Peltier Generating More Watts Than A Solar Panel

[billmehess]

This is interesting so I thought I might share it to see what the group thinks. I took a 1.5 sq. in. peltier and connected to a amp meter and a volt meter to see its output under heat conditions.
The peltier is under a glass bowl so I can get the maximum output using a greenhouse effect. At an outside temperature of 83 F. I am getting a reading of 200ma and 20mv output. This is really quite high.
A standard solar panel is around 24"x60" or 1440 in. sq. and will normally put out around 12v-17volts at ideally 100watts.
If the same number of peltier squares were connected in series (960) of them the output would be:
960 x 200ma=  192 amps
960 x 20mv  =  19.2 volts
or
w=va     192 amp x  19.2 volts=  3686 watts
A peltier works on the principal of a difference of the temp. from one side to the other. The greater the delta T the higher the output.
This peltier is sitting on the ground and has been in that position for the last 6 hours.
It reached 200 ma output about 2 hours ago so the output has been steady.
Am I missing something here? this looks really interesting.
Since a peltier "runs" on heat it is not necessary to be orienting it to the sun (as a solar panel). The heat builds up under the glass dome.
Also at night it could also work on your roof in such that the warmth from the housew through the roof relative to the colder outside air would cause the same effect. Works in daylight and at night time.

[BEP]

Maybe there are some differences with a solar cell but with the cells connected in series and all cells capable of a given current - only the voltage will go up. The amps should be almost the same as one cell.

Is the meter the only load?

[billmehess]

I have 4 peltiers when I connect them in series the voltage is 4 times and the current is 4 times as much. The voltmeter is the only load at this time

[BEP]

May I suggest connecting a load other than the meter. Such as a resistor that is still rather high in Ohms but far less than the input impedance of the meter.

What I'm thinking is the meter may be of such high impedance as to not draw the current possible from the cell. This would explain why the current is 4 times as much with 4 cells. Simply because the load remained the same while the voltage increased.

All though, 200ma sounds a bit high for a modern digital meter to draw on it's own. 

[billmehess]

I am using a panel meter with a 600ma max range to read the amps, The digital meter is reading the voltage