Monday, September 12, 2011

Solar Power Revisited

Last year we built a custom circuit to charge a car battery off a small solar panel we had.

It worked fine, but consumed alot of power itself.

Now we have simplified the entire circuit with just a by-pass diode: it allows power to flow to the battery from the solar panel, but prevents power travelling from the battery to the panel at night or low-light.

It is working well.

Soon we'll rig the solar panel (in the window) outside and angled for best light in the day.

The battery (for the backhoe) trickle-charges, and also powers our lighting in the garden house at night.

Works great, and simple... the way we like it.