Solar power to run a television outside.?
Hello, I would like to use a solar panel to run a small 8 inch television outside while tailgating. I have a tractor battery at 275 cranking amps. my question is can i hook up a solar panel to the battery while hooking up my converter for the television to the battery simultaniously? how big of a panel do you think(watts volts) would work? I know i probably wont have a solar panel that is big enough to recharge the battery while im watching the tv but im trying to have the battery last for 8 hours or more….ANY help would be greatly appreciated!!
Not a lot of information in the question regarding the power consumption of the television or the battery capacity but here are the formula needed.
power = current times voltage
If your television requires 100 watts at 12 volts then it needs to be supplied with 8 amps.
A battery will have a capacity such as 10 amp hours and a voltage such as 12 volts
This means the battery can supply 10 amps for one hour or 1 amp for 10 hours or 8 amps for 10/8 hours or 1.25 hours. You may be able to pull 275 amps out of the battery but for how long? If it is 27.5 amp hours the answer is 0.1 hours or 6 minutes, then it is flat.
How much power can a solar panel supply? It depends on the location and weather but there is a theoretical value based on the available power from the sun (250W per square metre) and 15% (typical) efficient solar panels. So consider a 1 square metre panel, it will provide 37.5 watts, and at 12 volts this will be 37.5/12 = 3.125 amps.
Hope you can work it out from this, if not post details of the television power requirements and the battery voltage and capacity. If you are using a converter to supply AC for a mains only television then details of that will also be required as it is not going to be very efficient.
Martin
Clean Power Show Episode 5 – Solar Heater