Ideas as to what to do with a panel?

ILFE
ILFE Solar Expert Posts: 364 ✭✭
in General Solar Power Topics #1
So, I have this "freebie" solar panel that the guy included when I purchased a solar controller from him.

It's 12 volts, 6 watts.

So, does anyone have an idea or suggestion as to what I could possibly do with a smallish panel? After all, no sense in lettin' it go to waste by sitting on a shelf somewhere, when it could be layin' back, and soakin' up some sun. 8)

NOTE: It wouldn't hurt me to enroll in some photography courses.
Paul
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Comments

  • Shockah
    Shockah Registered Users Posts: 13 ✭
    #2
    Re: Ideas as to what to do with a panel?

    What is the Voc?
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    #3
    Re: Ideas as to what to do with a panel?

    Appears to be a "true" 12 volt panel (i.e., Vmp~18 volts and Voc~21-22 volts or so). (from counting cells--36 in total).

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • ILFE
    ILFE Solar Expert Posts: 364 ✭✭
    #4
    Re: Ideas as to what to do with a panel?

    Yep. As Bill stated, it's 22v.
    Paul
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  • Eric L
    Eric L Solar Expert Posts: 262 ✭✭
    #5
    Re: Ideas as to what to do with a panel?

    Wire it directly to some 12 volt case fans (e.g. these) and use the fans to keep the rest of your equipment cool.
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  • ILFE
    ILFE Solar Expert Posts: 364 ✭✭
    #6
    Re: Ideas as to what to do with a panel?

    Thanks for the suggestion, Eric.

    I connected it to a spare (MorningStar) PWM controller I have here at the house. 14vdc @ 1 amp into the battery. Not a bad little panel.
    Paul
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  • PNjunction
    PNjunction Solar Expert Posts: 762 ✭✭✭
    #7
    Re: Ideas as to what to do with a panel?

    Another option would be to attach a female cigarette lighter adapter to the panel, and use a 5V mobile USB adapter rated at 1 to 1.5A (12-24v input) to recharge a cellphone or external lithium cellphone battery pack. We covered this a little bit in another thread and the possible need for a "charge only" cable to obtain the higher current.

    With 6 watts available, you should be able to obtain 5V at 500 - 750ma or possibly more if the panel is really efficient. Being a glass panel it wouldn't be much fun to shlep around in the field. Hmm... 6W / 5V = 1.2A best case, so yeah, this might work.

    You could breadboard the whole thing with metering (or multimeter test points) to explain the basics of a solar source, regulation, and storage to anyone who wants to know, and show an immediate application for it.

    Three types of people will be revealed:
    * Engineer types that want to know how to work the multimeter.
    * MBA types that want to do a 10-year cost analysis on it.
    * Consumers that just want to buy it from you. :)
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  • Ken Marsh
    Ken Marsh Solar Expert Posts: 114 ✭✭✭✭
    #8
    Re: Ideas as to what to do with a panel?

    Put the spare panel up on the roof and wire it down to where your batteries are.
    When you get a battery that is running less voltage than the rest in its string,
    clip the spare panel to that battery for a week or so.
    If your spare panel is floating you can go ahead and use the battery bank as usual.
    Hopefully this will bring low battery or battery cell up to voltage without excessive equalization.
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