Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#2
posted to rec.boats.cruising
|
|||
|
|||
Solar panels
Gary wrote in news:uVSyg.273940$IK3.20678
@pd7tw1no: Is anyone familiar with "self regulating solar panels"? I would like to hear from someone who has installed one without a regulator and how well it keeps the batteries up. Thanks, Gary As long as the AH created by the solar panels is LESS than the AH needed to keep the batteries charged up full, you don't need a regulator. Ours puts out 5 A in bright sunshine, hardly a battery buster to two banks of L16H beasts who simply digest it and feed it to the pumps and lights... (c; The solar panels aren't "self regulating", per se. Their open circuit voltage is around 18V in bright sunshine. Their internal resistance, which makes the cells get hot when charging the batteries, drops the difference between 18V and what voltage the batteries are producing at the time, like 13V. 5V X 5A = 25W across the whole panel. You'll notice old panels that have been powering stuff for a few years turn brown on the part of the silicon that's producing the power because of the heat. Around the edge, they're still blue like new where it doesn't produce power. Silicon melts at a very high temperature, but you can damage the cells by causing migration of the doping across them if they get too hot. If any cell isn't in the sunshine, like a shadow from the boom/mast/rigging, output drops like a rock as that cells voltage, around ..3V to .6V depending on the sun, is lost. The stupid idiots who run South Carolina DOT put up solar power panels along the interstate to power the radars and traffic cams. Of course, true to their idiotic thought, they put the panels on the NORTH SIDE of the pole the radar/cams are on so the panel has a shadow that moves across it all day. Dumb, very dumb. |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Solara solar panels still in business? | Electronics | |||
Increase Solar panel output or What the heck is an MPPT?? -Mic | Cruising | |||
The Solar Panel Simulator! | Cruising | |||
The Solar Panel Simulator! | Electronics | |||
Solar panels - what's the measurement of shade tolerance | Cruising |