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What is the best car battery in India?

What kind of diodes should be used for solar panels charging a 12V Lead Battery?

  • I have a solar panel (2X6ft)connecting to a 12V standard car battery at the place where I live where there is no other electricity source.(Gangotri). When the sun is clouded and during the nights some charge leaks back (I think) into the panel. What kind of diode (amp rating, commercial name - availability - price in India) should I insert in the circuit to prevent this. Also should I put one on both positive and negative leads or one is sufficient? I asked around at some TV repair shops and they made a face as if they were looking at a martian. Will a LED also work?

  • Answer:

    All you need is a single high amperage diode in series between the solar panel and the lead acid battery. Any silicon diode with an amperage rating greater than your solar panel would be all right if you are willing to accept the 0.6 Volt drop across the diode. Schottky diodes with their lower voltage drop are an ideal but they are pricey.

John Nix at Quora Visit the source

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Not sure if this is really the cause of your problem, but what you need is a blocking diode.  31DQ03 Schottky is an example part number, but there are many manufacturers of them.

Chris Cholette

Well - after some research I found that diodes are not sufficient. We need a circuit to regulate the charge cycle, low battery cut off, fuse, short circuit protection and spike regulation, load voltage drop, bad light conditions. All these are provided in off the shelf solar controllers. The cheapest place to find them are lajpat market, chandni chowk, delhi. more complicated circuits are required if you want to connect plates from different manufacturers to take care of voltage differences.

Cryptic Rod

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