DIY Solar Power » Solar Power FAQ http://mysearchforsolarpower.com Homemade Solar Power 4 the Average Person Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:53:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Can you connect a solar panel directly to laptop or radio? http://mysearchforsolarpower.com/solar-power-faq/can-you-connect-a-solar-panel-directly-to-a-device-such-as-a-laptop-or-radio/ http://mysearchforsolarpower.com/solar-power-faq/can-you-connect-a-solar-panel-directly-to-a-device-such-as-a-laptop-or-radio/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:08:30 +0000 admin http://www.mysearchforsolarpower.com/?p=127 laptop_outdoorsANSWER: The short answer is No.  Almost all solar panels, either commercially made or ones that are built from scratch produce “Direct Current” or DC, for short.  The vast majority of devices such as laptops, stereo’s, chargers for iphones, shavers, cameras, etc, etc all take electricity in the form of “Alternating Current” or AC.  The electricity from a solar panel must be converted from DC to AC in order to be utilized.  This is the job of an Inverter.  Solar panels are starting to come out with  “microinverters” built in, but this is a discussion for another post…

]]> http://mysearchforsolarpower.com/solar-power-faq/can-you-connect-a-solar-panel-directly-to-a-device-such-as-a-laptop-or-radio/feed/ 0 What is a Charge Controller? http://mysearchforsolarpower.com/solar-power-faq/what-is-a-charge-controller/ http://mysearchforsolarpower.com/solar-power-faq/what-is-a-charge-controller/#comments Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:55:57 +0000 admin http://www.mysearchforsolarpower.com/?p=60 Solar Charge Controller A Charge Controller (also called a ‘Charge Regulator’ or ‘Battery Regulator’) is a device that limits how much elecrtric current is captured and stored in a battery.  A Charge Controller serves 2 main purposes:

  1. Keeps the battery from getting overcharged by the solar panels, which could limit the battery’s life, as well as potentially causing a fire.
  2. Keeps the electicity from leaving the battery and travelling back through the solar panel, which would reduce the amount of stored electricity available.  Remember from school, that electricity will take the path of least resistance…so at night when the solar panel is no longer producing electricity, the current would want to try to go from the batteries back to the solar panel, without a charge controller.

It is important to use a charge controller anytime you are connecting a solar panel(s) to a battery, especially for long periods of time.

]]> http://mysearchforsolarpower.com/solar-power-faq/what-is-a-charge-controller/feed/ 0