That's fascinating, but the best part was that laugh of pure joy when you found the whole idea a tally worked. They have a transparent panel that apparently uses available IR and UV in daylight to generate electricity, while visible light passes through. They are using it mostly for greenhouses, if I am not mistaken, but this could be applied to house windows as well.
Acrylic can be bought in two ways. Light hits surface and directs out the edges, or the opposite where light enters the edges and the surface illuminates. Like fiber optics for hunting in low light. That big surface area is collecting all that light and concentrating it to the edges. Maybe try LED strips along all edges or reflective foil on the 3 other edges?
@Fl4ppers I was thinking the source video used 36 x 72 leds, after finding an astonishing voltage by our T&T😅 mate using just 20 on the short edge of the panel, while possibly adding a Fresnel panel collector front & or back panel. Thank T&T and You, and Merry Christmas lights to All.
I've played with these. The colour of the light applied makes a change to the readable output. Blue light is higher than red light for example. I've always wondered if polarised/phased light makes a difference. I've been reading about growing plants and how they grow better if the microwave radiation is blocked. I wonder if the LEDS do the same. Thanks as always mate. Love seeing your stuff. Have a wonderful Christmas bro.
The reason for the low voltage when LEDs are in series is that the LEDs only produce a fraction of a uA which is not enough to operate a meter even with its high input resistance. In parallel all the uA start to produce enough current to operate the meter. If you open a 2N3055 transistor the small 1mm square silicon can get as much as 2mA from the silicon which is thousands of times as much current. Solar cells from LEDs are not very efficient.
Polish and apply a mirror onto the other edges of the plexi! Maybe even just putting some aluminum foil or silver spraypaint along the edges that the LEDs are not occupying. I'd be curious to see how much of an improvement it makes. Thanks Robert!
I was thinking the same. Then I wondered if cutting a series of reticules into the side pieces would work better? Like a Fresnel lens angled to reflect the light up and down rather than side to side. Mirrors are highly reflective 98%+ and if the grooves are cut well they should have as similar level of refraction!
One of my favorite ideas of yours from past videos. Was considering adding a mirrored finish to the other edges, such as a mylar space blanket or aluminum foil, to increase the power generation, while minimizing the quantity of solar cells required.
One consideration I've found for reflectors on solar panels are heat spots. If the surface is highly reflective (like a space blanket) and it is not perfectly flat the light will become concentrated in areas which could cause degradation to the lifetime of the panel.
@@ThinkingandTinkering I'm not real familiar with that material, I haven't taken apart a computer screen for a long time. Was also thinking about the white paint that tech ingredients did, or the one that Nighthawkinlight did, but I think those convert light into thermal frequencies to radiate heat back out. Maybe a pure white latex paint would work, without generating the hotspots that @robrocker7 mentioned? The texture should distort any concentrations of light. Or white UV reflective paint. Someone has to have made that for a blacklight party.
The light guide was transparent, however I wanted to point out how reflective it was as well. I could see the chair across the table and a spray can in the reflective yellow. I wonder how much light it is blocking if so reflective. 3:04
And yet it's still better than the same LED strip without it. Might it be more efficient if it had a matte finish? Or would scattering the light be worse than reflecting it?
@brandonmack111 it's exactly my thoughts, matte finish. Thank you! Yes we are super smart 🧠. I was trying to think of ways to cut the gloss. The yellow works so well for being transparent and reflective it made me think and then I stopped thinking about it..
I get higher series voltage by placing small capacitors in parallel with each led. My theory is that the capacitors serve as buffers for the electrons. When individual electrons emitted from individual LEDs can't force their way through the other LEDs, they accumulate in a capacitor instead of being lost. I like the idea of collecting and redirecting light with acrylic, but LEDs are very poor as photovoltaic cells. I'd like to see you try the same experiment with thin solar cells in place of the LEDs.
I would think the lens architecture would have some affect. As for tree lights, I enjoy those flat top ones because they seem to shoot laser beams around the room. A 3m style led strip without weather proofing has no lens at all.
