Patio-Based Silicon Solar Cell

by Levi Roy
(Austin, Texas)

As an electrical engineer with a rented out apartment in downtown Austin, Texas, I was always looking for ways to cut down on my own electricity bill (just because you have the degree, doesn't mean you can produce your own electricity out of thin air)!

Naturally, living in Austin during the summertime means you rack up lots of power thanks to the air conditioning unit. So, to cut back on expenses, I decided to install a local patio-based silicon solar cell from my local Radio Shack.

At $4.99 a piece, the little unit was a few inches square in area, but could produce 0.3 amps at 0.55 Vdc under good sunlight.

Now sure, I wasn't going to be able to power my AC unit, but my cell phone was a good alternative! So, with about 10 of those solar cells (to get a reasonable 5 V charge) and a 12:5 DC-DC transformer, I was able to get the 12 V needed for my cell phone to charge and lo-and-behold it worked! No more leaving my phone charged in all the time; I could get these reliable and pretty darn cheap solar cells to do it all for me.

As a result, my phone bill went down about $5 to $10 a month, depending on how frequently I use my cell phone. With the cost of those solar cells, that means it will pay off in about 8 to 10 months time. Good deal if I say so myself!