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Answer by markomakazi
absolutely, if your Captain America

Answer by Light Knight
Short answer – No.

Long answer – Yes it could be done but…
You might wire together 12 volt panels in parallel to achieve a 30 amp output under best conditions. One problem is that this would take quite a few panels that would take up considerable roof space.
Another problem is that would only be on a clear day with the panels tilted towards the sun. Unless you are driving on the Equator at local noon, the panels would not lay flat on the roof.

Answer by Knowledge Is Power
How much current can you make with a solar panel? Not enough usable current

Hm, that is a bit confusing your speaking about 25 to 30 amps. Did you not know that a automobiles electrical system is more than capable of producing 90 to 120 amps. Run that hydrogen booster electrolysis device on the automobiles electrical system instead of decorating your car with all those inefficient highly unattractive sun catchers…

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Answer by Dan
Conrad, if this were me looking, I would want a panel with a 12 volt, 2amp/hour output.

You might be able to get by with less, depending on how much sunshine you get where you are, and how much your bilge pump draws.

Regards,
Dan

Answer by hot rod
You also want to have overcharge protection on the battery in case of constant full sun. What this will do is sense when there is enough charge and shut down the panel, while turning the panel back on when charge is needed.

Answer by Audio God™
Hi Conrad

Assuming your bilge pump draws about 2.6 amps, I’d recommend using a solar panel with an output of 5 to 5.5 watts. (They’re on sale here in Canada a few times a year for about $ 50)

These provide 0.3 amps/hour which will easily maintain your battery charge and will not require a charger limiter.

Hope this helps.

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Answer by tina
c.crane company look it up online

Answer by Bob
You can run a 60 watt light bulb when the sun is shining. Or your can charge a battery and then run the 60 watt light bulb at night. It theory if you had 8 hours of sun you would be able to run the bulb for 8 hours off of battery. In reality because of losses you will not get 8 hours of bulb running time.

Answer by f100_supersabre
There are many on the web charts on stipulations for home/business.

60 watts at 12 volts is 6 watts at 120 volts with 100% conversion.
MOST inverters are only 30-60% efficient, plus battery losses. (Batteries are required to “balance” load and for when sun is NOT shining.)

MOST TV’s draw 120 volts at about 500 watts

MOST homes these days are wired for 100 amps at 240 volts which is 24,000 watts even though they seldom draw this much at any given time.
A single standard home circuit is usually 15amps at 120 volts or about 1,800 watts MAXIMUM.

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Answer by roderick_young
It sounds like you were hoping to make a tiny money in the process? That is unlikely in the US. The only reason someone would rent roof space for such a purpose is if they could not afford the capital outlay for the panels in the first place. Also, what if you spend your $ 20k or $ 50k or whatever, then the place renting you the roof space doesn’t want to rent it, anymore? You will have to take everything down and find another place.

Some companies like Solar City have leasing arrangements. They supply the panels, but the homeowner concurs in advance to purchase all the power generated at a certain fixed rate, for a fixed period of time, often 15 years. If the homeowner wants the panels taken off earlier, there is an extra charge.

If you are in another country with guaranteed feed-in tariffs, then my apologies – go for it.

Answer by Amy
There are carbon brokers who specialize in trading carbon credits. Some says have higher rates than others. In the US, it is still not likely to be a profitable business model until they improve the Feed-In-Tariff policy. Some European countries are set up that it is a great way to make money. http://www.brokerscarbon.com/

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Answer by Stephen M
Unless you have a silicon fab in your basement to make silicon wafers, you aren’t making your own solar panels and there is nothing about this idea at all that will be “cheap”.

Your entire idea might be nobel on one level, but it also points out just how uninformed on the subject you are. As an example of what I mean, buying the solar panels is not actually a problem, but it is apparently the only part of the problem you can get your head around, so this is where you are starting with your questions.

Let me throw out a few things for you to consider. First, solar panels tend to be fairly expensive. The absolute cheapest I have ever heard quoted are in the several dollar per watt range and when purchased in small quantities, it will likely be up to around $ 10 per watt.

I have no idea what you want to power, but lets just state you want to run a Television using solar. A Television can easily use 200 watts or more of power, so in the small quantities you are speaking about, they could cost $ 1000 to $ 2000! If you actually have visions of powering more than this, just add more $ $ $ .

Now, do you realize the solar panel puts out unregulated DC and to run most things, you will need regulated AC so now you need a certain type of inverter. Add some more $ $ $ .

I’ll further guess that you want to actually connect this to the power in your home in some fashion. No utility company in the country will grant you to connect your contraption to their power unless it meets their standards and the work is done by a licensed electrician. More $ $ $ .

The fact is, the only way any of this is economical viable for anyone is because of the incentives that the various levels of government and utilities are currently offering. However, attempting to do it on the “cheap” as you are will also doom you to not being able to qualify for any of the incetivives which are out there.