Interesting prototype, couple of ideas: 1. SMD LEDs may let you increase the light collecting surface area (packing more in a smaller space). 2. Could you control the refraction inside the light pipe to have different frequencies come out the the different sides and optimise the receiving "panel" for that frequency range?
personally i would try and find long thin solar cells - the main point here is the light guide - i suppose you could control the guide for frequency out put - interesting - cheers
@ThinkingandTinkering I got the impression you were targeting LEDs, guessing to to with the bandgap and the refractive index of the perspex. True solar panels are likely to be more effective yes.
@@andrewharpin6749 No mate i only used yellow LEDs because they are cheap, easy to get hold of and quite good if folks want to replicate and experiment with - but there are better alternatives - the main point of the video is the effect of the light guide
In theory, if you glue or tape a mirror on the "back" side and mirror strips along the remaining three edges, there "should" be a slight increase in power output. Which also begs the question, could the blades of a wind generator be made from a similar variety of plexiglass ? That way, even if the wind dies down, it would still be generating some power. I think the vertical cupped or vaned wind turbines would be best.
I think I'm going to have to try this with a bunch of SMD LEDs mounted to a few PCBs. But the best first step might be investigating the series behavior of the setup you've made.
So, this is the same for solar as the darwin collector for wind, collect a big chunk of input on a large surface and process it on a small device. I've seen a lot of very good suggestions on improving it with reflection. In this topic i would try to paint the back of the sheet with the brightest white paint possible as - instead of mirrors or foils - it would - if i am correct - filter out on the reflection stage unwanted frequencies (???) that interfere with those one, that are actually processed by the leds. On the other hand, what if we drill small concave "beds" where the leds contact the sheet? What i mean here is create small lenses on the sheet to focus the guided light towards the the leds.
I never thought of it that way but i think you are right it is kind of a Darwin for light - don't get tied up with the LEDs mate - the LEDs are a solar to electricity convertor - of which there are quite a few - what's important here is the light guide
Yes this works, but is quite inefficient compared to other forms of solar per metre squared. You could improve this with COB led strips instead (say 5 or 6 in parallel, as there are more LEDs over the same surface area compared to single diodes). Might also be an idea to experiment with lenses over the perspex. I wouldnt recommend doing too many in series as each diode can only take a small voltage, and exceeding that will burn them up. You always want the voltage and current to be under the diode array's tolerances.
I am sorry mate - you are guessing - COB doesn't work - but it doesn't really matter the main point of the video is the effect of the light guide - focus on that not the LEDs
I would imagine the type of LED would make a big difference. Some are listed as bright, ckt board mounted, and different shapes. And we would have to check the different colors again against the different parameters of shape and sizes.
i only used yellow LEDs because they are cheap, easy to get hold of and quite good - but you are right there are better alternatives - the main point of the video is the effect of the light guide
Current solar panels are large area, computer chip quality (without all the millions transistors) and can't stand hail or other impacts. That panel is likely cheaper and easier to replace when damaged leaving the generator led/silicon along the edges where they can be protected better.
Will you be testing the impact of the size of the acrylic panel? That is, does it take a large panel to boost the output, or can a narrower strip of plastic be just as effective?
that's a good idea - i always assumed it was an area thing - you make a good point - how ever I am unlikely to do that - just not enough time - you could try it though and let everyone know how it goes
Great video. I think that wired in series, LEDs will be limited by the greatest resistance in the circuit. Not like batteries at all. The panel might benefit from charging capacitors in series and discharging n parallel as you did in one of your prior videos.
Yellow is interesting because IIRC photosynthesis operates off of red and blue. So this could lead to solar electric that does not interfere with agriculture, and greenhouses that produce both plants and electricity.
