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You'd be surprised a) how common solar panels are (and how easy it is to partially repair broken solar panels) b) how simple they are to make if efficiency do
by candiodari 9y ago
You'd be surprised
a) how common solar panels are (and how easy it is to partially repair broken solar panels)
b) how simple they are to make if efficiency doesn't matter (optional glas + conductive grid + any black isolator + aluminum foil will result in power delivered between the grid and the aluminum. Paper (even white laser printer paper frankly) will do fine as isolator, also I heard balloon plastic works very well. Of course a transparent conductor works way better than a grid (which is where 80% of the efficiency comes from), but it works at like 5-10% efficiency with a grid) (the optional glass is to keep it clean, you can of course also just clean it regularly)
c) how long batteries last if you only ever use 5% of their capability
- sova 9y agoSounds like he could be teaching his class how to make solar panels.
- y4mi 9y ago> c) how long batteries last if you only ever use 5% of their capability not very long if they're alkaline. And its doubtful anything but their phones got li-on batteries in ghana, the markup probably isn't worth it. And there probably are hardly any phones. so mostly no li-on batteries anywhere. but i've never been there, just economically speaking.
- Symbiote 9y agoI haven't been to Ghana, but I have been to Senegal, which is supposedly poorer. Maybe a third of the people had a smartphone, most people had a basic phone. The smartphones were $100 Chinese Android things. I felt perfectly safe wandering round with my 3 year old smartphone out, since I'd clearly taken less care of it than the average Senegalese would have.
- daemoncoder 9y agoDo you have any references for (b)?