what i need to do with what i have done.

[rottingspinalcord]

ok i have a 15-25 volt solar panel that has higher amps than the others, two 12 volt solars, and a ten volt solar. they get a little more than 50v when they are in series and i want to charge as fast as possible bus as of rite now i have no way to test the amps. i am charging two 14.4v 12A5hr batteries in parallel to run my inverter which runs my room. so its a big priority. the inverter can take a max of 16 volts, and a max of less than 30 amps(fuse)other than salvaged diodes and charging and regulating equipment i can make for myself. i am dirt poor as well as dirt cheap. but dirt grows the plants i grow for some of my food. i have alot of small motors i would like to put together in a crank system wit a good deal of gears to make a generator, i am also working on a bicycle generator that uses a 36v12a motor. if i finish that i should be in paradise. but i still want other sorces of energy, does that make me greedy? greedier than everyone else in this world? i have an idea to make my solar water heater heat more water and contain it better. i could use this to heat my room. and if i need to make a shunt i could have it heat this water. hmmm. now all i have to get rid of for bills after this is rent. that wont be tooo hard. if u have any inspiration from this slur of thoughts please benifit me with the knowlage u alone have realized. i gave a very brief description of my system here. if you know how to make a regulator and/or controller that can help manage the specs on my powersystem please send me some specs. If u decide to keep all of your inspiration from this for yourself i hope you follow through with it and do not let it go to waste.

[henjulfox]

I believe you want to wire the panels in parallel, not series. The difference between the series voltage (50) and the battery voltage (14.4) is wasted energy. I think ideal voltage from the panels is 1-2 volts higher than the battery you are trying to charge. With that in mind, the 10 volt panel won't help you unless you can get another you can wire in series with it.

Bicycle generators are good at showing that it takes a lot of effort to create a little electricity. If you are trying to run a light, a radio, and maybe a small TV for a short period of time the generator might be useful. If you are trying to run a large color TV, Play Station, Stereo, Computer, Refrigerator, etc you will probably be disapointed with the output.

Good luck!

-Henry

[willib]

My little 12V solar panel actually puts out around  17V no load. with that said,check the no load voltage of your 10v solar panel.

Even if the panel is rated for 10V it MAY be able to charge 12V..

in either case if you put your two 12V panels in parallel and parallel that with your largest panel , it should work fine as  most solar panels come equipped with a reverse current diode built in..

To measure current with just a voltmeter requires only a 1 Ohm resistor , and the use of ohms law. Since I= V/R , if R = 1 then I= V ..

Or put another way , with your large panel charging your 12v batteries , if you insert a 1 ohm resistor in series ,and measure the voltage across the one ohm resistor , you will be reading current going into your batteries.

Most low ohms resistors have a ceramic case and are able to dissipate 5 to 10 watts.

you may be able to find a similar Low ohm resistor in an old computer Monitor, it may not be 1 ohm it may be 0.5 ohms or .33 ohms , but with a little calculation you should be able to measure the current from your solar panels with just a voltmeter

[IntegEner]

Generators? Powered by what? Maybe you want to sell them? I have found nice bicycle generators - 12V 6W - that when attached to a small wind rotor can light up diode lights and charge flashlight (not 12 volt) batteries. See my website for a view of the rotors - www.integener.com . Am interested in a variety of them and believe in microenergy, helping where the power lines don't reach. Spinal cords and the rest of the corpus benefit from weight loss (my opinion here) and have read where others nearby have lost 30 pounds. I have lost 20 and like to talk about it. Heating your spaces, though, is more ambitious than seems possible with your setup unless your solar water heater is extra large.

Knucks

www.integener.com

[rottingspinalcord]

well i finished my genny the maz volts ive gotten out of it is 16, i plan on riding on it while it is sunny to hopefully desulfate my batteries a littke due to the fact that i let them sit around before i attached them to my system, my inverter has a 30 amp fuse limit is there anyway i could use a high amp car battery to run it? or would it instantly blow the fuse?