The LEDs in series produce no voltage increase because you only get a few nano-amps out of them, string current is limited by the worst LED getting reverse-biased, and the resulting current is getting shunted by the multi-meter's 10M input resistance. In parallel voltage goes up because you are adding the diode currents getting shunted into the multi-meter' 10M input. 600mV across 10MOhm is 60nA. You are producing less than 2nW of power per LED.
cheers mate and not being rude here but you might be missing the point - i only used yellow LEDs because they are cheap, easy to get hold of and quite good - but there are better alternatives - the main point of the video is the effect of the light guide
@@ThinkingandTinkering I was just pointing out that you need to keep your meter's input resistance in mind when dealing with something that only produces nA worth of current. LEDs may be able to produce current but they are horrible at it.
I was thinking about covering the remining edges with reflective tape, but then you said have led's on all side's. So what about led's on all side's and a mirror on the surface away from the sun? I know it would not be transparent then, but what if that's not important.
Hi Robert. Your multimeter has a 10 MΩ or >10 GΩ selectable input impedance for 0.2 and 2V range. If you set it to 10G your series led's should match your expectations. I think 10V at least it can produce.
@@ThinkingandTinkering It worked ? I only later realised you can only measure up to 2V with that impedance. Any range above 2V will have 10M input impedance. Anyway, overrange for the 2V range is what you'll get. Does it ?
I immediately wondered if pre drilled holes along the edge of the Perspex so the LED’s could ‘plug into’ the Perspex would have a better and less production and material intensive result.
I worked on g-2 at Brookhaven on the position sensitive detector. The detecter was layers of optical fibers placed in rows perpendicular to each other. The fibers were doped with the same dyes as your sheet. When a muon beam passed through the fibers light woud be produced and you could make a rough map of the beam profile.
i don't know - COB doesn't work but that's because COB LEDs are really really bad at converting light back to electricity - you want to pick something that is good at that job - i only used yellow LEDs because they are cheap, easy to get hold of and quite good - but there are better alternatives - the main point of the video is the effect of the light guide
heres an idea, get the plexiglass the size of a picture frame, then put the led's mounted into the picture frame and all the wiring can be cut into the panel, but an additional wonder, will a reflective surface work for additional light into the plexiglass?
I'm really curious about what happens to the critical angle when the light guide is bent. Being acrylic, I assume it can be heated to conform to complex surfaces. If it can be moulded over bumps and creases as well as around slight curves without transmission loss, it opens up solar collection on things like car windsheilds and side windows (thinking Aptera or similar), or anywhere where traditional flat panels don't make sense by covering that area in a layer of the stuff. How does the thickness of the guide affect light output at the edge? Are you better off with something twice the length or twice the height in terms of area/material used, or is there falloff the further away from the edge, and at what rate? Aargh so many questions. Thanks for the video.
The problem with making them windows: If all the light is guided to the edges to power the cells, that means no light is going through the window, and you wouldn't be able to see through the window. If you can see through the window, then you have losses.
@@ThinkingandTinkering To a point sure, like tinted windows (but I don't think people want neon yellow windows though lol). It'd also depend on cost to make/install/maintain, as well as the efficiency of a vertical panel vs. tracking the sun. Not all sides of a building see light either. Lots of questions need to be answered.
As a single side direct panel, would covering the back side with reflective aluminum foil cause the yellow light emitted off the back of the panel to pass back through the panel a second time, and increase the light emitted from the edges?
As a fiber optic effect, it seems like what is missing is a reflective coating to recapture the emitted yellow light spectrum and try and redirect that back through the filter to increase the edge output. Just thinking out loud, and that's why I love your feed.
On the other side, I'm trying to wrap my head around a way to allow yellow light to enter the panel, but not exit it, without reducing the amount of light that is allowed to enter. If we could capture all of the yellow, roughly 550-600nm, into that glass, without allowing any of it to escape and all directed to the edges...
The glass absorbs every frequency except yellow. Reflecting much of it out of the face and back side. The back side seems logical to simply be a reflective foil surface, but what about the face where the light enters, and then reflects yellow frequency back out? Fascinating stuff. Keep it up please.
