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In lugnet.technic, Clifton D. Chambers wrote:
> > > My plan is to build a small solar farm as part of a train display,
> > > using ten to twenty of the solar LEGO solar panels and connecting
> > > them together in a series to maybe power a wind turbine...
Well... first, if you connect 10 ten to twenty potentially 2V panels up in
series, you're potentially cranking up to 20 to 40 VDC, but at other times
you're going to have almost nothing for power. And if you connect all these in
series, you're going to have very low currents (not a problem for some motors or
lights, a problem for others). The amount of power (as well as the voltage) that
the system will provide is going to depend a lot on the type of light it will be
getting, so do you know how bright the area is you'll be working in? How bright
exactly?
At a minimum, I suspect you'll want some simple power conditioning for the
system. Actually, for low-draw systems, the stock LEGO Ed capacitor is rather
handy for this (not just ease of use in a LEGO setting - it's well-built, and
has a large capacitance).
> > > My choices are...
...a whole lot broader than that. LEGO Ed is selling finished, packed,
quality-controlled end products for the education market. I'd start looking at
Edmund Scientific (still the education department, but a much broader base) and
surplus outfits (American Science & Surplus for examples sometimes has great
specials... and sometimes has poor ones. You just have to look,
http://www.sciplus.com/ ). Find a supplier for a bunch of solar cells you can
wire up yourself, and forget cute casework etc... make your own out of LEGO.
> > Wait, there are more types of solar panels besides the
> > green ones sold in the Pitsco-Dacta catalogs? ($30+/ea)
Sure, many more types, thousands of types (look for the surplus "space grade"
ones for really high efficiency)... but they're not LEGO products, and they
don't have LEGO casework.
If you want the ultimate in LEGO solar cell work... you might want to take a
look at what this guy did with an RCX and custom power systems (custom systems
that *look* LEGO-certified! He did a wonderful job!).
http://home.earthlink.net/~stuff.tm/solarlego/
--
Brian Davis
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