Solar Panel contd.
March 26th, 2012
6 comments
Installation of additional 130Wp is in place now to make the power plant worth 300Wp. The new panel added has a spec of 17Vmp against the 16.4Vpm of the 170Wp panel group. So eventually I may be losing some power. I am using 10sqmm copper cable to reduce the transmission losses. I had measured the impedance of the cable to 1mΩ. So at 20A, I will be losing about 0.4W only. But the cost of this wire is around 70Rs/m. I am able to produce about 221W during the mid day, and about 170W around 10AM. Upon little bit of investigation, it is found that the solar panels shell out less power at increased temperature. It is also said that at 60-70°C, the efficiency is around 70%, which is matching with my measurements. So, thinking about a water cooling solution; basically augmenting a solar water heating solution with the solar panel to establish double benefits. Every day with the solar panels is a day of new learning and I am enjoying it. 
I have been hit for the same problem when my Altec Lansing 5.1 multimedia system’s remote control broke. In the sense, the remote was functional intermittently. And some time, the key pad mapping got goofed up with + working as – and so on. When I visited my local electronics stores guy, he said the general problem for intermittent remote operation is a conked up crystal that is found inside the remote control unit. 
Remote control units work with Infrared light communication between the hand-unit and the multimedia system’s base unit. Commands from the keypad are converted to IR signals, which are received and decoded by the base unit to perform appropriate function. Since IR light is not visible to human eye, one should use a Camera eye to see the IR light. The easiest way is to observe the LED mounted in the front of the hand unit through a mobile camera or any camera that’s in working condition. The cameras bandwidth covers IR and UV apart from the visible spectrum. You will find that the IR led blinks (carrier frequency is 22khz), when you press any button on the remote control unit. If you observe that for some keys the IR led is not flashing or intermittently flashing, you may associate the problem to a faulty crystal in the remote control PCB.
When the remote is opened, you will see a PCB like the one in the picture. The PCB could be plucked out from the casing by hand. You will also see a rubber like buttons which are the actual buttons that you press. The rubber button is placed on the PCB, where the button presses are converted to switching action. Remember, the buttons will have a conducting coating under it, which indeed closes the circuit when the button touches the PCB.
The crystal that comes as a part of the circuitry is shown in the picture. It is otherwise called a ceramic resonator, which is the crucial component of an oscillator circuitry. Crystals are typically used against LC, RC tank circuits for its very high stability feature against temperature and humidity. My remote uses a 455Khz crystal named 
