photovoltaics - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Zamunda · 02-02-2004, 11:18 AM

anyone out there have any hard data or personal experience with the efficiency and reliablity of photovoltaic cells for electrical purposes, any good home fashioned systems you've heard of? anything about solar power at all?

goddfather40 · 02-03-2004, 07:33 PM

I have some minimal experience with them at my work. One of the products my company produces has a solar option.

Basically the solar cell array is roughly 10" x 4" and produces about 9 volts with max sunlight. We have a DC-DC circuit in the solar module that outputs 26 and 6 volts which connect to the load. They work OK, just make sure the battery you use to store the reserve charge is reliable. Our main problem is that the intelligence of the people that install these are minimal and they screw it up all the time.

Zamunda · 02-03-2004, 09:07 PM

right, well ive heard that batteries are the problems with PVCs, costly and unreliable... also, what kind of current does it push... when did your company first start this option, what product does it come on, whats the future research potential... sorry for all the questions, but im an interested engineer

goddfather40 · 02-05-2004, 06:20 PM

The product is a Irrigation controller. Solar power is used in places where AC power is inaccessible. The product was designed to be ultra efficient and draws about 1 mA from the solar module quiescently, but often short pulses of upwards of 1 A are needed throughout the day to drive DC latching solenoids which activate the hydraulic valves. I'm sorry but off the top of my head I don't remember the max current that the solar module can supply. As for future research potential, there is a lot of interest in solar power. I know of one project that my company is involved in. The main motivation for developing solar options is to get rid of wiring, which often is a large cost of a irrigation system. Solar power can solve the wiring problem, though there are other technologies we've looked at (which I can't divulge

) being developed for alternative power.

02-02-2004, 11:18 AM	#1 (permalink)
Zamunda Tilted	photovoltaics anyone out there have any hard data or personal experience with the efficiency and reliablity of photovoltaic cells for electrical purposes, any good home fashioned systems you've heard of? anything about solar power at all?

02-03-2004, 07:33 PM	#2 (permalink)
goddfather40 Llama Location: Cali-for-nye-a	I have some minimal experience with them at my work. One of the products my company produces has a solar option. Basically the solar cell array is roughly 10" x 4" and produces about 9 volts with max sunlight. We have a DC-DC circuit in the solar module that outputs 26 and 6 volts which connect to the load. They work OK, just make sure the battery you use to store the reserve charge is reliable. Our main problem is that the intelligence of the people that install these are minimal and they screw it up all the time. __________________ My name is goddfather40 and I approved this message. I got ho's and I got bitches, In C++ I branch with switches -MC Plus+

02-05-2004, 06:20 PM	#4 (permalink)
goddfather40 Llama Location: Cali-for-nye-a	The product is a Irrigation controller. Solar power is used in places where AC power is inaccessible. The product was designed to be ultra efficient and draws about 1 mA from the solar module quiescently, but often short pulses of upwards of 1 A are needed throughout the day to drive DC latching solenoids which activate the hydraulic valves. I'm sorry but off the top of my head I don't remember the max current that the solar module can supply. As for future research potential, there is a lot of interest in solar power. I know of one project that my company is involved in. The main motivation for developing solar options is to get rid of wiring, which often is a large cost of a irrigation system. Solar power can solve the wiring problem, though there are other technologies we've looked at (which I can't divulge ) being developed for alternative power. __________________ My name is goddfather40 and I approved this message. I got ho's and I got bitches, In C++ I branch with switches -MC Plus+

02-03-2004, 09:07 PM	#3 (permalink)
Zamunda Tilted	right, well ive heard that batteries are the problems with PVCs, costly and unreliable... also, what kind of current does it push... when did your company first start this option, what product does it come on, whats the future research potential... sorry for all the questions, but im an interested engineer