Solar panel and motor: Any way to regulate the power transmission?
I'm an engineering student and for an individual hobby-like project i purchased a small solar panel and a small solar motor. I am planning on making a small solar powered toy car. The question i have is: is there a way to connect a control or some other ways of regulating the power that is absorbed by the cells? Other wise the motor will just continue to run. Any answer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I assume it is a DC motor. You should have DC voltage coming out of the solar cell (For example 10V). You could use a transistor to switch the voltage on and off, then filter the output with an RC filter. You will have to choose the right RC time constant . It will have to be slower than the control pulse frequency, but faster than the desired motor response time.
If you switched the voltage with a 50% duty cycle, then filtered the output, you would get 5V, with a 75% duty cycle, you would get 7.5V, etc. Therefore, you could control the motor by controlling the duty cycle of the switching. A microcontroller like the BASIC Stamp can produce the control pulses.
What is the most cost-effective place to buy large solar electric panels?
We don't have enough money right now to buy capacity for the whole house, which would probably require about 12 kilowatts. However, I would like to start buying panels toward building up toward that.
But I want to buy the most solar panel for the least price. I think that piecing a lot of very small panels together will be a very expensive way to do it.
Does anyone know the least expensive way to buy large solar electric panels?
Great answers here. Just to summarize, in order of priority:
1) Reduce usage first. For every $1 you spend on conservation, that's about $4 less you need to spend on your solar system. It costs less to use less electricity than to make your own.
2) Research solar hot water. Solar hot water is ~ 85% efficient, as opposed to ~20% for solar electric. You get a better bang for your buck installing solar thermal than solar electric.
3) Install solar electric. Prices for solar panels have dropped dramatically this year as the demand in Europe has dropped and people are having trouble getting home equity loans in the US. You can get better pricing if you buy by the pallet (depending on the panel, 20 - 30 panels). You are right that you don't need to generate all that you use, and if you do steps 1 and 2, you'll be using less anyways.
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