Solar panels to charge optical modems

How do you charge a solar panel with an MPPT controller?

An MPPT controller will do a much better job getting all available power out of your panel, and solar panels are rated for this. If you aren't using one, derate your panel by about 1/3. From there you connect your panels to the charge controller. Make sure you are accounting for voltage-drop from the distance the wires must travel from the panels.

Can a solar-panel receiver be used for optical wireless communication?

Wang, Z. X. et al. Towards self-powered solar panel receiver for optical wireless communication. Proceedings of 2014 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), 3348–3353 (IEEE, 2014). Wang, Z. X. et al. On the design of a solar-panel receiver for optical wireless communications with simultaneous energy harvesting.

How does a solar charge controller work?

The charge controller's job is to take the ~19 volts coming off a solar panel and buck it down to whatever voltage will correctly charge the battery without overcharging it (cooking it). There isn't one magic voltage number here, there's some black magic in proper battery charging.

How many solar panels can a solar power hub handle?

For a charge controller the Solar Power Hub uses a Morningstar SunSaver 20 PWM charge controller. It can handle about 340W of 12V solar panels. The SunSaver charge controller is not MPPT, so you need “12V” solar panels which have an open circuit voltage (Voc) of about 22v. Two Solarland 160W panels in parallel provide a rated power of 320W.

Are organic photovoltaics suitable for high-speed optical data receivers?

We show that organic photovoltaics (OPVs) are suitable for high-speed optical wireless data receivers that can also harvest power. In addition, these OPVs are of particular interest for indoor applications, as their bandgap is larger than that of silicon, leading to better matching to the spectrum of artificial light.

How much power does a sunsaver charge controller use?

The SunSaver charge controller is not MPPT, so you need “12V” solar panels which have an open circuit voltage (Voc) of about 22v. Two Solarland 160W panels in parallel provide a rated power of 320W. If you’re building your own system, a more expensive and flexible alternate charge controller is the Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT 100/30.