An Idiots Guide to the world of Solar Power and Solar Panels
Photovoltaic solar panels are generally used for either battery charging or powering low voltage electrical devices directly,there are 3 main types,Amorphous or thin film silicon,Polycrystalline and Monocrystalline,Monocrystalline is generally regarded as the best for year round use,all solar panels work well in sunny conditions but Monocrystalline panels usually work slightly better in cloudy conditions also,if you wish to use a solar panel for battery charging the panels voltage always needs to
be a few volts higher than the battery you wish to charge,such as for 6v battery
charging a 9v panel should be used,for 12v charging an 18v panel
should be used,for 24v battery charging a 36v panel works best,a blocking diode will also need to be used if you wish to keep the battery connected to the solar panel overnight, if the solar panel doesnt have one fitted these can be bought cheaply,a 1n4001 diode generally costs less than 50 pence !!!
If you wish to run a low voltage device directly from a solar panel this can be done in bright sunny conditions,you need to ensure that the solar panels current rating is higher than the current rating of the device you wish to run though so if for example you wanted to run a 12v fan with a current rating of 200ma at full speed it would be best to use a solar panel with a current rating of 250ma,18v solar panels used for 12v battery charging can also be used for powering some low voltage devices such as fans without any problems however some devices can be voltage sensitive,this especially applies to devices like some waterpumps and most leds,to run one of these from a solar panel you would either need to use a small regulator to reduce the voltage to 12v (the plans to make a simple one of these using a basic 7812 regulator ic are readily available throughout the internet )or of course you could place a 12v battery between the two which will help stop the voltage from going too high,this of course will then give the added attraction of being able to run the device whenever you want,even at night if you wish,regardless of whether its sunny or not as the solar panel will charge the battery during the day when it is sunny or bright weather.
Larger solar arrays can also be made by connecting solar panels together,if you want to increase the current you would connect them in parallel to the device or battery ie + to + and - to - .to increase the voltage you would need to connect them in series,ie + to - from panel to panel,the remaining + and - on either end of all
the panels you have connected together would then connect to the
device or battery,so for example by connecting 4 x 9v250ma (0.25a) panels
together in parallel you would have an output of 9v1000ma (1amp)
this could be used for charging a 6v battery up in a fairly short space of time , if
you connected the 4 panels in series you would have an output of
36v250ma (0.25a) which could be used to trickle charge a 24volt
battery,so the fundamental rules concerning connecting solar panels are in parallel = accumulation of the current of each panel,in series = accumulation of the voltage of
each panel,wired in parallel panels dont need to have the same
current but need to be the same voltage so if you added an
18v5watt panel and then decided to add an 18v3watt
panel in parallel the total power you would have would be
18v8watts or the current of both panels added together which
would be something like 300ma + 160ma = 460ma,solar panels are usually measured in wattage which is the sum of their voltage multiplied by their current so a 9v 250ma would be rated at around 2.25 watts ie 9 x 0.25a = 2.25watts, a massive range of differens sized solar panels and other alternative energy products can be found at www.firststopsolar.co.uk
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