lightthinker1 Posted August 21, 2005 Report Share Posted August 21, 2005 I was wondering what would happen if I took a voltage sorce, say a 12 volt solar panel, for instance, and put a diode between the solar panel a capacitor, then put a resistor after that would It raise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alun Posted August 21, 2005 Report Share Posted August 21, 2005 No, how could it? You can't get energy from nothing.The diode would stop the capacitor from discharging back into the solar panel and the resistor would act as a load tha'd pass current and heat up and the capacitor would act as a small storage device and provide curent when the panell is covered for a very short period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audioguru Posted August 21, 2005 Report Share Posted August 21, 2005 The diode and capacitor would raise the current if the sun was flickering on and of at a high rate. Without the diode and capacitor, a flickering sun's light on a solar cell would activate the solar cell only half the time so its average output voltage would be half what it should be. Therefore the average load current is half what it should be. With the diode it quickly charges the capacitor with a very high current to maximum voltage when the sun is lighted and the capacitor discharges a little of its charge into the load at full current. Simple half-wave rectification. ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alun Posted August 21, 2005 Report Share Posted August 21, 2005 But does the sun flicker on and off?I know there is some fluctuation in the light output but I didn't think it was significant, and the voltage output from a solar cell with no load is nearly constant, it's the current that varies when a load is attached.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audioguru Posted August 21, 2005 Report Share Posted August 21, 2005 But does the sun flicker on and off?I think it would happen if the solar cell was in the shadow of a windmill or something.I just wanted to show that the diode and capacitor can make-up for the loss caused by flickering but they don't increase the current, they just allow double the solar cell's current for half the time to give full output to the load. ;D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightthinker1 Posted August 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2005 So what I think is being said is that it would raise the volt, and lower the amps. Right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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