# Stupid Solar Question



## AKacres (Oct 28, 2013)

At the risk of sounding like a total idiot, can a person use a "full spectrum" type lightbulb to make a small solar panel work?
Thank you.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

Sure, given it has enough intensity. Panels are "flash" tested at the factory using artificial light.

Now IF your next question is can you get more energy out than you put in ?

Nope.


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

Yes, but the light bulb will have to be at least 5 to 10 times the wattage of the solar panel. So if you have a 100 watt panel you'll need over 500 to 1000 watts of lights focused on the panel. PV panels are only 15 to 20% effecient.

WWW


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## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

AKacres said:


> At the risk of sounding like a total idiot, can a person use a "full spectrum" type lightbulb to make a small solar panel work?
> Thank you.


I have two of solar LED lights, at a dollar each from TSC, that I mounted on fence posts along the state road at the ranch. The snowplow knocked them off and broke the bases. I picked them up and they sit in a coffee cup on my desk. I plan to silicon them back on the posts when it warms up.

I grinned when I turned the office light out at the end of the day, one day this week, and saw that they were lighting the inside of the cup.

The lights overhead are enough to charge them a little during the day.


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## AKacres (Oct 28, 2013)

Thanks for the info!
I asked because I just got a "Nasco Farm Supply" catalog in the mail the other day. Toward the back they have a heated stock waterer that has its own solar panel. It supposedly works to -50. Very expensive at over $700. However if it really keeps the water from freezing at -50 it would pay for itself easily in one winter compared to the electric heaters people around here have to use. A neighbor's Jan. electric bill a couple years ago was about $600 mostly from tank heaters, and of course rates haven't dropped since then.
So anyway my thought was that, since when we have -50 we simultaneously don't have any direct sunshine, maybe a person could just have a lightbulb shining on the solar panel. On the other hand maybe it wouldn't be enough charge to overcome the extreme cold.
Just wondering...
Thanks again for answering the question.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

Like this ?










That may not be a PV (electric) type solar panel. My guess is it is some kind of heating panel that warms the water enough in the tank (a VERY well insulated tank) to keep it from freezing.....a "batch" heater. It would make a lot more sense, cost wise, to do that. The efficiency is a LOT higher than converting light to electric, then using it to heat.


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

AKacres said:


> Thanks for the info!
> maybe a person could just have a lightbulb shining on the solar panel.


 
How would you power the Light Bulb??


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

Short coming on TnAndy's example is . . .How often you would have to clean the snow off of the unit. . . . . . .
And I would question that being so low to the ground that it is much more vulnerable to being damaged by your critters.

Long while back I did see a "heater" that had the solar unit elevated 4 or 5 feet . . . that looked a lot more "critter prof" . . . . .


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## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

TnAndy said:


> Like this ?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That looks like a commercial one, but you can also make your own starting with a regular galvanized stock tank -- several of them here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterHeating/water_heating.htm#Animals

The work well here ( SW MT).

Gary


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