Here is an installer in AZ who does this work and does it correctly such that you would qualify for the various incentives. Pay special attention to the costs.

Answer by philinnwfla
You can purchase a box broken cells and solder them together and save huge bucks.

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Answer by Rudydoo
Hey Jessie, this is a great project you are on to. Does your cart have a roof or canopy already? Anyway, I am guessing your cart has 6 batteries in it, probably Trojan T-105 or Exide golf cart batteries, is this correct? If so, they will be 220 amp hour, six volt batteries, wired in series for 36 volts. The only problem with your plan is you will not be able to do it with one panel, unless you can find one wired for 36 volt charging, which would be very rare. What you will need is 3 panels, all the same size and output. Let’s state you choose a 50 watt panel, you have 3 of them, they are each designed to charge a 12 volt battery. Wiring them in series will grant them to charge a 36 volt battery. If the panels you purchase have bypass diodes inside the junction box already (most of them do today), then all you need to do is mount them on the roof, wire them together in series, positive from the first panel to negative of the second, and so on, then the last two connections will be positive from the last panel, which you connect to positive on the first battery, and negative from the first panel, which will go to negative on the last battery.

Most solar panels are wired for 18 volts open circuit voltage, which is the voltage with nothing connected to them while they are in the sun. This voltage is necessary to charge a 12 volt battery. Do not make the mistake of thinking you can take 2 of them and make 36 volts, they will not charge the batteries at that voltage, you will need at least 42 volts, preferrably more. Your panels must all be the same output, you cannot use 2 40 watt panels and 1 70 watt panel. That would work if you were hooking them in parallel and charging a 12 volt battery, but in series, they will not get along.

Also, if you do not use panels any more massive than 70 watts each, you will not need a charge controller. A rule of thumb is any charging source less than 2% of the battery amp hour capacity is considered a trickle charge, and it will be impossible to over charge the battery. One word of caution, if it’s warm where you live, make sure to water the batteries at least once a month, they will go through lots of water during charging in warm temps. Just keep a couple gallons of distilled water around.

If you end up putting in a charge controller, then the diodes are optional. A diode is nothing more than an electrical check valve, allowing current to flow from the panel to the battery during the daytime, but not allowing it to go the other way at night. A charge controller will do the same thing. Also it’s important to note that your regular charger, which plugs into the homes electrical system, will get along fine with the panel. You can park outside in the sun, solar charge, and plug in charge at the same time if you like, the plug in unit should shut down once the batteries are up high enough for the panels to take over. There is a great book at your library worth reading before you proceed, it’s called, “The Complete Battery Book,” by Richard Perez.

In case you are wondering, the reason we know all of this is we live in a solar powered home. Making your own electricity is like growing your own tomatoes, you end up learning all about bugs, soil ph, watering and sunlight whether you want to or not, it’s a curse we have. Good luck, and take care, Rudydoo

Answer by Amy
Rudydoo gave a great answer, but I want to point out a product that might make it a tiny easier. Solar Converters makes a charge controller designed to charge a 36V battery bank with a single 12V solar panel. It boosts the voltage up x3 (by reducing the current / 3). This will work with a single 12V panel up to 170W. They also make a more massive one for more massive panels. http://www.altestore.com/store/Charge-Controllers/Solar-Charge-Controllers/MPPT-Solar-Charge-Controllers/Solar-Converters-Charge-Controllers/Solar-Converters-CV1236-4PV-4A-Charger/p1244/

If you do use 3 panels, you really should use a charge controller, especially since the cart will be used intermittently and you cannot be sure how often the power will be used, so you run a risk of overcharging. Here is a 36V in/out one for up to 5A. http://www.altestore.com/store/Charge-Controllers/Solar-Charge-Controllers/MPPT-Solar-Charge-Controllers/Solar-Converters-Charge-Controllers/Solar-Converters-PT-36-5A-36V-MPPT-Charge-Controller/p1380/ You could use it with three 65W panels wired in series for 196W. http://www.altestore.com/store/Solar-Panels/51-to-99-Watt-Solar-Panels/Kyocera-KC65T-65W-12V-Solar-Panel-with-J-Box/p724/.

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Answer by garylee
Deep cycle, Golf Cart Batteries. You can get them at a battery store.

Answer by billrussell42
If you will be storing them outdoors, you can use auto batteries. Indoors, use sealed marine batteries.

Number and size depends on your needs. You will need a charge controller between the solar panels and the batteries to get the maximum power out of the array and to avoid damage to the batteries.

And you will need an inverter to convert the 12 or 24 volts to 120 or 240 VAC.

One massive lead acid battery will supply about 1000 watt-hours of energy, enough for 200 watts for 5 hours. You have to look at your loads and decide on how many batteries you need.