I don’t think that there should be much difference between using the yellow colored panel vs a clear (no color) panel. The yellow LEDs will still get the part of the light spectrum that they utilize. Maybe run a test of this. Imagine every house and building could conceivably retrofit all of their windows to produce some electricity from solar. It probably wouldn’t be worth the cost of immediately replacing the windows, but as the ordinary existing windows face their end of life, replacement with energy producing glass would possibly make sense.
Nice video, do you remember the fibre optic lamps imagine 1 led per 1 fibre. Could be like artificial pampus grass in the garden. Maybe capture some motion energy aswell.
the main point of the video is the effect of the light guide not the LEDs - i only used yellow LEDs because they are cheap, easy to get hold of and quite good - but there are better alternatives
Why didn't you show us the results of using a clear glass with the yellow LEDs. Also you were using a flashlight to increase the light intensity but I was interested in what a real world outdoors with the Sun would have resulted in
I am sorry mate but you didn't watch the video carefully enough - I didn't use a light when i demonstrated the effect of the light guide - only sunlight and that was indoors. Clear glass won't do anything - but feel free to try it
Now all you need to do is light an LED from your .... erm .... LED's :D :D So this raises the question *_How many LED's does it take to light up a LED :D_* It would make a great idea for a competition. Who can light up a single LED using the least amount of LED's. A bit of a tuning/performance competition. I see creations of inverted pyramids of prism's with mirrors all over the place :D
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
That's fascinating, but the best part was that laugh of pure joy when you found the whole idea a tally worked.
They have a transparent panel that apparently uses available IR and UV in daylight to generate electricity, while visible light passes through. They are using it mostly for greenhouses, if I am not mistaken, but this could be applied to house windows as well.
it was amazing when it worked lol - just cobbled together from everyday stuff - i love it when that works out
Acrylic can be bought in two ways. Light hits surface and directs out the edges, or the opposite where light enters the edges and the surface illuminates. Like fiber optics for hunting in low light.
That big surface area is collecting all that light and concentrating it to the edges.
Maybe try LED strips along all edges or reflective foil on the 3 other edges?
This whole design needs to maximise surface area to work its best. And it still wont compete with sand on price to metre squared.
@@Fl4ppers sand??
@@joshuafoster8976 I think they just mean conventional photovoltaic panels made with silicon
I was thinking the stuff they put around the screens of laptops
@Fl4ppers I was thinking the source video used 36 x 72 leds, after finding an astonishing voltage by our T&T😅 mate using just 20 on the short edge of the panel, while possibly adding a Fresnel panel collector front & or back panel. Thank T&T and You, and Merry Christmas lights to All.
White is the worst because they have a phosphor layer in between. They use a blue or UV led that causes the phosphor to emit longer wavelengths.
cheers mate
@@ThinkingandTinkeringwhat if you use a clear panel and yellow LEDs (for windows that charge)?
I've played with these. The colour of the light applied makes a change to the readable output. Blue light is higher than red light for example.
I've always wondered if polarised/phased light makes a difference. I've been reading about growing plants and how they grow better if the microwave radiation is blocked.
I wonder if the LEDS do the same.
Thanks as always mate. Love seeing your stuff. Have a wonderful Christmas bro.
cheers mate - thanks for the post and you have a great xmas too
The reason for the low voltage when LEDs are in series is that the LEDs only produce a fraction of a uA which is not enough to operate a meter even with its high input resistance. In parallel all the uA start to produce enough current to operate the meter. If you open a 2N3055 transistor the small 1mm square silicon can get as much as 2mA from the silicon which is thousands of times as much current. Solar cells from LEDs are not very efficient.
don't forget though mate this is not about LEDs - it's about the effect of the light guide
@@ThinkingandTinkering but trying to use what has just been said with the light guide might be an additional experiment, maybe?
Polish and apply a mirror onto the other edges of the plexi! Maybe even just putting some aluminum foil or silver spraypaint along the edges that the LEDs are not occupying. I'd be curious to see how much of an improvement it makes. Thanks Robert!
it might be worth looking at what it is they put around computer screens mate
@@ThinkingandTinkeringor coatings used on eye glasses lenses
Great as usual! 👍
What about covering the 3 "unused" edges with mirrors?
