You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Solar Powered
- Thread starter yazid
- Start date
Aren't most solar pannels black or dark purplish in color? I know the back of my tank is painted black. I wonder how much light the glass would stop and if I could get a pannel the same size as the back of my tank... Of course, I didn't stack my live rock up on the back wall either.
[ November 07, 2001: Message edited by: Dazureus ]</p>
[ November 07, 2001: Message edited by: Dazureus ]</p>
The idea is illogical. Where you plan on putting this solar panel you should put a mirror. It is like attatching a windmill to the top of your car and driving around hoping to charge the car. You are losing more power than you are saving. Every device humans make are ineffiecient. The solar panel can not collect all of the light and convert it into the energy that was spent creating it.
[ November 15, 2001: Message edited by: chris_h ]</p>
[ November 15, 2001: Message edited by: chris_h ]</p>
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by afss:
<strong>chris h.
I'm not sure about the others, but I was intending on putting it outside, you know, to run the tank from the sun, not to run the tank from the halides</strong><hr></blockquote>
Ok. I thought you were going to put it inside the hood.
<strong>chris h.
I'm not sure about the others, but I was intending on putting it outside, you know, to run the tank from the sun, not to run the tank from the halides</strong><hr></blockquote>
Ok. I thought you were going to put it inside the hood.
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by chris_h:
<strong>The idea is illogical. Where you plan on putting this solar panel you should put a mirror. It is like attatching a windmill to the top of your car and driving around hoping to charge the car. You are losing more power than you are saving. Every device humans make are ineffiecient. The solar panel can not collect all of the light and convert it into the energy that was spent creating it.
[ November 15, 2001: Message edited by: chris_h ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
I agree with this. All of the energy we use on this planet is converted. All, except nuclear, originally came from the sun. Every time energy is converted from one type to another, some of the energy is lost do to some "unwanted" release of another form of energy. ex. Electrical energy can be converted to light energy, at the expense of energy released as heat. ex. #2 Your car makes heat energy as wasted energy from fuel (dinos and forests eating solar energy) getting converted to kinetic energy (motion), then you waste that heat again from friction every time you use the brakes (motion into heat, did you ever touch a hot brake disk?) So, to run the fan, you are converting gas, oil, coal, and nuclear material into electricity, where a lot of the energy is lost as heat as a byproduct (not to mention the pollution). Then, you convert the electricity to light energy, where still more energy is lost as heat. Then, you convert the light (a fraction of the energy you started with) back to electricity with only 8% or so efficiency (I don't know where the other 92% goes), then convert it, yet again, to kinetic energy (the spinning fan and flowing air) at the expense of MORE heat energy? Efficient? no. Simple? definitely no.
You want efficiency and simplicity? Hook a fan up to each timer that you use to turn your lights on and off with (as each light goes on, another fan turns on to dissipate that WASTED UNWANTED HEAT energy). That's as efficient as it gets for now. Use every last little bit of light to grow coral and convert energy from one type of energy to another as little as possible. Think of all of those electrical and gas appliances that we use EVERY DAY that waste much of our energy as HEAT.
Better yet, figure out some device that takes that WASTED UNWANTED heat energy and converts it to a form of energy that we can use/save for later (to run your fans for example, but you wouldn't need them then cause you'd be using that heat energy for something else). Then you'll be a millionaire.... Either everyone will buy your product, or the oil companies will buy you out so that your awesome technology doesn't put them out of business.
And your aquarium will be nice and cool.
~Todd
<strong>The idea is illogical. Where you plan on putting this solar panel you should put a mirror. It is like attatching a windmill to the top of your car and driving around hoping to charge the car. You are losing more power than you are saving. Every device humans make are ineffiecient. The solar panel can not collect all of the light and convert it into the energy that was spent creating it.
[ November 15, 2001: Message edited by: chris_h ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
I agree with this. All of the energy we use on this planet is converted. All, except nuclear, originally came from the sun. Every time energy is converted from one type to another, some of the energy is lost do to some "unwanted" release of another form of energy. ex. Electrical energy can be converted to light energy, at the expense of energy released as heat. ex. #2 Your car makes heat energy as wasted energy from fuel (dinos and forests eating solar energy) getting converted to kinetic energy (motion), then you waste that heat again from friction every time you use the brakes (motion into heat, did you ever touch a hot brake disk?) So, to run the fan, you are converting gas, oil, coal, and nuclear material into electricity, where a lot of the energy is lost as heat as a byproduct (not to mention the pollution). Then, you convert the electricity to light energy, where still more energy is lost as heat. Then, you convert the light (a fraction of the energy you started with) back to electricity with only 8% or so efficiency (I don't know where the other 92% goes), then convert it, yet again, to kinetic energy (the spinning fan and flowing air) at the expense of MORE heat energy? Efficient? no. Simple? definitely no.
You want efficiency and simplicity? Hook a fan up to each timer that you use to turn your lights on and off with (as each light goes on, another fan turns on to dissipate that WASTED UNWANTED HEAT energy). That's as efficient as it gets for now. Use every last little bit of light to grow coral and convert energy from one type of energy to another as little as possible. Think of all of those electrical and gas appliances that we use EVERY DAY that waste much of our energy as HEAT.
Better yet, figure out some device that takes that WASTED UNWANTED heat energy and converts it to a form of energy that we can use/save for later (to run your fans for example, but you wouldn't need them then cause you'd be using that heat energy for something else). Then you'll be a millionaire.... Either everyone will buy your product, or the oil companies will buy you out so that your awesome technology doesn't put them out of business.
And your aquarium will be nice and cool.
~Todd
Sponsor Reefs
We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.
Click here to sponsor $10:
