solar panels, what can you power

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I am thinking of looking in to getting solar panels what types can power what electrical devices, i would be happy if i could power like a kettle to boil some water for free.
 
Kettle is one of the worst things you could have suggested - they use like 2-3kw to boil water.

To boil a kettle you'd need about a week of average UK solar energy from a couple of 3x6 foot panels stored to a battery or something. (Well closer to 4 hours with a good quality 1sqm panel on a fairly sunny day).

On a fairly sunny day charging mobile phone batteries, etc. is fairly possible with a decent panel.
 
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lol really , week to boil a kettle, kettles wont take much electricity
cant solar panels be used indoors?

They can. Think of powering a kettle as powering three computers each with GTX 480 triSLI, i7 980x etc.

YOu can use it for your lights and stuff but it isn't really worth it with sutch crappy weather prevailing for most of the year. You can also use it in a greenhouse if you have one.
 
lol really , week to boil a kettle, kettles wont take much electricity
cant solar panels be used indoors?

About 0.1 kWh for your average kettle to boil iirc the kw figue may be up in the thousands but it only takes a couple of minutes to boil.

And indoor solar panels? Lol, wanna buy some chocolate teacups to use with your solar kettle?
 
We need to know your budget????

£20 from like a cheap shop or like £1000????

few hundred maybe, i am trying to save in the long run with electricity bills :), what can the £20 power , i didnt even think they could be that cheap..
 
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Around 0.04kWh for an average cup worth of water - under ideal conditions a good quality 1 square meter solar panel can produce that if constantly pointed directly at the sun in strong sun light... in the UK tho another matter - kettles tend to work by a quick, strong burst of energy tho rather than slow boiling - so really you'd need to charge a power pack from the sun then discharge it to boil the kettle... in a hot country it might be feasible but why would you be boiling a kettle in that case? :D in the UK you'd have to spend anywhere from 4 hours to 4 days depending on the weather and setup to produce that kinda power.
 
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I can't say the place as it's a competitor. But they were doing briefcase style solar panels for £24.99. RRP was £80ish

For like £200 your looking at LED lighting?
 
In all fairness solar panels really aren't cost effective. The time to recoup the cost is similar to the lifespan of the panel. Unless you can get grants etc to help pay for them they are really only viable if you have no mains electricity.

. Having owned a few solar panels ( charge leisure batteries in places where there is no mains ), they cost a fair amount (although much cheaper now that years ago) and don't produce much power (enough to trickle charge batteries that are only used power a few LED lights ), and being outside even the weatherproof ones deteriorate and stop working.

N.B claims stated in this post are based upon research I did a few years ago for a uni project and there are no doubt countless examples where they are not true so please don't harass me, just offering my opinion.

Edit: that and the process to make solar cells is pretty nasty, i.e it has a large carbon footprint
 
You could...

Google something like Solar Gorilla - its intended for charge laptop batteries, etc. but in the UK would be more useful for charging phones, mp3 players, etc.

I'm personally somewhat in favor of increased solar energy useage, I think even in the UK it could be used a lot more for incidental stuff - if everyone used it, it would save a reasonable amount of polution, etc.
 
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