solar power muhaha

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  • July 19, 2012 at 9:08 pm #20080
    maramor
    Participant

    OK so I am a total newb with a hankering to create :) 

    I got these solar cells .5v .5a built 2 rows of 9 for a total of 18 cells, does that mean it should baring all cells work equally as advertised 
    .5*21=9volts and 9amps
    9*9=81 watts

    What other things, do I need to know?

    I understand solar array works at smallest cell in reality, i am just trying to understand the way it works.  
    with this said what kind of batteries can it charge,  how many NiMa AA or AAA?

    thanks in advance!
    July 20, 2012 at 5:45 am #20793
    Ugi
    Participant

    I assume that by “rows” you mean that you have joined the cells in series. 

    Voltage adds as you place solar cells (or indeed batteries) in series so, with a row of 9 you generate 9 x 0.5 = 4.5v.  About right for charging 2-3 x 1.2v NMH batteries in series through a blocking diode.

    The current (amps) adds in parallel, so with on row you still only have 0.5A.  That’s actually more than you want for trickle-charging AAs which usually have a capacity of around 2-3000 mAh.  Unless you are going to be careful to take them off charge when they are fully charged, you don’t want more that 0.2-0.3 A.  So with one row of 9 cells you could charge 2 “rows” of 2 or 3 AA NiMH batteries.  So you could trickle-charge 4-6 AAs with your string of 9 solar cells.  They would take around 14 hours in full sun.

    Ugi

    July 20, 2012 at 11:36 pm #20794
    maramor
    Participant

    the solar cells are tabbed together 9×2 with bus bar on top and bottom.  i might have the bus bars wrong which is why i was asking the concept so i know what to expect. i know when i took it out side it did get volts but didn’t understand how it works LoL

    the solar cells are fairly small and only have one solder spot through the middle.  

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