solar cell that stores energy too

[pianotuna]

Hi,

This seems too good to be true!

Sun Vault

[wa8yxm]

That article was a bit better.. but still, trips the caution alarms... Just not quite as many of them.

What is tripping things is the concentration on the credentials of the people who vouch for it v/s the number of facts about it.. I usually see "This Doctor and That Doctor and the Other Doctor endorse" on non-FDA approved weight loss products.

[MickD]

Here is another link for a similar or same cell.

http://phys.org/news/2014-10-solar-cell-power-world-battery.html

[fpresto]

In my line of work we are always testing new equipment. I can't tell you how many times I hear "but it works in the lab". Lab tests and real world applications are often worlds apart.

[mlts22]

That article was quite light on facts, and the photos of stacked PV cells really doesn't make sense.

There is a long road between a cool idea of something in the lab versus something being mass produced and available on store shelves for people to buy.

[wa8yxm]

In reading the article there were several things that bothered my suspicion filters. I will not go into the list but they did trip some alerts.

Of course an alert means POSSIBLE bull.. only POSSIBLE.

That said..Sounds like a solar cell strapped to a battery.. And there were a few very interesting lines in that article too.

I would need to actually talk to someone before I gave it a thumb..Either direction.

[Golden_HVAC]

It seems to me that using Li-Ion battery or lead acid battery or NiMh batteries will work out great with normal $1 per rated watt solar panels and a PWM controller would work great!

I can order a 20 amp 12 volt PWM controller for $13.

I can order a 100 watt solar panel for about $100 - $150 from this website. SunElec.com

I can make solar panel mounts from 6" long 2" angle aluminum from Home Depot for less than $2 each. 3 each 3/16" holes for #10 screws into the roof and 5/16" hole for a 1/4" bolt into the panel framework will finish the mount. Some rubber roof sealant and you are done.

You have to take care, and only buy a panel that will fit on your roof, without getting to close to the shadows, such as the A/C or antenna. And leave space to walk around the roof for maintenance.

#10 UV rated direct burial romex is grey and sold at Home Depot. You can use that to go behind the refrigerator to the controller, then on to the battery with more flexible #8 building wire.


Then you can install a 400 watt system for less than $600, and have plenty of power for a RV. While not camping, it is practical to run some of your home lights on the RV system (if parked near the home) via a 12 volt distribution system, or with a inverter and run a 110 volt power cord to run items like the TV set or other things that will consume less power than the solar system makes on a daily basis.

The RV battery will act as the storage system. It is very effective, and I would cycle through about 120 amp hours with my 400 watt solar system while camping, and completely recharge the next day.

Right now, for homes, the most energy efficient system is to use a batteryless inverter, and sell back power to the local supplier. This helps the supplier, as their most expensive power is that generated between noon and 5 pm, when most solar systems are working at their peak wattage. A batteryless system can convert up to about 95% of the sunlight wattage leaving the panels into energy that is sold to the power company.

Battery systems can lose 10% of the power capacity of the battery each month! So installing a 440 amp hour battery, you would lose 44 AH monthly, or at 13 volts about 700 watts a month! That can add up over time. Also the battery based inverters are not 96% efficient, more likely 85% to 90% on the best units, and much less efficient on the cheaper inverters.

Good luck!

Fred.

[westend]

My first question would be, can this technology be scaled up inexpensively to make and store meaningful power? It may be that it will only scale up enough to charge and run a cell phone (not that it wouldn't be a good fit in that application).