Want to have some real fun?

[eddie1261]

Go to Google and ask if solar panels can produce power from the reflected sun that is moonlight. On the first page you will people claiming to be experts in the field argue back and forth. Most include the disclaimer that the answer is theoretical and that while you CAN produce power from a full moon it would be about enough power to power a single LED light. One little square of your LED reading light. I just love watching experts who all claim to have Masters Degrees and 30 years experience in a field of expertise argue. I must have looked at 50 linked pages and the opinions are v

 

[gnubie]

pages and the opinions are v

.... and with that he was never seen again. The secret society has silenced another.

 

[Rider]

I actually tried this last month. Yes, it does produce power. No, its not useful power. 1.2VDC while connected to the SCC. Not enough to trigger the charge circuits.

 

[svetz]

I actually tried this last month. Yes, it does produce power. No, its not useful power. 1.2VDC while connected to the SCC. Not enough to trigger the charge circuits.

I wonder if it's enough to safely do diagnostics?

 

[eddie1261]

.... and with that he was never seen again. The secret society has silenced another.

I wonder what I was trying to type at the end of that. This is why you don't use a cell phone at 1:35 in the morning without your glasses. I THINK the last line was "and the opinions are very widely opposing." It got into UV rays and relative strengths of direct vs reflected sun. One said that the moon's reflected sun is 1/400th the strength of direct sun, so math says it would take 400 hours of full moon to equal 1 hour of sun. What stuck to me was the part that said moonlight can power one tiny LED, one little cube in your LED light.

 

[gnubie]

I've checked my own 1kW array out of sheer curiosity a while ago after I noticed the charge controller was reporting 0.54 volts with a full moon and it was actually doing .6 volts. Pretty much zip current but enough to dimly light up a LED. Right now my 2kW array is reporting 0.6 volts., 4:51am predawn glow is just starting. I know there will be some very low PV activity but I also wonder how much of that is the panels and wiring collecting radio signals and rectifying it.

 

[WoodsieLord]

Imagine a fairly small (like... 20" by 20" ?) geostationary mirror that aims at your panels automatically. Building a small nuclear reactor would be cheaper and last longer... but Hey! where is the fun in that ?

 

[offgriddle]

I've looked to see if my MPPT was registering input from the panels during full moon and saw nothing. I suppose it's possible that strong enough reflected moonlight could bias the junctions of the PV cells enough to cause a little something something to happen. ~ * How about this one, a buddy of mine claims that a temperature drop can be measured on objects that are in moonlight!
* Subject Change Disclaimer: I freely admit to slightly diverging from the theme of moonlight PV generation to the subject of moonlight ambient temperature drops, however, I believe that my actions do not warrant administrative reassignment to a new subject category. Thank you. Have a nice day.

 

[Deleted member 783]

I have a pretty nice LED light with panel that stays pretty darn bright all night, at least this time of year. I was considering mounting it right above my panels. It would give me the light I need at night-would it generate any watts? I dunno, but I'm going to find out.

 

[offgriddle]

I thought about focusing my solar led floods on my panels too just for grins. I wonder what differences their are in usable PV light energy output amongst different kinds of lights, ie incandescent, high pressure sodium, florescent, halogen and so on?

 

[eddie1261]

Do it!

 

[A J]

Fellas
Interesting read, I did read (some time ago) PV cells will respond to certain wave lengths of light! I forget the Nm IF TRUE.
I wonder? pending your location in the world and position of the moon in orbit close or far would it buzz a LED more or less? or give different results altogether... HUMM?
As for artificial concentrating sunlight my install manual said > but source of light?

Do not artificially concentrate sunlight on the solar
module surface. Failure to comply may result in
product damage or failure.​

We could all be the first to put it to bed? BUST THE MYTH, I mean as eddie1261 picture states " I NEED IT FOR SCIENCE"

 

[Deleted member 783]

If the moon is casting that much light, why do need a led? Things that make you go hmmm

 

[Will Prowse]

Yeah I have seen a couple of volts on super moons but never enough to use it for anything. And moonlight is technically sunshine, just reflected :D But yeah, very low amount of light

 

[monty]

Not likely that you would notice even on a super moon - which gives a maximum of 14% more lux than a normal full moon.

Normal full moon - 0.1 lux
Super moon - 0.114 lux

As a comparison full daylight is 10,000+ lux (100,000 times more....)

 

[Wiley]

AJ wrote: "Interesting read, I did read (some time ago) PV cells will respond to certain wave lengths of light! I forget the Nm IF TRUE. "

I believe you are correct, I remember reading where some expert back in the 80s said solar panel production would be limited by availability and cost of low iron glass to cover the panels. Seems iron in the glass absorbs the most productive wavelength of light.

 

[A J]

AJ wrote: "Interesting read, I did read (some time ago) PV cells will respond to certain wave lengths of light! I forget the Nm IF TRUE. "

I believe you are correct, I remember reading where some expert back in the 80s said solar panel production would be limited by availability and cost of low iron glass to cover the panels. Seems iron in the glass absorbs the most productive wavelength of light.

Well i'd be... I did't read it in the 80's! I was a ankle biting hooligan, late 90's 2000 when the fascination of things was more appealing.
The old man was a glass manufacturer there was no Iron in his glass, I guess that is what type of glass!
For the sake of it I looked it up again just to refresh my memory.
Solar radiation with wavelengths of 380 nM to 750 nM (violet to red) in addition to it's brightness, the wavelength of the incident light also matters. A typical silicon solar cell responds to most of the visible and infrared parts of the sun's light spectrum, but some wavelengths in the yellow and red regions are absorbed poorly "the moons reflected light".
Say if some scientist, engineer managed to harvest the light from the moon in to something useful? Hmmm...

 

[eddie1261]

Yeah. Make me feel old. In the 80s I was in my 30s!

 

[A J]

Yeah. Make me feel old. In the 80s I was in my 30s!

Oh sorry mate; I feel old, I need a grease and oil change.
Your as old as you feel gran mar used to say to me after I'd say I'm too old for this... or This old age..
All in good fun .
If only there was a pill to make us young again who am I kidding...

 

[bulrush]

On youtube there are videos where a person puts a bunch of LEDs together to generate a bit of power from the sun. It's not efficient but it does work.