Frequently it is cheaper to purchase new appliances that use less power, as that power difference can save a lot of money in batteries, inverter, charge controller and solar panels. But it sounds like a few thousand watt-hours will be enough, 1 or 2 massive batteries. The real limiting factor is how much money you want to spend for the solar panels themselves.

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Answer by Rudydoo
Hey Mark, you are on to a great project there. My first recommendation is to do some real research, beyond asking people on the net for advice. Home Power Magazine is the only periodical that is into the nuts and bolts of solar power. It is not expensive, and if you subscribe, then go online, you can look up old archived articles. We have a cabin that is solar and wind powered now, it was featured in that magazine some years ago. Like Gary Lee, we used golf cart batteries. For the dollar, you will not find a superior battery to store solar power. Each one holds about 1.2 kwh of electrictiy when fully charged. You do not want to discharge these batteries more than half way on a regular basis, it shortens their life considerably. Our system had 4 golf cart batteries and 3 50 watt panels.

In some applications, a solar charge controller is not necessary. A good rule of thumb is if your array puts out no more amperage than 2% of the battery banks amp hour capacity, a charge controller is not necessary, the panels will never overcharge the batteries. You just have to make sure you water the batteries at least once a month, more often in warm weather. A charge controller might be a good investment though, depending on what size your array is, and what voltage you operate it at. I know this is a lot to digest, and this is why I recommend reading Home Power, they get into all the specifics of this stuff. I would also look for a book called, “The Complete Battery Book, ” by Richard Perez, and read the chapters on lead acid batteries, it explains all about charge rates and controllers.

Something else to look for is telecommunications batteries. They are suddenly cheap and available, because the phone companies all over bought, and are now consolidating. They do not hold up quite as well as the T-105 (golf cart battery) but for the money, might work for you. You can use non gel cell type batteries inside, but they have to be in an enclosed cabinet and vented to the outside. Lead acid batteries vent hydrogen gas when charging, and it only takes a 4% concentration to cause an explosive environment to form. We have ours in a cabinet in the garage, and it is vented outside from the top of the cabinet, which is where the hydrogen collects. You might also invest in a Kill-A-Watt meter, about $ 30 USD. You can plug it into any outlet, and plug in some household items you want to power with your solar array, like the TV. Let it run for a week during normal use, and the meter will tell you exactly how many KWH’s that appliance uses, no more guessing.

If you do get on Home Power’s list and go to their website, use their search engine to look for Small Systems, lots of people have done what you are trying to do. You can read what mistakes they made and what they learned, so you do not make the same ones yourself. In the end, you might decide not to get involved, and that is fine, but at least you will be well informed. I will include some other sources below, again, do plenty of research. Good luck, and take care, Rudydoo

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Answer by billrussell42
Radiation (light) goes down as the square of the distance, so take the ratio of jupiter’s distance to the sun with earth’s distance to the sun, square it, and then multiply the area of the solar panel by that factor.

b) yes, but the wavelength will be so long that they are not usable for much of anything.

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Answer by Sean
rechargeable AA baterys do not realy last that long and if u dont fully discharge b4 fully charging u can shorten the amount of life the battery has even more

Answer by J S
87% of the charge is not very much. A good 12V battery will actually read 14V when charged, and stay at that level for a long time. By the time it shows 10V or so, it’s probably nearly 80% drained.

Answer by roderick_young
Two thoughts, which might or might not be right.

The panel might not be putting out as much power as you think. Most likely, the panel is just out there in one orientation, not following the sun. If it’s just basically the panel wired directly to the battery, then I suspect the charging current is actually quite small. You could verify this by connecting an ammeter in place of the battery.

My second thought is that whatever is indicating the say of charge on the battery is not at all accurate.

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Answer by Clint
This means that what you would be powering with solar electricity are things like the refrigerator, the lights, the compute­r, the TV, stereo equipment, motors in things like furnace fans and the washer, etc. Let’s state that all of those things average out to 600 watts on average. Over the course of 24 hours, you need 600 watts * 24 hours = 14,400 watt-hours per day.

I know that a solar panel can generate 70 milliwatts per square inch * 5 hours = 350 milliwatt hours per day. Therefore you need about 41,000 square inches of solar panel for the house. That is a solar panel that measures about 285 square feet (about 26 square meters). That would cost around $ 16,000 right now. Then, because the sun only shines part of the time, you would need to buy a battery bank, an inverter, etc., and that often doubles the cost of the installation.

If you want to have a small room air conditioner in your bedroom, double everything.

If you want to just power 2 small air conditioners, your look at about $ 32,000 +installation

Answer by Justin Wang
i sell 1kw 500w small solar system . price around 4usd/watt. i am in china.

Answer by Light Knight
Air conditioners can use a lot of energy. How much depends upon the size of the AC units.
An interesting substitute is to use solar air-conditioning through the use of a absorption chillers.

The energy of the heated fluid in a solar thermal system is harness to chill water. This chilled water can be used to cool a building. A by product is heat for domestic hot water.

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