Make a Solar Cell From Scrap Electronics

by DonovanP

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Intro: Make a Solar Cell From Scrap Electronics

In this video i will show you how to get solar power from various unexpected electrical components. I am also testing if it is a viable power source.

10 Comments

matijalazic 7 years ago

Nice video!
You said that you could only get to work green LED. I suppose that's because you have green laser. You should try pointing red laser at red LED. And yellow light at yellow LED and so on.

DonovanP 7 years ago

I am sure that it was because of the materials inside of the led. and not the color of the led. i have tested about 12 different types of leds. with different colors including other green leds

Johanvnza 7 years ago

Hi DonovanP
For what it's worth, I saw a video on YT quite a while ago (can't remember the author) where this was explained a bit. From what I remember, it's also got to do with the light's wavelength. He tested red and green LEDs and managed to get a reading (from his multimeter) by shining red or green light onto a red LED. The green LED, in an identical setup, only responded to the green light. He did, however, perform all his tests on LEDs with clear casings...

BTW, your accent sounds familiar - where are you from?

DonovanP 7 years ago

I believe it is possible because i recently read about using infrared lights as sensors, where they used 2 infrared LED's, one as a light source and, one as a Sensor for detection. But in my tests i saw that, that specific green LED responding the best. I tested several other LEDs (including other green LEDs).I also got a higher reading from the LED when it was in direct (magnified) sunlight ,Maybe it was because the sunlight had more power (watts), Or it may have been because There is a Wider wavelength of light in sunlight (Between 250nm & 2500nm) , as opposed to the green Laser at only 808nm. I Personally think that it has to do more specifically With the power (watts) of the light source and material Composition than the color of LED In the tests in my video.Maybe If a Green Laser and a Red Laser at the same wattage is tested.Then i'm sure that the green laser will perform better as the Led's Color Will Allow more photons through.As for whare I'm from , I'm From South-Africa and we all sound a bit Dutch, Probley becuse Afrikaans derived from Dutch.

Johanvnza 7 years ago

Ja nee, so gedink... ;)

The funny thing in this guy's experiment, was that he couldn't get any response from the green LED, no matter how many red LEDs he used (he was shining the one type of LED directly onto the other, didn't even use a laser). What you said about the material that goes into the LED's construction rings true - since a green LED outputs light at a longer wavelength than a red one, it makes sense to me that it won't response to the shorter wavelength red light.

Unfortunately I don't have the time to (re)conduct the experiment and I seem unable to find the link to the original video. If you feel like it, you might want to try it - if you have some clear, high-brightness LEDs (red and green, easiest to get I think), take turns shining one onto the other whilst hooked up to a multimeter, like you did before. If I have some time in future, I'll see if I can get to it.

sakko303 7 years ago

Interesting and somewhat scientific approach to your test, I enjoyed the video! I would love to see a follow up video where you create a test circuit using a LED as a light sensor that will trip a relay or something like that. Continue to be push being thorough in your presentation, it's a great aspect of your video!

DonovanP 7 years ago

Thank you Very much for your compliment ;] .I am working on something to show how a LED Could be used as a sensor. This may take some time however as my job is keeping me busy and orders fro china takes a month to get here...

batmat 7 years ago

Congratulations. I already knew about the sun's effects used with 2n3055 already many years ago.

But this using LED for me was new and noted that this present a better response than the old 2n3055.

The bad is that the maximum current is 50 mA while the voltage was satisfactory.

DonovanP 7 years ago

One of my mentors Originally told me that he got 12v from a transistor (he did not specify which one it was).So i just had to test if for myself. The only Transistor i could get my hands on was the 2n3055.But as for the LED it was unexpected to get that amount of voltage, but seemingly at the cost of very low amperage.