Came here to make same suggestion.
Reflective aluminum tape.
On the back side of the panel as well would be worth testing.
I was thinking the same. Then I wondered if cutting a series of reticules into the side pieces would work better? Like a Fresnel lens angled to reflect the light up and down rather than side to side. Mirrors are highly reflective 98%+ and if the grooves are cut well they should have as similar level of refraction!
i was thinking the stuff they put around computer screens
@@ThinkingandTinkering Only one way to find out ;o)
One of my favorite ideas of yours from past videos. Was considering adding a mirrored finish to the other edges, such as a mylar space blanket or aluminum foil, to increase the power generation, while minimizing the quantity of solar cells required.
One consideration I've found for reflectors on solar panels are heat spots. If the surface is highly reflective (like a space blanket) and it is not perfectly flat the light will become concentrated in areas which could cause degradation to the lifetime of the panel.
what about that stuff they put around the acrylic of a computer screen? that should do a good job
@@ThinkingandTinkering I'm not real familiar with that material, I haven't taken apart a computer screen for a long time. Was also thinking about the white paint that tech ingredients did, or the one that Nighthawkinlight did, but I think those convert light into thermal frequencies to radiate heat back out. Maybe a pure white latex paint would work, without generating the hotspots that @robrocker7 mentioned? The texture should distort any concentrations of light. Or white UV reflective paint. Someone has to have made that for a blacklight party.
Simply illuminating!
lol - cheers mate
The light guide was transparent, however I wanted to point out how reflective it was as well. I could see the chair across the table and a spray can in the reflective yellow. I wonder how much light it is blocking if so reflective. 3:04
And yet it's still better than the same LED strip without it. Might it be more efficient if it had a matte finish? Or would scattering the light be worse than reflecting it?
@brandonmack111 it's exactly my thoughts, matte finish. Thank you! Yes we are super smart 🧠. I was trying to think of ways to cut the gloss. The yellow works so well for being transparent and reflective it made me think and then I stopped thinking about it..
with some materials you just have to accept the trade off mate - if you stop it reflecting it may stop it being transparent
@@ThinkingandTinkering have you tried UV ultraviolet light? 🙏
@@aaronbaca that is a good point mate - i haven't tried it but i will - cheers
I get higher series voltage by placing small capacitors in parallel with each led. My theory is that the capacitors serve as buffers for the electrons. When individual electrons emitted from individual LEDs can't force their way through the other LEDs, they accumulate in a capacitor instead of being lost.
I like the idea of collecting and redirecting light with acrylic, but LEDs are very poor as photovoltaic cells. I'd like to see you try the same experiment with thin solar cells in place of the LEDs.
nice tip on the caps - but you are right LEDs aren't the best - but they are available if anyone wants to experiment themselves
Bright idea!
lol - i see what you did there lol - nice one mate
I would think the lens architecture would have some affect. As for tree lights, I enjoy those flat top ones because they seem to shoot laser beams around the room.
A 3m style led strip without weather proofing has no lens at all.
thanks for the heads up on that mate - i will try them
You are a vision of intellect. Thank you for doing these.
wow - cheers mate
This also should mitigate some of the issues with solar panels efficiency dropping when getting hot from the direct sun!
yes it would! - nice point mate
Interesting prototype, couple of ideas:
1. SMD LEDs may let you increase the light collecting surface area (packing more in a smaller space).
2. Could you control the refraction inside the light pipe to have different frequencies come out the the different sides and optimise the receiving "panel" for that frequency range?
personally i would try and find long thin solar cells - the main point here is the light guide - i suppose you could control the guide for frequency out put - interesting - cheers
@ThinkingandTinkering I got the impression you were targeting LEDs, guessing to to with the bandgap and the refractive index of the perspex.
True solar panels are likely to be more effective yes.
