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Solar panel power question?
Hey was looking at a 15 watt 12 volt solar panel and was wondering if it'd be enough to power a regular light bulb. Also need to power a 115volt 6.5 amp pump for at most a minute at a time. So basically if I had this panel would I be able to plug a lamp into it and have it light for 5+ hours at a time with the possibility of running the pump? If not what size panel would I need?
3 Answers
- ReginaldLv 78 years agoFavorite Answer
The specifications you give say the solar panel produces 15 watts at 12 volts (DC)
so that isn't enough voltage to power an ordinary (120-volt) light bulb. You could get
10 of these panels and connect them in series so they put out a total of 120 volts
and the total power available would be 150 watts. The panels would light the bulb
that way, provided the bulb isn't over 150 watts and you can afford the panels.
A panel does provide enough power for a 12-volt car light bulb less than 15 watts.
However, the maximum current you can get from these panels is 1.25 amperes
(15 watts divided by 12 volts = 1.25 A.) This isn't enough power to run your pump
which takes 6.5 amperes - at 120 volts, that would be 780 watts. Another thing to
check is the pump motor; many electric motors are designed to run on AC only
and will be damaged if you try to run DC through them. Remember solar panels
produce DC so the raw output from a panel will not work on an AC motor.
Source(s): high school physics - ?Lv 78 years ago
NO ! Pump needs 747 watts power. And you need to buy one more expensive DC to AC converter to make it work. Use solar panel at least has 1000W output.
