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Author Topic: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?  (Read 80035 times)

j3s

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #15 on: August 25, 2005, 07:54:38 PM »
Hi All,
   A couple of years ago we did some experimenting with this but never tried a transistor in a can as you have, basically we found that diodes and power transistors just to name a few all act like a solar cell but the power was so small, but with enough of them it would, we never used a magnifying glass.

Tons of this stuff are tossed out each day

J3S

ewitte

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #16 on: November 01, 2005, 02:55:04 PM »
I'm easily getting 0.6v out of one of these.? It can be done without the lens.? With amps its a different story.? A lens is definately needed.? With my tiny 1" lens that does not really even heat it up much its still enough for 100x improvement in amps.? Its 3ma versus 0.03ma.? You probably need to heatsink and use a really good fresnal lens for 2w.

Eric

Edit:  an hour later (9:20 am) the sun came up a little bit more.  It was then 0.2ma  without lens versus 40ma with lens. Voltage is up to 0.67V for a single transistor!
« Last Edit: November 01, 2005, 04:42:22 PM by ewitte »

ooandioo

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #17 on: November 01, 2005, 06:46:29 PM »
Thats really interesting. But there is the other problem, linking the transistors together...

-- Andi

ewitte

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #18 on: November 06, 2005, 05:22:55 PM »
Actually I did some quick tests with a 7x10 inch fresnel lens and its not giving me any more amps.? Its strong enough to easily eat through paper in seconds ;)? Also basic tests give me over 2W off of a normal solar cell that usually gets 0.5w.? Almost 1A.  Thats not with complete focus.  I'm focusing it so that the amplified light falls on the entire 2x2in or so area. 

Eric
« Last Edit: November 06, 2005, 05:33:19 PM by ewitte »

AbbaRue

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #19 on: January 18, 2006, 01:25:24 AM »
Has anyone tried using a magnifying glass on a calculator solar cell to get a comparison of it's power output.
I've seen solar cell calculators for less then $5 canadian and they usually have 4 solar cells connected in series.
Also was thinking about those canadian tire eliminator solar cells. $35 for a 2.2 watt panel, that's without using a magnifying glass.
With a fresnel lens over top it would be interesting to see what type of output those panels would get.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2006, 01:47:08 AM by AbbaRue »

silverdragonrs

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #20 on: April 08, 2006, 08:22:00 AM »
sorry to reply to such an old topic but i had a question....

has anyone done this and tryed to figure out how long a solar cell (any kind) can survive under a magnifying lens? heatsink or not this is gonna be one hot puppy! I think perhaps the solar companies do not use magnification to prolong the life of the cell.

how come this topic died out i was just getting interested......

btw what part in the pics posted are the die? the small circut looking thing in the middle? (man that sounds ignorant :) )

thanks
danny

silverdragonrs

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #21 on: April 08, 2006, 08:30:02 AM »
sorry.....

also..... how many 2n3055 cells would you need to use in order to create a matching voltage and ampers for say a car battery? most of the smaller devices in a house or car could be made to run on a seperate circut of solar cells to compliment what ever system you happen to be running. not to mention taking a solar power scource to the beach to run a small tv or radio or what ever. if one could create say a two foot panel of cells think it would work?

i entend to continue looking into this and develope a system farther...... (first step.... finding a good cheap/free scource of 2n3055 cells.....)


what kinds of devices are these 2n3055 things used in.... i can go check with some local stores and warehouses and manufacturers to see if they tos them out....


thanks again

danny

therackals

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #22 on: July 09, 2006, 11:39:15 PM »
all transistors work as PV cells if the light not heat falls on the base connection ie saw off the top of the can. Electrical connections are then made to the collector and emitter. output varies with light.

DeltaMan

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #23 on: March 20, 2007, 09:52:05 PM »
Gentlemen ,

I am wondering why you left Such a thread without any more input .

I just came from a friend's house . We took off the 'heads' of such transistors (even 2N3055) and we measured close to 0,3 Volts from One only transistor . And that was from Room Light ... !

The Current should be too low (less than 10 milliAmps)  because it would Not even start a Tiny motor . We are airmodellers and we have All kinds of motors ... 

Tomorrow I'll continue with experiments on the sunlight . There is Plenty of Sun here in Greece ...  ;)

Even if they make 30 or 40 milliAmps (without Lens)  it IS a HUGE achievement .

Regards , DM

lancaIV

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #24 on: March 20, 2007, 11:37:33 PM »
Probably an info source:

www.1000inventions.com    Technical field : Electricity : 862  : IBIYEMI

S
  dL

DeltaMan

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #25 on: March 21, 2007, 08:59:38 PM »
Well ,

things did Not go as I was expecting . Current seems to be Very Low even in Sunny days .

One cable was soldered to the Base of the transistor and the other on the Collector or the Emmiter (I am Not sure ) . After that , both were connected in series .
When exposed to the Sun , I could measure about 0,8 Volts . When the sunlight was enhanced with a Lense and focused on one of them , voltage seemed to rise up to 1 Volt .
The next step was to connect a Tiny DC Motor but when I did that , there was an Enormous drop in voltage (close to Zero) and the motor would Not move of course . That indicated that I didn't have any Wattage there .   

According to the power they had and the cost of them plus the cost of the lenses plus the man hours to fit everything together , I came to a conlusion that a Typical Solar Cell of the market would be way better .

Just my two cents .

DM

triffid

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #26 on: November 10, 2008, 07:01:36 PM »
I had heard about this about 5 years back.I took a clear LED and focused some sunlight on it and got a couple of volts.Triffid

lon92

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #27 on: November 10, 2008, 07:17:14 PM »
Did you say LED??

How did you do that??

khabe

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #28 on: November 10, 2008, 11:37:54 PM »
About magnifying glass.
How many energy you can get direct from sun focused through 5" magnifying glass ??? Relatively a lot of :o
http://www.coolschool.ca/lor/PH11/unit8/U08L04/conv1.gif
And then what about 2w you can get when using  2n3055  >:(
It was somewhere in 1966 we tried with guys to "get electricity" with cut off tops transistors  ... no lenses of course ::)
greetings,
khabe

Paul-R

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Re: 2 Watts from an old 2N3055 as a solarcell ?
« Reply #29 on: November 11, 2008, 03:50:01 PM »
I had heard about this about 5 years back.I took a clear LED and focused some sunlight on it and got a couple of volts...
...and how many amps (or mA )?
Paul.