Can you help me with solar power?
Asked by
scubydoo (
756
)
December 16th, 2009
from iPhone
Im looking to do a project on solar power. Im looking to be able to power a computer for a time period using solar energy. Can anyone help me or point me in the right direction of how i’d figure out how much power a computer would use? How much power in solar it would take to power the computer for a time frame. Time frame assuming say 8hrs. Or does anyone have any sites that could help. Of course id have the computer working for the entire time period
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3 Answers
Find a place which sells solar panels and ask one of the salespeople.
I do remember reading about some guys traveling the country by RV and writing a blog about it. One of their solar panels was mounted on the dashboard so it could catch max sun while driving and powered their computer.
You might also try writing in to the site about Ed Begley’s program and asking there.
He has been one of the Hollywood celebs on the forefront of “green living”. His program is on cable on the green channel and it’s called “Living With Ed”
I can’t remember whether they have a Forum board there or not, but lots of good info on solar power.
The Cornell University link suggests the power usage for hardware or various kind.
http://computing.fs.cornell.edu/Sustainable/fsit_facts.cfm
Get a solar panel installed and get the outut wire connected to an Inverter and use the inverter output to power your PC or laptop.The reason for using the Inverter is,to provide you the bacup power at night.Your UPS give you backup for 15 to mins at max,but the energy stored in inverter batteries would provide you a backup for hours together.If you need further explanation,please ask.
You leave a lot of variables open but I’ll bite anyways.
Solar array choices
Silicon cells: relatively cheap, roughly 20% efficient
Gallium Arsenide cells: limited world supply, nearly impossible to order in quantities as small as the one you’ll need, 30–35% efficient (remember 0.35/0.2 = 75% more efficient than silicon)
6–7 square meters of gallium arsenide cells will give you about 2000 watts.
Computer choices
Embedded computer: <2 watts—Energy efficient enough to run on a single gallium arsenide cell at peak sunlight.
Laptop: <100 watts
Desktop: Anything from 100–1000 watts. It really depends.
Running time
What are we talking here. You’re more vague than the CIA. Does it need to run 24/7? Just the 8 hours? Something else? You’ll need an energy storage system (read batteries). You’ll need X hours * the number of watts the computer draws to get the total watt-hours you require. Then it’s just some basic math to make sure you can supply the batteries with enough power from the sun to last the full time the computer needs to run.
I would highly recommend a Kill A Watt if you want to measure the energy devices are consuming.
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