Homebrewed Electricity > Solar

Got my second solar panel today!

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juiced:
So... seeing as three days went by (albeit quite over-cast) and my power-pack didnt even budge from red to yellow; I decided to get something a little bigger.
  5 watts 250 MA.
  Now, how long to charge the 400 amp power pack?
  Should i mount this one in my car or on my building? It is weatherproof.. I guess i would need to build a small bracket for it.
  I was thinking that if i mounted on the roof, i could incorperate the mounting frame with some sort of water heating... i just dont know what i could expect for heat and how i could use what i assume to be a small amount of hot water.
 Moving ahead in anycase.

old55olds:
5 watts is the amount of power used by one light in a string of the medium sized christmas light. I would think forever to charge your battery pack

opampca:
Well, you have to get the Amp/hour rating of the battery in your power pack. It could be in the order of 16 A/H, then you would need 16AH /.250AH = 64 hours of full sun to charge your system, depending on how deep it is discharged. In Montréal we are getting approx 3 to 4 hours a day of full sun, thow, it could take from 16 to 21 days to fully charge the pack. You also have to consider the internal resistance of the battery, depending on the type of battery.  The battery will loose charge everyday. These panels are often just enough to keep a large battery charged all the time.

BT Humble:
Realistically, you need at least 10 watts of solar panel if you want to be able to run a single 8W fluoro for 4-5 hours per day.  I have a pair of 10W amorphous panels for the small 12V system in my van, which gives me enough power to run two 8W fluoros for 3 hours per night, a smallish "boom box" stereo for an hour or two, my cell phone charger a couple of times a week, and a 20W incandescent light while I'm cooking (about 20 minutes per night).  This is all attached to a 38Ah battery.
http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2004/9/19/16327/4685
For experimentation purposes your 5W panel will be fine, but bear in mind that you won't be running much more than a reading light and/or radio from it.
Incidentally, I'll bet that your 400A power pack has about a 16Ah battery inside it.  400A is the peak current they claim it can deliver - for about 5 seconds.
BTH

juiced:
So.. if i want to be productive about this, i should get a smaller battery and choose two small item i.e. radio and perhaps an LED string?

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