Solar Powered
- Thread starter yazid
- Start date
Easy to figure out... check the specs of your fan. It should tell you its current draw in amps. After that just find a photocell that can provide that same amount of amperage, at the correct voltage. The lighting put out by the lamps will be more than enough to power a solar cell
Novel idea, but the photons that are absorbed by the solar panel to create electricity are much better spent providing energy for our animals.
The stray light bouncing around in our white reflective canopies is supposed to make it's way into the tank. Solar cells absorb light in order to convert it to electricity. Along with inefficiencies, and cost of our expensive lamps, you are much better off spending $10 and plugging your fan into the wall.
The stray light bouncing around in our white reflective canopies is supposed to make it's way into the tank. Solar cells absorb light in order to convert it to electricity. Along with inefficiencies, and cost of our expensive lamps, you are much better off spending $10 and plugging your fan into the wall.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by yazid:
<STRONG>Thanks for the info. It is possible to built one.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Depends where you put the solar panel. Even with reflectors there are probably some spots where the light is reflected back into the bulb or not at the tank. Maybe Directly on top of the bulbs or at an end?
<STRONG>Thanks for the info. It is possible to built one.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Depends where you put the solar panel. Even with reflectors there are probably some spots where the light is reflected back into the bulb or not at the tank. Maybe Directly on top of the bulbs or at an end?
I guess I don't understand the question. If you are thinking that the solar panel will somehow save money or electricty, I don't see how. If you power a bulb to make light, the amount of energy lost to heat and non visual radiation is very high. So then you change the light back to electrity to power a fan. Another very low efficiency conversion. By the time your done, you will require as much as 4 times more power to run the fan from the lights then from a plug. If you can't get the light for free from the sun, it makes no sense to me to do this.
on that last thought, what would be involved in setting up a solar panel to run a reef, and what would the costs be like to set one up. I have always been kinda been interested in solar power in general, but have never really done any re-search on it.
Thanks
Scott
_________________
Honda Acty
Thanks
Scott
_________________
Honda Acty
research all you want this is what you will find:
all commercially availlable solar panels operate between 4-8% efficency and produce DC current
most US equipment uses AC current so you will need an inverter which will cause further loss of efficency/power
most inverters are square wave inverters and may damage some devices so you will need a sine wave inverter which is very expensive
solar power is intermittent (i.e. cloudy vs sunny days) and non existent at night so you will need a storage bank of batteries capable of carring you thru several days of cloudy weather
US law requires the storage unit to be either vented outside and or seperated from any living areas as batteries can give of toxic gases
you will have to install another power meter so any excess power can be put back into the power grid
blah blah blah blah
$5000 US and your in bussiness sounds like a real deal to cut your electric bill by $15 a month
ROFLMAO
_________________
BMW 3200 CS
all commercially availlable solar panels operate between 4-8% efficency and produce DC current
most US equipment uses AC current so you will need an inverter which will cause further loss of efficency/power
most inverters are square wave inverters and may damage some devices so you will need a sine wave inverter which is very expensive
solar power is intermittent (i.e. cloudy vs sunny days) and non existent at night so you will need a storage bank of batteries capable of carring you thru several days of cloudy weather
US law requires the storage unit to be either vented outside and or seperated from any living areas as batteries can give of toxic gases
you will have to install another power meter so any excess power can be put back into the power grid
blah blah blah blah
$5000 US and your in bussiness sounds like a real deal to cut your electric bill by $15 a month
ROFLMAO
_________________
BMW 3200 CS
I agree with what RichNPoor says.
If you want to use solar power to power your reef, just set your tank outside, in a green house or something. If you want it inside, and have the money, use mirror, sun roof, fiber optic or something to collect the light. Use a heat mirror to filter out the infrared, so the light won't heat up your tank.
If you want to use solar power to power your reef, just set your tank outside, in a green house or something. If you want it inside, and have the money, use mirror, sun roof, fiber optic or something to collect the light. Use a heat mirror to filter out the infrared, so the light won't heat up your tank.
Yes it would be quite expensive to solar power a reef tank but Im sure if you installed the equipment you would save more than $15 a month and you could run the TV, Fridge, that electric train set blah blah blah. AND.....not ever worry about a UPS ever. So, when its 12degrees out and your running that very inefficient gas generator(just making enough to keep everything warm) and he is running off batteries that during the day are recharged Im sure youd say I shoulda..or I woulda. By the way at most a system that could run a large house and feed power back to the grid would probably run in the 15k-20k range. But if you save a $100 a month (thats a bare minimum)over 5 years and dont have a power bill??? You've already got it half paid off. I just dont understand why everyone is so old school when it comes to saving power.
Just my $0.02. I read an article in a solar power zine about 6 months back, a home owner in CA went solar spent about $36K (included custom work and X-10s, and he went overkill, etc) and he has recouped about 80% of his investment already in 4 years with CA rebates, no bill, and selling power back to the grid. If you can find some small PVs to put along the top brace and other "hidden" places you'll be set. Bill.
No I think people are missing the beauty of the idea. There will always be light that will be wasted (and its easy to see where that happens). This means the fan will be running whenever the lights are on. It also means that the fan's speed will be in synch with how much light is being produced (IE morning, full day, moonlighting). So you've just created the most simplistic way to have a variable speed fan dependant on the light output.
I'm definitely putting one in, awsome Idea
~Terrence
I'm definitely putting one in, awsome Idea
~Terrence
I think people are misinformed on how much you can accomplish with solar power. I use to be part of the solar boat racing club at my engineering college. It was a canoe shaped boat running a 1hp motor and 1 car battery to hold the charge. And it was even a hydrofoil which was easy to get it to flair a foot out of the water. We placed 2nd in the world behind mitsubishi.
behold the power of the sun
behold the power of the sun
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