A 150 watt solar panel generates how many amps?
On your next camping trip, harness natural energy to keep your batteries charged. With the rise in popularity of free camping and the proliferation of electronic devices used during these outings, consistent, reliable, and portable electricity is more important than ever. People are turning to solar electricity as a quieter and greener alternative.
The solar panels in the Thunder series are composed of high-quality monocrystalline solar cells that give maximum efficiency and longevity. Thunder solar panels ensure that you have a reliable source of power without taking up too much space or disrupting your quiet camping experience.
A 200-watt solar panel generates how many amps?
On average, a 200-watt solar panel will produce 1012 amps per hour. Assuming 6 hours of sunlight each day, this equates to 60 70 amp-hours during a 24-hour period.
What is the wattage of a 120 watt solar panel?
In today’s video, we’ll take another look at solar panels, but this time from a new perspective. Traditionally, you would start with your loads and work your way down to the size of your solar panels. But today I’m going to look at it from the other side. I’m going to get a tiny 120-watt solar panel and see what we can actually do with it.
I’m going to do the computation the opposite way around. The rationale for doing it this way is because you may only have space on your roof for one tiny solar power system, or you may only have the funds for one small solar power system. As a result, this could be the decisive factor for you.
I used the Coulee 120 watt 12 volts solar panel for this example. The ratings for solar panels are supplied under regular test settings. The light source is calibrated to deliver 1000 watts per square meter onto the panel’s surface, and the ambient temperature is controlled at 25 degrees C. These are the conditions under which all solar panels are rated. We know that multiplying volts by amps equals watts. We get 120 watts by multiplying the maximum operational voltage (18.4 volts) by the maximum operating current (6.52 amps).
The solar panel’s rating is based on one hour of testing under standard conditions. Obviously, we will have varying amounts of sunshine throughout the day. The sun’s irradiance is typically half of what it is at midday in the early morning hours between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m. So we’ll have to go back in time to see how many average daily sunshine hours (peak sun hours) we may expect in the locations where we dwell. We’ll be spending most of our time in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. So, based on this power data, we may expect to get roughly 3.1 peak sun hours on average. We just multiply the 120-watt solar panel by 3.1 to arrive at a number of 372 watt-hours. That is the maximum amount of energy we can generate in a single day.
We won’t be able to employ all of that power, however, because there are some losses to consider. On the surface of this little 12 volt solar panel, there could be some dirt. The connections between the solar panel and the charge controller will experience voltage dips. In addition, the method the controller manages the power from the solar panel to charge the batteries has some inefficiencies. So, when all of these factors are considered, we can estimate system losses of around 30%. If we subtract 30% system losses from our total power of 372 watt-hours, we get a total power of 372 watt-hours. A net value of 260 watt-hours is obtained. And it is this value that we may use to determine what we can power in our vehicle.
Now we know how much we can make in a day and how much we can actually consume.
I’ve plugged in some of my own devices to the watt meter and documented the results below. As a result, I could use my laptop, which consumes 40 watts, for three hours, totaling 120 watt-hours. I’ll be able to power some LED lights for a few hours, as well as charge my iPhone, Kindle, iPad, and other gadgets. So, when we add all of these together, we get 263 watt-hours. With one Coulee 120 watt 12 volts solar panel, we may use a lot of devices for a long time during the day. Obviously, you wouldn’t use all of these gadgets at the same time. As a result, there’s a lot of variety. And I believe this proves that you don’t need a lot of solar electricity to make your van viable.
However, you won’t be able to use the solar panel’s power directly. It must pass through a charging controller and some leisure batteries. Let’s look at how to size a leisure battery for this single Coulee 120-watt tiny solar panel. The 12 volt system powers the leisure batteries. As a result, we divide our total generated power of 263 watt-hours by 12 volts. As a result, we have 21.92 amp-hours, which we will utilize to size our batteries. Lead-acid batteries don’t like to be completely depleted. At most, you don’t want to discharge more than half of your battery. They claim that AGM batteries may be discharged up to 80%. However, the deeper you deplete the battery, the fewer average cycles you’ll receive. It’s far better to limit the depth of drain to a minimum, as this will give your battery a considerably longer life. We’re going to use a 50% depth of discharge in this case. When we split the 21.92 amp-hour by 50 percent, we get 43.84 amp-hours, which essentially doubles the amp-hours of our battery. Because we can only use half of the battery’s power, the battery must be twice its original size.
Another factor to consider is the temperature of the environment in which the battery will be stored. The temperature of the environment has an impact on the battery’s output. This table shows that at 10 degrees C, the multiplication factor is 1.11. So, if we multiply 43.84 amp hours by 1.11, we obtain 48.7 amp hours, which is the battery power needed for one day.
Let’s pretend for a moment that we haven’t had any sunshine for a few days. We couldn’t recharge the battery because to the overcast, poor weather. We want the battery to have at least a couple of days of autonomy so that we can go without solar for a weekend. We simply oversize the battery once more to ensure that we have enough capacity for a couple of days. We may acquire a total battery power of 146.1 amp hours by multiplying the 48.7 amp hours by three days. So, for this single 120-watt solar panel, a 150 amp hour battery (or battery group) will enough. Our solar system would ultimately consist of one 120 watt Coulee compact solar panel, one 12 volts 150 amp hour battery (or two 12 volts 75 amp hour batteries), and a charge controller.
Last but not least, I’d like to talk about the solar panel’s tilt angle. When a solar panel is facing straight towards the sun, the surface is at 90 degrees to the angle of the sun’s rays, it produces the most power. The sun will be at a different angle if you have your panels sitting flat on the roof of your van. They won’t be facing the sun at 90 degrees. And that angle is directly proportional to the earth’s latitude lines. We are usually at 49 degrees north in Vancouver. As a result, our solar panels should be inclined at a 49-degree angle. This will ensure that the sun’s rays strike the panel at a 90-degree angle in the center of the day. And it does make a significant difference in the end result. We must also consider the season, as the sun is lower on the horizon in the winter and much higher in the sky in the summer. As a result, depending on the season, we’ll need to change the tilt angle somewhat. In general, we can increase the angle by 15 degrees during the winter because the sun is lower on the horizon, therefore we need to tilt the panel higher to get it to be 90 degrees to the sun. In the summer, when the sun is directly overhead, we can reduce the angle and lay the panel more flat to get the 90-degree angle. When you tilt your solar panels, you may expect to get up to 30% more power out of them than if they were just resting level on the surface of your vehicle.
As a result, we are vacationing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I’m going to figure out how to mount my solar panels on the roof of my van. I’m going to use some aluminum angle and a couple of metal bracing to keep them in place. Then I’ll drill a succession of holes into that angle, one for each of the seasons: summer, winter, autumn, and spring. So, during the usual season, it will be 49 degrees, during the summer, it will be 34 degrees, and during the winter, it will be 64 degrees. Because, in an ideal world, I’d like to get the most out of my solar panels. Obviously, with this setup, I won’t be lifting these panels if the weather is bad. But if it’s lovely and sunny and the weather is quiet, I’ll raise my panels and maximize the amount of energy I can create.
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