Electrical Circuit Hook Up, How Would This Work?

Question

I'm not an electrician so I have a question about the capacity of a given load and the voltage that could be supplied to it. It's a 50 Watt draw, running around 3.5 Amps at 12 Volts. If I were to hook this load up to a solar cell(s), and the solar cells specs are:

Open circuit voltage of 5 volts DC

Short circuit current of 95 mA

Max power output is 3.9V 64 mA. (.25 watts) at standard sun test conditions (100 mW per square cm)

How many solar cells would I need to get this load functioning well?

Answer 1

12 volts and 3.5 amps is 42 watts

your solar cells need to develop more than 12 volts, preferably 15 volts. So you need 3 solar cells in series to get 12 volts, but you will get only 64ma. to get 3.5 amps, 3500ma, that is 55 strings of 3 each or 165 cells.

In theory that will develop 12 volts at 3.5 amps. BUT only under a bright sun when the sun is perpendicular to the cells.

To get more than an hour a day, you will need perhaps 50% more cells, and you may need a voltage regulator, or you will wind up with voltages of more than 12 volts for part of the day. I don't know what the load is, but if it is sensitive to over voltage, you will need the regulator.

Over 200 cells wired in series parallel, you are better off getting a solar array.

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