@@andrewharpin6749 No mate i only used yellow LEDs because they are cheap, easy to get hold of and quite good if folks want to replicate and experiment with - but there are better alternatives - the main point of the video is the effect of the light guide
@ThinkingandTinkering no problem, I read too much into it.
Have a good evening :)
In theory, if you glue or tape a mirror on the "back" side and mirror strips along the remaining three edges, there "should" be a slight increase in power output.
Which also begs the question, could the blades of a wind generator be made from a similar variety of plexiglass ?
That way, even if the wind dies down, it would still be generating some power.
I think the vertical cupped or vaned wind turbines would be best.
I think you are right mate - that would work
Awesome! 🎉
cheers mate
Each LEDs in series would have to generate a high enough voltage, so they beginn to conduct. With 0,3V this is not the case.
cheers mate
Years ago I was experimenting with LEDs in this way and the IR ones were the best.
cheers mate
It is good to see you posting again, sir. Thank you
cheers mate - thank you for taking the time to say that
Brilliant - merry Christmas Robert and family and thanks for all the fun and inspiration all year round. May 2025 be healthy and prosperous for you.
Thank you mate and merry xmas and a happy new year to you too
I think I'm going to have to try this with a bunch of SMD LEDs mounted to a few PCBs. But the best first step might be investigating the series behavior of the setup you've made.
I think you are right mate - to be honest i just glossed over that and right now i have no idea what's going on there - but well worth looking at
Top quality content right here. We have a whole avenue opened for technology to travel that wasn't there before
cheers mate
So, this is the same for solar as the darwin collector for wind, collect a big chunk of input on a large surface and process it on a small device.
I've seen a lot of very good suggestions on improving it with reflection. In this topic i would try to paint the back of the sheet with the brightest white paint possible as - instead of mirrors or foils - it would - if i am correct - filter out on the reflection stage unwanted frequencies (???) that interfere with those one, that are actually processed by the leds.
On the other hand, what if we drill small concave "beds" where the leds contact the sheet? What i mean here is create small lenses on the sheet to focus the guided light towards the the leds.
I never thought of it that way but i think you are right it is kind of a Darwin for light - don't get tied up with the LEDs mate - the LEDs are a solar to electricity convertor - of which there are quite a few - what's important here is the light guide
Just the look of this is so cool. Like a 90's version of future tech, but it actually works.
lol - you are spot on there mate now you mention it it does remind me of 90s Sci-Fi
Yes this works, but is quite inefficient compared to other forms of solar per metre squared. You could improve this with COB led strips instead (say 5 or 6 in parallel, as there are more LEDs over the same surface area compared to single diodes). Might also be an idea to experiment with lenses over the perspex. I wouldnt recommend doing too many in series as each diode can only take a small voltage, and exceeding that will burn them up. You always want the voltage and current to be under the diode array's tolerances.
I am sorry mate - you are guessing - COB doesn't work - but it doesn't really matter the main point of the video is the effect of the light guide - focus on that not the LEDs
Great work advancing DD technology's investigative insights
cheers mate
I would imagine the type of LED would make a big difference. Some are listed as bright, ckt board mounted, and different shapes. And we would have to check the different colors again against the different parameters of shape and sizes.
i only used yellow LEDs because they are cheap, easy to get hold of and quite good - but you are right there are better alternatives - the main point of the video is the effect of the light guide
I had a book light that was a plastic sheet like that with a light on the edge. Loved it.
they are cool
Current solar panels are large area, computer chip quality (without all the millions transistors) and can't stand hail or other impacts. That panel is likely cheaper and easier to replace when damaged leaving the generator led/silicon along the edges where they can be protected better.
nice point mate - cheers
Man, I love this. Thanks for sharing your inspiration ✌️
Glad you enjoyed it!
A really great experiment. Bundling at the edges. Thanks Robert 👍💪✌
cheers mate
Will you be testing the impact of the size of the acrylic panel? That is, does it take a large panel to boost the output, or can a narrower strip of plastic be just as effective?
that's a good idea - i always assumed it was an area thing - you make a good point - how ever I am unlikely to do that - just not enough time - you could try it though and let everyone know how it goes
Great video. I think that wired in series, LEDs will be limited by the greatest resistance in the circuit. Not like batteries at all. The panel might benefit from charging capacitors in series and discharging n parallel as you did in one of your prior videos.
