Alternative energy sources are becoming more and more popular every year. One of the reasons for this is increased electricity tariffs. In addition, people are forced to create such an installation by the inability to connect to a common user network. Solar panels have become the most popular alternative power sources on the market. These installations are capable of generating electrical energy under the influence of sunlight on structures that are made of silicon. Is it possible to make a solar battery with your own hands?
Charger and solar battery made of transistors
Solar batteries made from transistors make it possible to assemble chargers that can fit Li-ion batteries. This design requires several additional capacitors that can store energy and equalize the current in the event of a change in illumination.
In addition, you will need several light diodes and current-limiting resistors, which will play the role of a voltage stabilizer and can also power sound alarms.
Signal indicators must be used to indicate that the charge has been fully accumulated. You can do it using an old electromechanical alarm clock.
Transistors will be able to create parallel stabilization, which will protect the battery from overcharging. The diode is required to prevent reverse discharge of the battery pack in the absence of light.
How to make a solar panel from foil
As we were able to find out from what was written above in the article, a homemade solar-type battery can be made from different components. Some of the components can even improve the performance of the installation. The installation can be made not only from transistors, but even using tin cans.
This can also include the use of foil as a substrate, which will increase the reflectivity of the panel.
The simplest option is to create a solar collector using a regular watering hose as the main element, a wooden frame and foil. We connect several pipes to the hose and our water heater is ready.
In addition, the installation of foil can be carried out behind the panels, so you can reduce the risk of overheating, as well as improve the performance of the panels and increase their service life. Foil placed behind old radiators will significantly improve heat transfer. Homemade installations include different components.
Scheme
A homemade solar battery can be assembled according to various schemes, it all depends on the required output parameters. The simplest option is a block of four series transistors. If you use 2N3055 parts, the parameters will be about 3.7-4 V at a current of 10-15 mA (depending on the light intensity). Of course, these are very small indicators, however, even they are enough to power a small lamp or clock. To increase the parameters, you can connect several blocks; serial switching gives an increase in voltage (Fig. a), parallel switching – in current (Fig. b).
Transistors are usually secured by simple hinged mounting, as this greatly facilitates the assembly of the device. Moreover, such batteries have one important advantage - the elements included in their composition are not afraid of short circuits. However, they must be protected from overheating, since at very high temperatures the output voltage of the device drops.
A little history
It is unlikely that the creators of laser discs could have imagined what the improvement of the manufacturing technology of their brainchild would lead to. By creating media with laser recording of information, they pursued one single goal - to obtain material from which they could make discs with the ability to record high-quality sound and images. This is how CDs and, a little later, DVDs appeared. The capacity of these media was small - about 700 megabytes on a CD and 4.5 gigabytes on a DVD. On a DVD disc, the user could make a two-hour video recording of low quality. Such a disk usually consists of two polycarbonate layers and an active layer located between them.
To read the data, the laser beam must penetrate the polycarbonate layer. Sometimes, due to some fluctuations, the polycarbonate splits the laser beam into two beams, then the reading device cannot recognize the information. Birefringence requires high precision alignment to align the polycarbonate beams. But even such an adjustment will not help if the beam has been greatly distorted. But it can be distorted, since recording occurs with a laser beam in the red region of the spectrum, and therefore having a long wavelength, which affects the density and quality of the recording.
Comments:
Stasik
Can you tell me what thickness of glass should I use? Is it possible to have a regular one? Or is plexiglass better?
Kolya
Stasik, you can’t use plexiglass under any circumstances - it becomes cloudy and bends due to temperature, so you can only use regular window glass. I use five. Less thickness may crack from hail.
Stasik
Kolya, is there any reason to install 7-8 mm glass? Will it be even more reliable?
Kolya
More thickness = more weight = more price. As for me, five is enough. Moreover, the greater the thickness of the glass, the less light falls on the panel itself, therefore the efficiency decreases, so you need to take the minimum thickness of glass
Hebergement web
Solar panels are designed to convert light into electricity, but factory-made solar panels are quite expensive and not everyone can afford them. In this regard, making solar panels with your own hands using solar cells is gaining widespread popularity.
Andrey
Where can you buy photocells and how much do they cost?
