Solar ???

Hyprviperx · Mar 4, 2011

has anyone on here that uses both MH and LEDs ever tried using solar cells inside the hood in order to power LEDs? i was just thinking that the excess of light could be "recycled" and used to reduce the electrical pull of the LEDs. since LEDs are low wattage a solar cell could power it alone maybe if the lighting was high enough. just an idea... not an electrician so im not sure if my idea is electrically sound, also i know nothing about circuitry so i could be off there too. i know a lot of my friends who use MH or HPS usually have the lights kinda high off the tank to reduce heat so with the extra height the light kind of "spills" over the sides and that is where i thought solar cells could be put.

Hyprviperx · Mar 7, 2011

no one??? perhaps i overestimated my idea... or maybe im in the wrong forum.... when im fishing if i don't get any bites i usually move locations but i seem to get one of the posts deleted if i move forums:squigglemouth:

cparka23 · Mar 7, 2011

Solar cells are very inefficient. I think the industry standard for efficiency of silicon solar cells is about 14-18% for a 'single-junction' photovoltaic. For a consumer panel that you buy cheaply and use inside the home, it'll probably be half that. So no, you can't use solar cells to collect light spill in order to run LEDs.

drainbamage · Mar 7, 2011

what dave said- you simply wouldn't be collecting enough light to generate the power you'd need to run the LEDs. If you happened to own a solar cell company and got them dirt cheap, then sure, toss them in and it'll offset a little (tiny) bit of the electrical bill, but even then, might not be worth the installation to begin with.

Hyprviperx · Mar 7, 2011

cparka23 said:
Solar cells are very inefficient. I think the industry standard for efficiency of silicon solar cells is about 14-18% for a 'single-junction' photovoltaic. For a consumer panel that you buy cheaply and use inside the home, it'll probably be half that. So no, you can't use solar cells to collect light spill in order to run LEDs.

thanks im glad someone straightened out my thinking on that idea, i probably would have spent $100 at least trying (and failing haha) to get this to work