100 watt solar panel...what can it do...

I found this video informative...maybe you will too.

What kind of power can you get from one 100 watt panel, and what can you do with it.



I'm no solar expert, but I can tell you this: 18V ain't going to do you a whole lotta good unless you have 18VDC appliances. You'll need to convert that to AC, and DC watts assumes a purely resistive load, when you convert to an AC load (what everything is), it becomes a REACTIVE load, usually inductive, which means that the phase angle of the sines don't line up and you lose efficiency unless you have a phase corrector.

Then you'll lose even more if you want to store some of it as a battery back up in lead acid batteries; the good news is that if you get a LOT of sun and can afford BIG solar power, you can make it work and sell the excess you push back onto the national grid.
 
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Essential gear for today's military.
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And it's saving taxpayers money.
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So let’s give up this solar panel crap and go back to good old tried and true coal.
 
I asked my liberal engineer brother why California went dark, and he said the solar panels work great, but they don't work at night. I swear to God that is what he told me. Then he went on to say the real problem is Cali banned energy from other states to bail out the grid. Isn't the issue still the battery and storage?
 
Had one years ago.

Over a six day period of only average hours of sunlight it charged a deep-cycle battery sufficiently to provide me with a full day at the cabin with enough light to read, run a small radio and use a 5-Watt transceiver for essential communcations. On weeks where there had been constant rain I brought a similar size fully charged battery with me. Then I added a second 100 Watt panel to the system and found I didn't ever need to bring the extra battery.

Key, of course, is maximizing efficiency and controlling use.
 
Same here, I was able to power my cabin for occasional use with only 1 panel and 3 batteries.
Enough to charge lights, electric lawnmower, power tool batteries, used a 5w usb fan, and even run a 1200watt 14000 btu portable a/c for a few hours. Now I use 2 panels for quicker recharge of the battery grid and more hours of A/c use.
Secret: like you said is to use efficient appliances like the usb fan. If I stayed there longer I would use a very low watt refridge. I already use a mere 700 watt microwave. In the winter I use usb heat pads to keep warm in the bed while using a mere 400 watt mini portable heat source.
My chainsaw is electric, so all my lawn and yard tools either manual or electric means my solar powers everything.
The other secret is to put your solar controller on 14.2-14.6v not the 13.7 it comes set on.
This helps top off the battery charge which requires the extra voltage for a true full charge.
 

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