Solar Panels
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Posts: 46,084
This may be slightly off topic but I'm sure someone out there knows
the answer to this.
I want to power a 140 Watt Inverter with solar panels. I know almost
nothing about solar energy and was wondering what kind of panels to
buy and if there is any special things i must do to hook it up, like
add diodes? I would need 12V solar panel(s). Would I need to buy
one that is at least 140 Watts ot a few that add up to 140 Watts
Parallel. If you could suggest a goos source to buy the panel(s)
that would be great. Even if there is a good deal on ebay or
something that you know of. I only need this to power a few lights
and stuff when the sun is out. Thanks.
-Dan
the answer to this.
I want to power a 140 Watt Inverter with solar panels. I know almost
nothing about solar energy and was wondering what kind of panels to
buy and if there is any special things i must do to hook it up, like
add diodes? I would need 12V solar panel(s). Would I need to buy
one that is at least 140 Watts ot a few that add up to 140 Watts
Parallel. If you could suggest a goos source to buy the panel(s)
that would be great. Even if there is a good deal on ebay or
something that you know of. I only need this to power a few lights
and stuff when the sun is out. Thanks.
-Dan
Comments
gliebetronics@h... writes:
<< This may be slightly off topic but I'm sure someone out there knows
the answer to this.
I want to power a 140 Watt Inverter with solar panels. I know almost
nothing about solar energy and was wondering what kind of panels to
buy and if there is any special things i must do to hook it up, like
add diodes? I would need 12V solar panel(s). Would I need to buy
one that is at least 140 Watts ot a few that add up to 140 Watts
Parallel. If you could suggest a goos source to buy the panel(s)
that would be great. Even if there is a good deal on ebay or
something that you know of. I only need this to power a few lights
and stuff when the sun is out. Thanks.
-Dan
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Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2001 00:37:19 -0000
Reply-To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Solar Panels
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>>
i have done a couple of experiments with solar. nothing in the 140 watt
range but i have found a couple of things to be true. 1 the solar panels
work best when aimed directly at the sun, having some kind of solar tracker
works well. 2 solar panels are expensive, batteries or extension cords are
much cheaper, if they can be used. 3. clouds are a pain in the *censored*
some kind of secondary storage medium must be used. 4 make sure shadows from
trees and buildings and such dont fall on the panels.
One site i have seen for panels is Siliconsolar.com
hope this helps
jeff
>
> This may be slightly off topic but I'm sure someone out there knows
> the answer to this.
> I want to power a 140 Watt Inverter with solar panels. I know almost
> nothing about solar energy and was wondering what kind of panels to
> buy and if there is any special things i must do to hook it up, like
> add diodes? I would need 12V solar panel(s). Would I need to buy
> one that is at least 140 Watts ot a few that add up to 140 Watts
> Parallel. If you could suggest a goos source to buy the panel(s)
> that would be great. Even if there is a good deal on ebay or
> something that you know of. I only need this to power a few lights
> and stuff when the sun is out. Thanks.
>
> -Dan
Not enough information here.... If you are only going to power lights,
then what you need to keep in mind are the power requirements of your
lights, and how long you plan on them being in use. Base that on your
AH (Amp Hour) storage requirements.
For example... If I have five 25Watt lamps (125Watts or 1.14Amps
assuming
110V from the inverter), and I would like to use ALL of them for a
continuous 8 hours, then I would require a battery storage capacity of
9.09AH hours.(...or 10AH) assuming the inverter is 100% efficient. (more
likely 60%-80% so instead of 8 hours you get 4.8 hours in a worst case
scenario 6.4 hours at best.)
With that said, You need to consider the charging requirements of the
battery you select. Most lead acid batteries have a charging
requirement
of 1/10th the AH rating, and 125% of the battery voltage. For a 12V
battery this would be 15V. So in this example your solar cells would
need to provide 15V at 0.909Amps of supply current, and nearly 10 hours
of uninterrupted sunlight to bring the battery to full capacity.
There is a store/warehouse here in Atlanta,GA called RadioShack.COM
which
is a MOMMA to the radio shack retail stores. They have solar cells
there
already assembled which would do quite nicely in the $500 range that
measure about 3ft by 6ft in length designed for this sort of thing.
If I were you, I would find out as much as I can about Solar cells pros
and
cons, and then decide if it would be worth the investment.
Beau Schwabe
(Mask Designer)
Network Products Division
National Semiconductor Corporation
500 Pinnacle Court, Suite 525 Mail Stop GA1
Norcross, GA 30071
solar panels and a wing generator. At present my system is 12VDC nominal &
about be changed to 24 VDC (more effeciant when powering a 4000 watt
inverter) also try www.homepower.com it deals with strickly solar and wind
power. it has numerous adv. with prices, for example: 75 watt solar panel
for $390.00 US. Feel free to e-mail me direct at
c.oddball.martin@w... I've designed & installed quite a few
solar setup, it's my hobby as well as electronics. Thanks for the space,
carl
Original Message
From: <gliebetronics@h...>
To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 03, 2001 5:37 PM
Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] Solar Panels
> This may be slightly off topic but I'm sure someone out there knows
> the answer to this.
> I want to power a 140 Watt Inverter with solar panels. I know almost
> nothing about solar energy and was wondering what kind of panels to
> buy and if there is any special things i must do to hook it up, like
> add diodes? I would need 12V solar panel(s). Would I need to buy
> one that is at least 140 Watts ot a few that add up to 140 Watts
> Parallel. If you could suggest a goos source to buy the panel(s)
> that would be great. Even if there is a good deal on ebay or
> something that you know of. I only need this to power a few lights
> and stuff when the sun is out. Thanks.
>
> -Dan
>
>
>
>
This year I tried to figure out something a little different and I am purchasing 50 watt 12 volt light bulbs from walmart. They look like you standard household incandescent bulb but use 12 volts. I am figuring that the system has to be more efficient due to the fact that I am not running the inverter which does not have 100% efficiency. Without knowing what you are trying to do exactly that can be one of my suggestions is to go with 12 volt lamps. Be sure to get deep cycle or dual-purpose batteries, if you use regular car batteries you will have a useless acid container in 30-40 cycles of use. With this new system I have an 3 HP gas motor off of an old lawn mower that I bought a rebuilt alternator for $30 and when we are finished for the night I fill the tank and start it up. It runs and charges the batteries till it runs out of gas.
As far as solar panels go I have looked into this also and have found ebay does have decent deals, but anything larger then 20-30 watt panels cost a pretty penny. You can check at http://www.windsun.com·or as I said ebay. Diodes are needed and are built into some panels.
Hope I was of service, you can check out our page at www.stoneflyers.com , I am the webmaster for the site and will have some details·soon of my GPS··guided airplane project that I am working on among other things.
Matt Klarich
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