Is there a trick to power a project indoors by solar cells? I have two 6W solar panels (PRT-13783 ) and a Solar Buddy charging a LiPo battery (PRT-08483 ) in a bright room but it won’t even recharge a battery with nothing plugged in. Outdoors, in bright sunlight, it charges no problem.
I have an Arduino project where there is no easily available power so I wish to power indoors from solar cells but find that they are intensely ineffective.
Is there a trick? Flourescent lights, UV filtering glass windows, LED overhead lights, incandescent lights, maybe it is a light frequency thing.
The “trick” is that you need sunlight. You can’t get out more energy than you put in and the energy from the available light sources in your room is far too small.
The power in sunlight available on the ground (the insolation), at noon in the middle latitudes is roughly 1000 watts per square meter.
In comparison, you could work out how much might be available from a few 40 watt fluorescent lamps in the ceiling of your room. However, it is enough of to power a “bare bones” Arduino and a few peripherals, if you are extremely careful. Check out this Arduino tutorial on using a capacitor to store energy for a remote sensor: http://www.gammon.com.au/forum/?id=12821