Mark was really pleased with his solar-powered system. He began to spend a lot of time out in the shed and wanted to bring along some music. He decided to plug in his Bluetooth speaker so he could listen to music while working in the shed. He also wanted to charge his phone at the same time. Typically, he would spend about two hours in the shed each day. The speaker required 26W and he needed 5W of power to charge his phone. How many additional panels would Mark need to power the speaker and phone for two hours each day? Be sure to check first to see if the 12y battery can power the extra amps these two items require, then select the solar panel assortment best suited for his new energy needs. Remember, he was already using 5 amps to power the indoor and outdoor lights each day.

Question

Mark was really pleased with his solar-powered system. He began to spend a lot of time out in the shed and wanted to bring along some music. He decided to plug in his Bluetooth speaker so he could listen to music while working in the shed. He also wanted to charge his phone at the same time. Typically, he would spend about two hours in the shed each day. The speaker required 26W and he needed 5W of power to charge his phone. How many additional panels would Mark need to power the speaker and phone for two hours each day? Be sure to check first to see if the 12y battery can power the extra amps these two items require, then select the solar panel assortment best suited for his new energy needs. Remember, he was already using 5 amps to power the indoor and outdoor lights each day.

Answer 1

First, we need to calculate the total power needed for the speaker and phone:

26W + 5W = 31W

Next, we need to calculate the total energy needed for two hours:
31W x 2 hours = 62 Wh

Now we need to check if the 12y battery can handle the extra amps:
5 amps (for lights) + 31W ÷ 12V = 7.58 amps

Since the battery can handle up to 10 amps, this is not an issue.

To calculate the number of additional panels needed, we need to consider the location and amount of sunlight available. Let's assume Mark gets an average of 4 hours of sunlight per day and that each panel generates 100 watts per hour.

62 Wh ÷ 4 hours of sunlight = 15.5 watts per hour
15.5W ÷ 100W per panel = 0.155 panels

Since we can't buy just a fraction of a panel, we round up to 1 additional panel.

Therefore, Mark would need 1 additional solar panel to power the speaker and phone for two hours each day. However, we may want to suggest he get a larger battery to store extra energy for cloudy days or times when he needs additional power.