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AC and DC power to light a Bulb

Former Member

Hello all!  I am trying a small project and I want to use a small solar cell (say 10vdc 500ma for roundish numbers) to supplement lighting up a 60 watt incandescent bulb.  Knowing that wall electricity is AC and solar cells put off DC I don't know how or if the bulb would use the power from the DC cell.  Also I don't want to have the AC power fry the solar cell, so I need to stop AC flow in that direction and I don't want the DC power to go back to the "grid" I want it to go to the light source.  Any thoughts on doing this?  Would I be able to get a lower net energy use if I checked it with a electricy usage devise like a kill-a-watt energy usage measuring devise or would the bulb just still draw the 60 watts and perhaps glow a bit brighter because of the slightly extra DC power? 

 

Would this be any different with a CFL or a LED bulb?

 

I'm not a electronics engineer...just a guy who tinkers so please excuse any major flubs!  Also I KNOW it's not feasable...I really want to make it work though...its fun to me!  Thanks guys! -Ron

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  • It may be a bit dated at this point, but one thing that I can think of is:

     

    Connect your solar panel across a battery bank and then a zener diode in reverse to do some rudimentary voltage regulation and provide an approximately constant voltage source. You can then connect this across an H bridge with your bulb set in the middle, and use a microprocessor to switch the DC polarity at the same frequency as your wall power. The tricky part is ensuring you're keeping the wall power and your DC in phase.

     

    Hope this could help a bit.

     

    -Conor

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  • It may be a bit dated at this point, but one thing that I can think of is:

     

    Connect your solar panel across a battery bank and then a zener diode in reverse to do some rudimentary voltage regulation and provide an approximately constant voltage source. You can then connect this across an H bridge with your bulb set in the middle, and use a microprocessor to switch the DC polarity at the same frequency as your wall power. The tricky part is ensuring you're keeping the wall power and your DC in phase.

     

    Hope this could help a bit.

     

    -Conor

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