energy to make electricity. The process is called photovoltaics. If you have a solar-powered watch or calculator, you’re using photovoltaics!

In 1954, scientists at Bell Telephone discovered that silicon (an element found in sand) created an electric charge when it was exposed to lots of sunlight. Just a few years later, silicon chips were used to help power space satellites.

Today, more than 10,000 American families get all of their electricity from solar power. And silicon from just one ton of sand, used in photovoltaic cells, could produce as much electricity as burning 500,000 tons of coal.

You might be wondering why we don’t use solar electricity all the time. Solar power systems make a different kind of electricity than big power plants do, so different wiring is needed – and that can be expensive.

Ronald Said:

what is solar power and how does it work?

We Answered:

Solar energy can be used in many diferent ways:
1) useing solar pannel(photovoltaic cells) to obtain electrical power
2) useing mirrors to focus the sun energy on a tank of salt(this will melt the salt), then useing the melted salt(600 degrees Celsius) to heat water then produceing electrical energy

PS: Sorry for my english but I`m from Romania