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LEDs – light for all homes
A homemade solar panel made from LEDs is not a new phenomenon, but it can only be made as an experiment, because, as practice shows, the voltage it produces is too low to be of any use. We have already written in more detail about batteries made from LEDs in one of the previous articles, “Making a solar battery from diodes,” so we will not delve too deeply into this topic. Let us only note that LEDs of any size and color are suitable for such a panel, but depending on the color of the LEDs their light transmittance will depend.
The peak voltage value of 1 LED is on average 2.5 V. To increase the output parameters, the elements are connected in series/parallel, but in order to obtain good performance, the number of LEDs must be unlimitedly large. One clarification: such a battery is very sensitive to the angle of inclination relative to the sun; even a slight deviation from the direct impact of the rays can reduce the output voltage.
Tools and materials
Materials:
- Aluminum corner 25x25;
- Bolts 5x10 mm – 8 pcs;
- Nuts 5 mm – 8 pcs;
- Glass 5-6 mm;
- Glue – sealant Sylgard 184;
- Adhesive-sealant Ceresit CS 15;
- Polycrystalline photocells;
- Flux marker (a mixture of rosin and alcohol);
- Silver tape for connection to photocells;
- Tire tape;
- Solder (you need thin solder, because excessive heating will damage the photocell);
- Polyurethane foam (foam rubber), 3 cm thick;
- Thick polyethylene film 10 microns.
Tool:
- File;
- Hacksaw for metal with blade 18;
- Drill, 5 and 6 mm drills;
- Open-end wrenches;
- Soldering iron;
We do it ourselves: do-it-yourself solar battery from transistors (video)
To summarize, we can give one simple piece of advice. Never be afraid to experiment, because without experiments the things that we use in everyday life and can no longer imagine how to live without them would not appear. Only through experiments can science move one step forward. Who knows, maybe you will be the one to come up with a new method for creating a solar-type battery with your own hands, and very soon we will get acquainted with it.
Comments
0 Daniil 02/09/2018 12:08 For me, it’s like rocket science, it’s interesting to read, but nothing is clear.
In general, the topic of solar panels is very promising; perhaps in the future it will be one of the main sources of energy. And the fact that some people have learned to build them practically at home is simply super, I have always admired such people. Quote
0 Dima 07/14/2017 06:25 I didn’t know that solar panels can be made with your own hands. Of course, in terms of efficiency they are inferior to the same Tesla or the factory version, but it is free and if you have a sunny region, then this is an excellent option.
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Transistors - generators of electricity
A homemade solar battery, which at the output will not generate thermal energy (as in the previous section), but electric energy, can be assembled from ordinary transistors. Of course, such a homemade battery will not be suitable for powering the entire house, but you can definitely power small appliances or recharge your mobile phone. The more transistors you use, the more powerful the solar battery you will get, this needs to be taken into account.
The first thing you need to start with is to carefully cut off the top part of the element so that sunlight can easily reach the pn junctions. If you use type P transistors, you need to pour out the powder from its inside. After these preparations, we proceed directly to the assembly process. Series connection of elements is used to increase voltage, and parallel connection - current. It is recommended to use textolite or organic glass as a substrate. In order not to damage the transistor crystal, it is better not to solder the terminals suitable for it. One transistor provides a current from 0.1 to 3 mA, and a block consisting of 4 transistors provides a current from 10 to 15 mA.
DIY solar battery from scrap materials: assembly diagram
It should be said right away that there is no one general scheme for creating a solar battery; assemblies can be different, and they depend on the output parameters. The simplest option is an assembly of 4 transistors arranged in series. So, for example, if the assembly contains 2N3055 parts, then with a current of 10-15 mA you can get a result of up to 4 V. Of course, we cannot say that this is a good indicator, but even using this design you can power a small lighting device and even a watch.
In order to improve the parameters, you can combine a couple of blocks. Connecting them in series will increase the voltage.
In order to secure transistors, they generally choose wall-mounted mounting, as this greatly simplifies assembly. In addition, basically all such devices have an important quality: they are not afraid of short circuits. However, try to protect them from possible overheating, since if they overheat, their output voltage may drop.