Great point!
Yellow is interesting because IIRC photosynthesis operates off of red and blue. So this could lead to solar electric that does not interfere with agriculture, and greenhouses that produce both plants and electricity.
that is intereting and something i didn't know - thanks for sharing mate
The LEDs in series produce no voltage increase because you only get a few nano-amps out of them, string current is limited by the worst LED getting reverse-biased, and the resulting current is getting shunted by the multi-meter's 10M input resistance.
In parallel voltage goes up because you are adding the diode currents getting shunted into the multi-meter' 10M input. 600mV across 10MOhm is 60nA.
You are producing less than 2nW of power per LED.
cheers mate and not being rude here but you might be missing the point - i only used yellow LEDs because they are cheap, easy to get hold of and quite good - but there are better alternatives - the main point of the video is the effect of the light guide
@@ThinkingandTinkering I was just pointing out that you need to keep your meter's input resistance in mind when dealing with something that only produces nA worth of current. LEDs may be able to produce current but they are horrible at it.
I was thinking about covering the remining edges with reflective tape, but then you said have led's on all side's. So what about led's on all side's and a mirror on the surface away from the sun? I know it would not be transparent then, but what if that's not important.
If it's not important then that is a great idea mate
Very interesting! You probably want to put a load on there, so you are measuring closed circuit voltage and current. Perhaps a 1K resistor?
I think you are right mate - cheers
Awesome, one of the best ideas, I'd say.
Wow, thanks!
Hi Robert. Your multimeter has a 10 MΩ or >10 GΩ selectable input impedance for 0.2 and 2V range. If you set it to 10G your series led's should match your expectations. I think 10V at least it can produce.
brilliant mate - thank you for that
@@ThinkingandTinkering It worked ? I only later realised you can only measure up to 2V with that impedance. Any range above 2V will have 10M input impedance. Anyway, overrange for the 2V range is what you'll get. Does it ?
This is excellent. Looking likely that solar panels can give more. 👍❤️😇
I think so too
I immediately wondered if pre drilled holes along the edge of the Perspex so the LED’s could ‘plug into’ the Perspex would have a better and less production and material intensive result.
good idea cheers
I worked on g-2 at Brookhaven on the position sensitive detector. The detecter was layers of optical fibers placed in rows perpendicular to each other. The fibers were doped with the same dyes as your sheet. When a muon beam passed through the fibers light woud be produced and you could make a rough map of the beam profile.
nice!
happys seasons to you and all :)
And to you too mate - all the best
The difference in parallel and series is most likely internal resistance of the LED elements.
yes i thought that - nice to have someone agree
How about a clear panel with a yellow flouro strip ahead of the LED strip on the sides
Ok wise guy! Or layers of the clear and fluorescent strips. In rows.
you need it to guide the light mate - a clear panel wont do that unless you cut prisms in it
Would mini led strips do the same thing?
i don't know - COB doesn't work but that's because COB LEDs are really really bad at converting light back to electricity - you want to pick something that is good at that job - i only used yellow LEDs because they are cheap, easy to get hold of and quite good - but there are better alternatives - the main point of the video is the effect of the light guide
heres an idea, get the plexiglass the size of a picture frame, then put the led's mounted into the picture frame and all the wiring can be cut into the panel, but an additional wonder, will a reflective surface work for additional light into the plexiglass?
nice suggestion mate - cheers
I'm really curious about what happens to the critical angle when the light guide is bent. Being acrylic, I assume it can be heated to conform to complex surfaces. If it can be moulded over bumps and creases as well as around slight curves without transmission loss, it opens up solar collection on things like car windsheilds and side windows (thinking Aptera or similar), or anywhere where traditional flat panels don't make sense by covering that area in a layer of the stuff. How does the thickness of the guide affect light output at the edge? Are you better off with something twice the length or twice the height in terms of area/material used, or is there falloff the further away from the edge, and at what rate? Aargh so many questions. Thanks for the video.
