# So excited, just got a solar panel....now what??!!?



## ridethatpony (Jul 20, 2004)

Tractor supply had a solar panel (brand new in box) marked down to $68. So I bought it.
Any suggestions as to what I should power with it?


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## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

Do you have a Kill-O-Watt? This will tell you how much power appliances and other electronics use. Seems like there was just a thread on it recently. Otherwise check on ebay. 
You will need a charge controller, inverter, and a battery. There's a few good sites on what kind of batteries are best. Have fun!


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

Do you, by chance, know the wattage of the solar panel. You will need to know this to determine if you can use it to trickle charge a battery. I kind of think for that price- trickle charging is its intended purpose. sis


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## ridethatpony (Jul 20, 2004)

The packaging says it's 10W

Is that good? or bad????

Thank you for the replies.


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

10w just small, you still need a batery and charge controller. It's about enough tthat 1 full days production will power a 40w bulb for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or a 13w floresant (sp?) for 3 to 4 hours depending on where you are.


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## Metcalf (Feb 15, 2007)

You could build a nice little AA battery charger, PDA charger, laptop charger, cell phone charger, etc. You could also do some lighting with LEDs and a small battery.


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

Charge a 12 volt automotive battery and hook an inverter to it.For intermittent use,like to light an area,or charge rechargeable tools.

A small charge over many days can store a lot,and when you need to draw down you can have a goodly amount of power stored.

I would think long charges with intermittent usage.

You have the start to a great learning experience in solar.


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## ridethatpony (Jul 20, 2004)

Thank you all for the information, I am looking forward to putting this together this weekend.


Would a used car battery from the junk yard work?

How about the one from the riding lawn mower? 


Again, Thank You.


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

They would work but are a poor choice. You need a deep cycle type battery. Golf carts would have larger ones and UPS's for computers would have smaller ones.


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

As said,car battery not the best choice,but it will let you play with it.
Nice thing about solar is the modular aspect,you get to upgrade various parts without losing the whole system.
I said car battery because it looks like you want a very inexpensive setup to start with,to break into it cheaply.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

power in and power out. You use 10watts you can restore 10watts with the panel.
Depending on where you live and the time of year it would take most people 2 days
of full sunlight to charge up enough power to light a 60watt light bulb for 1 hour.

10 watts is about 3/4amp at 12v. Again not much power at all. Might charge a cell phone but not much more.


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