I thought I would make this video because someone ask had I did amp test on the solar panel, which I did not show in the first video about this. The reason was because I rarely do such, not even sure how all that works much less the math. Anyway so on this video I have connected the meter to the solar panel and set the meter on 2ma and 20ma and also 200ma. So I hope I have did this right and shown what was ask about the amp out on the solar panel, thanks for watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Md3LYpHy8g (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Md3LYpHy8g)
Hi steven, thanks again for sharing your work and results.
I have a few small solar panels laying around from a few garden lights and another from a solar powered led flashlight and I tried all the panels and could not get higher than the input voltage I was using.
At least that is the case with my single blue/white led joule thief that is very efficient, probably similar to a garden light if not better.
Though I have not built a containment box to house the test and that may be why my panel voltage is not going above input battery voltage.
Any tips or thoughts would be appreciated.
Also, I'm testing the capacitive charge ideas you shared and I drained an old 12 volt, 7 amp hour lead acid gel battery and I'm running a couple leds in series at full brightness and it's been going for 4.5 hours now and only very slowly dropping in voltage.
I will keep testing to see how this works out. Always something to learn.
peace love light
tyson
Its those glass solar panels that put out the most amperage I found as in the readings I got in the video,,I tried all my other solar panels which are plastic,,and got very little amperage, the glass one gave the highest amperage. It seems one of the tricks to getting the most out of it is use a spacer like I did in the video between the solar panel and led, and move it around very gently on the solar panel to find the sweet spot, that gives the most in return. The cd I used I think is a key to, notice there are two in the video, I have been thinking one setting under the solar panel might also help,,but not sure yet,,,alot to still fiddle with. Try different leds,,some use less power and give more light, some do the opposite. There is prob a type of resonance between the led and the solar panel light that happens. And keeping it in a reflective box of sorts has an effect, I mean where can the light go but bounce around with little loss, outside a box the light travels everywhere. A joule thief that puts out the most light and uses the least battery power is surely a key. And there is a time limit for maximum charge, if its all still connected beyond that battery charge even tho once charged higher may start to lower. Thats about it I guess,,best wishes,,steve..
A new invention claims 90% effectivity Solar panel.
That would solve a lot of problems!
Now lets see if they will market.. I guess the MIB will be there soon ...
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/solar-power-nantennan-research-eletricity-power,news-11217.html (http://www.tomsguide.com/us/solar-power-nantennan-research-eletricity-power,news-11217.html)
lets get this straight.
1. voltage is the velocity of the electrons.
2. amps is the volume of potential electrons.
3. current is how much of the potential electrons are flowing.
4. watts is the velocity times volume of electrons or v(volts) times i(amp). this is the only thing that matters. watts in and watts out period.
Jerry 8)
Power beaming research (pulsed laser energy to UAVs and satellites) has shown that solar panels have the highest response to monochromatic light in the near-IR wavelengths. Researchers use 940nm - 950nm laser diodes for best energy transfer.
If I were to feedback solar panel output back to the circuit, I would use a 940nm -950nm diode. Can the joule thief circuit power a laser diode instead of an LED? A laser would dump all of the light directly onto the panel and resolve any light dissipation issues with LEDs (no reflective boxes, etc.).