How Can A Solar Panel Work For Me?
Sep 03, 2009 in
diy
I really want to have my own solar panel, but i don’t know how. Most of the panels i have looked at are for car batteries but i’m not sure how this would be able to be transfered into electricity. I’m looking to power things like lamps, a stereo and various chargers for phones and ipods. Please clarify to me how i could adapt a solar panel to my uses. Thank you.
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2 comments
roderick on September 3, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Yes, it can. Now what do you expect out of it? It can reduce your electric bill by some amount. That amount depends on how many solar panels you install and how sunny your days are. You have to pretty much cover a roof to get a substantial electric reduction. There are 2 companies where I live that have installed solar panels and covered most of their roofs with them. They’ve reduced their electric bill by about 30%. It’s expensive to do this. Don’t expect a quick pay back. In fact you may save more by using solar heating panels for hot water than by using solar electric panels. I reckon it’s cheaper as well.
Scott S on September 3, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Sounds like you would just like to have some fun with solar panels, nothing serious.
For charging phones or iPods, try looking at http://www.solio.com , or google “solar iPod charger” for example. It’s not worth converting the solar energy to 120 volts in order to plug in your normal wall adapters, unless you start to spend more money.
A stereo could easily be powered by a solar panel, that is, something like a boombox that already uses a 12V adapter. You would need to find the right power plug from Radio Shack, and wire a 12V panel in, yourself. If you’re not clever with electronics, you’ll need the help of a friend who is.
If you want to power a lamp, you could just get something like fromhttp://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/inde…
I’ve seen the particular device listed there. While the lamp is mediocre for an LED light source, the panel is brilliant – real polysilicon wafers, in an aluminum frame. Same construction as the kind of panels in commercial installations.