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Question:

Solar panel connected to battery ??

im doin a science experiment and i have a battery that is 3.6 volts , does it matter wut voltage the solar panel that im connecting it to is . Does it need to match , be less or does voltage have no effect . If so wut does matter when choosing the type of solar panel to power a bettery?

Answer:

You really need a little more infomation about your battery. It should have a recommended range of charging current. You should not exceed that range. Your solar cells must be a higher voltage than the battery, but you should not connect the cells directly to the battery. First, you need a diode in the line to keep the battery from draining into the solar cells when there is no light. Second, you need a resistor to limit the charging current. You have a 3.6v battery. Let's say the charging current is 0.A. Use a 5v solar cell and silicon diode. The diode will drop the cell voltage to 4.3v. The voltage across the resistor will be .7v for .A current, you need a 7-ohm resistor.
Try to disassembled a solar powered calculator inside there will be all the materials u need to your project. U can safe all the trouble to trying to find the correct match. After using try to put it back in if not possible it is just a broken calculator, at least u still have a successful science project.
your solar panel has to be a bit higher in voltage than your battery to achieve charging. I.E . if your battery is 3.6 volts, your solar array voltage should be like 5.v. to make the charging take place. always a bit higher than your battery,. wattage is not so important, you can charge a whole slew of batteries with a .5 watt charger, it just takes a while. higher wattage will make it charge faster, tho. v. x a. =w.
. Make sure you got the right type of battery that allow to charge from the solar panel. 2. Make sure you use a device which I forgot the name but it will make sure the charge go one way in case the light go out so will not drain the battery while it is hook up. 3. Make sure you got the right charge from the solar panel to charge the battery. Reason is easyier to swim down the river or is it easy to swim up river.

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