2.5 W Solar battery charger and what I could do with it

Thread Starter

Rolland B. Heiss

Joined Feb 4, 2015
236
I just bought one of these for about 30 bucks in order to charge up individual batteries for a battery bank as some point. In the meantime, what else could I do with it? Could I charge up a capacitor bank for example? How about running whatever power the sun gives during the day and feeding it back into the grid? May not be much power but it ought to save me some money in relation to the electric bill I assume. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.
 

Brownout

Joined Jan 10, 2012
2,390
I'd grab some low voltage lights and use them in place of your mains connected lights. You'll need a battery for this, of course. Also, I friend of mine uses his to run vent fans in his cottage.
 

ScottWang

Joined Aug 23, 2012
7,397
2.5W is quite small, how is the voltage, 3V, 6V, 12V?
If the current of solar battery is too low, maybe you just using it to power the led, or buy some super capacitors to charge.
 

Thread Starter

Rolland B. Heiss

Joined Feb 4, 2015
236
2.5W is quite small, how is the voltage, 3V, 6V, 12V?
If the current of solar battery is too low, maybe you just using it to power the led, or buy some super capacitors to charge.
It's rated at 12V but I just tested it with the sun low on the horizon and achieved a steady reading of 24.1V. In the shade behind the garage it was about 17.5V.
 

Kermit2

Joined Feb 5, 2010
4,162
sounds like it might have been sized for a dashtop auto battery trickle charger. ive seen these at harborfreight stores and the like. amorphous silicon. lower eff. than wafer type but useable in partial light so it is better for mobile applications.
 

ScottWang

Joined Aug 23, 2012
7,397
It's rated at 12V but I just tested it with the sun low on the horizon and achieved a steady reading of 24.1V. In the shade behind the garage it was about 17.5V.
I_12V = 2.5W/12V = 208mA
I_24V = 2.5W/24V = 104mA
Or maybe you can adding any load could reach above value and measure the current, or adding the load some more heavy and record the degree of sunlight.
 

Thread Starter

Rolland B. Heiss

Joined Feb 4, 2015
236
sounds like it might have been sized for a dashtop auto battery trickle charger. ive seen these at harborfreight stores and the like. amorphous silicon. lower eff. than wafer type but useable in partial light so it is better for mobile applications.
Thanks for the input Kermit2! Very much appreciated and you are correct. It is a dashtop auto battery trickle charger. I've just been trying to figure out other uses for it.
 

Thread Starter

Rolland B. Heiss

Joined Feb 4, 2015
236
I_12V = 2.5W/12V = 208mA
I_24V = 2.5W/24V = 104mA
Or maybe you can adding any load could reach above value and measure the current, or adding the load some more heavy and record the degree of sunlight.
Thanks Scott! Very useful information. I'll experiment some and see what happens!
 
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