Battery charging via Solar pannel

AI Thread Summary
Charging a battery via a solar panel can yield good power conversion under varying irradiance levels due to the battery's ability to adjust its terminal voltage during charging. The solar panel must output a voltage higher than the battery's to initiate charging; otherwise, the battery may drain back through the circuit. Many users, particularly sailors, have experienced drained batteries due to improper installation of diodes or leaving solar chargers connected overnight. A simple control circuit with a PNP pass transistor can enhance efficiency compared to using a diode alone. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for optimizing solar charging systems.
rusty009
Messages
68
Reaction score
0
Hey guys, I recently conducted an experiment which involved charging a battery via a PV module and also logging the I and V values to calculate conversion efficiencies. I also logged the I and V values from two other circuits with a fixed resistance. I understand that every irradiation has a Maximum Power Point (MPPT) so a fixed resistance will never draw the maximum energy yield from the PV module. But when I saw the results I saw that the power conversion for the battery was good under high and low irradiances. My question is why is this? Does a battery have some sort of control circuit to vary its resistance ? Thanks in advance.
 
Engineering news on Phys.org
No, but depending on the battery type the terminal voltage and so the current availabel from the PV will change as it charges.

For everythign you want to know about batteries see here http://www.batteryuniversity.com/
 
I've looked through that but I still don't understand what is actually happening.
 
As long as the PV output voltage is higher than the battery it will charge the battery. When the PV output drops, the battery will drain through the PV circuit. Many sailors have woken up to find drained batteries from either leaving their solar charger on at night or not installing diodes to keep the current flowing only to the battery.

Are you certain that durring the low irradiance test the battery was not what you measured for power conversion?
 
MythUser said:
As long as the PV output voltage is higher than the battery it will charge the battery. When the PV output drops, the battery will drain through the PV circuit. Many sailors have woken up to find drained batteries from either leaving their solar charger on at night or not installing diodes to keep the current flowing only to the battery.

The forward voltage drop of a diode is roughly 0.6 volts, and is roughly 3 times the emitter-collector drop of a saturated PNP transistor, so using a simple regulator comprised of a simple control circuit and a PNP pass transistor on the + side of the charging voltage is better.
 
Hi all I have some confusion about piezoelectrical sensors combination. If i have three acoustic piezoelectrical sensors (with same receive sensitivity in dB ref V/1uPa) placed at specific distance, these sensors receive acoustic signal from a sound source placed at far field distance (Plane Wave) and from broadside. I receive output of these sensors through individual preamplifiers, add them through hardware like summer circuit adder or in software after digitization and in this way got an...
I have recently moved into a new (rather ancient) house and had a few trips of my Residual Current breaker. I dug out my old Socket tester which tell me the three pins are correct. But then the Red warning light tells me my socket(s) fail the loop test. I never had this before but my last house had an overhead supply with no Earth from the company. The tester said "get this checked" and the man said the (high but not ridiculous) earth resistance was acceptable. I stuck a new copper earth...
I am not an electrical engineering student, but a lowly apprentice electrician. I learn both on the job and also take classes for my apprenticeship. I recently wired my first transformer and I understand that the neutral and ground are bonded together in the transformer or in the service. What I don't understand is, if the neutral is a current carrying conductor, which is then bonded to the ground conductor, why does current only flow back to its source and not on the ground path...

Similar threads

Back
Top