New here and curious

[John'sBoy]

Hi everybody, I'm new here. I'm looking into some product design in combination with solar energy.

I was wondering if I had a 2 by 1 feet solar panel could that provide enough energy for 2 TV's to run 24/7 and 2 phones to be charged at the same time?

And pardon the amateur jargon, this is not my field of expertise.

Thanks!

[Sunking]

Hi everybody, I'm new here. I'm looking into some product design in combination with solar energy.

I was wondering if I had a 2 by 1 feet solar panel could that provide enough energy for 2 TV's to run 24/7 and 2 phones to be charged at the same time?

And pardon the amateur jargon, this is not my field of expertise.

Thanks!

No what made you think that?

[John'sBoy]

No what made you think that?

I'm just trying to figure out if I can run those devices on solar energy without having an additional power source. The space to add solar panels is rather limited, that's why I'm asking. How much space in solar panels would it take to provide the energy for 4 devices (2 TV's + 2 Phones) ?

[inetdog]

Hi everybody, I'm new here. I'm looking into some product design in combination with solar energy.

I was wondering if I had a 2 by 1 feet solar panel could that provide enough energy for 2 TV's to run 24/7 and 2 phones to be charged at the same time?

And pardon the amateur jargon, this is not my field of expertise.

Thanks!

To give you a little more guidance on top of Dereck's masterful summary:

1. I will take power needed for a "typical" TV as 100 watts. The real value could be anywhere from 60 watts or less for a small portable TV to 300 watts or more for a large screen. A projection TV (remember those?) could go even higher.
Two TVs at 100 watts for 2400 hours add up to 4800 watt-hours (wh). That is a measure of the energy used, while simple watts tell you the rate at which energy is being used. The phone charging is negligible by comparison (10 or 20 wh).
2. Assuming 100% efficiency for the panel to storage battery energy transfer (a more practical figure would be 90%) and 100% efficiency in the inverter that generates 120V AC from battery power (again 90% would be more realistic). Your panel(s) would have to produce 4800wh every day.
3. Since the panels, in an ideal orientation and during the North American summer might give you the equivalent of 5 hours of full noon sun, that would require a panel power of 960 watts actual.
4. The output of a really good panel will be 20% of the incoming light energy, which in turn is 1000 watts per square meter of panel area.
So a one meter square panel will produce only 200 watts. You would need five such panels.
5. Is a 2 foot by 1 foot panel going to do the job?
No, but it would be more than enough for just the cell phone charging. If you could leave the phone connected to the panel (through an appropriate converter) during the day you could eliminate the charge controller, battery and inverter from the system design.

If you would like to get a serious and thorough design aid for an off grid system, both battery size and panel size, you should play with the off-grid design spreadsheet constructed by Dereck (Sunking). It can be found in a sticky thread in the off-grid section.

[Ardell]

solar panel size

I think your summary for that was right on.. I`m from pa. Takes more panels here. I`m working on old nickel-iron reconditioning, They are from 1940`s or 1950`s, I am trying to date them but seems nobody knows the codes. If anyone knows these I could use the help. I am going to renew (10) at first, they are a-10`s metal cased. Thanks Ardell