lol - now i feel inadequate that I don't have the answers lol - they are good questions mate but need looking into i would say
The problem with making them windows: If all the light is guided to the edges to power the cells, that means no light is going through the window, and you wouldn't be able to see through the window. If you can see through the window, then you have losses.
yeah - you have losses - but surely you can see the use of a window that generates? Think of all the skyscrapers
@@ThinkingandTinkering To a point sure, like tinted windows (but I don't think people want neon yellow windows though lol). It'd also depend on cost to make/install/maintain, as well as the efficiency of a vertical panel vs. tracking the sun. Not all sides of a building see light either. Lots of questions need to be answered.
would foil tape on 3 sides help also? Because you use yellow lights could you also use clear? I see a future here on large buildings
tape would work fine - Clear will work just not as well - see the chart in the video
How about adding some foil on the other three edges to reflect the light back inwards?
i was thinking the stuff they put around laptop screens
@ThinkingandTinkering Yes! If you have any.
As a single side direct panel, would covering the back side with reflective aluminum foil cause the yellow light emitted off the back of the panel to pass back through the panel a second time, and increase the light emitted from the edges?
I would just use the stuff they put into laptop screens i think
As a fiber optic effect, it seems like what is missing is a reflective coating to recapture the emitted yellow light spectrum and try and redirect that back through the filter to increase the edge output. Just thinking out loud, and that's why I love your feed.
On the other side, I'm trying to wrap my head around a way to allow yellow light to enter the panel, but not exit it, without reducing the amount of light that is allowed to enter.
If we could capture all of the yellow, roughly 550-600nm, into that glass, without allowing any of it to escape and all directed to the edges...
The glass absorbs every frequency except yellow. Reflecting much of it out of the face and back side. The back side seems logical to simply be a reflective foil surface, but what about the face where the light enters, and then reflects yellow frequency back out? Fascinating stuff. Keep it up please.
In series the LED's will start emitting power as light because they are LED's.
actually mate i think it is just because it is below the forward voltage threshold
How much does the square footage of the pane effect power same question for thickness of pane. Is there an optimum size and thickness?
no idea - it is certainly something to investigate mate
I wonder if the series version gains enough voltage to start lighting up some of the LEDs?
LEDs are diodes - which means its a one way flow - because we have reversed the flow direction it can't then flow back in so to speak
Could you put mirrors on the edges that don't have LEDs to reflect some of the escaping light back in?
yes
I don’t think that there should be much difference between using the yellow colored panel vs a clear (no color) panel. The yellow LEDs will still get the part of the light spectrum that they utilize. Maybe run a test of this.
Imagine every house and building could conceivably retrofit all of their windows to produce some electricity from solar. It probably wouldn’t be worth the cost of immediately replacing the windows, but as the ordinary existing windows face their end of life, replacement with energy producing glass would possibly make sense.
Nice video, do you remember the fibre optic lamps imagine 1 led per 1 fibre. Could be like artificial pampus grass in the garden. Maybe capture some motion energy aswell.
i like that idea mate
wouldn't UV and heat be a problem though.
Sure, tinted glass is a thing but i'd reckon LEDs aren't designed to withstand sunlight
the main point of the video is the effect of the light guide not the LEDs - i only used yellow LEDs because they are cheap, easy to get hold of and quite good - but there are better alternatives
How well will the LEDs work illuminating the glass?
It improves output
Put foil on the unused edges to reflect back
better to use white - like the stuff they use in laptop screens
Put mirrors on the 3 edges not covered by LEDs?
i was thinking the stuff they use for laptop screens
Why didn't you show us the results of using a clear glass with the yellow LEDs. Also you were using a flashlight to increase the light intensity but I was interested in what a real world outdoors with the Sun would have resulted in
I am sorry mate but you didn't watch the video carefully enough - I didn't use a light when i demonstrated the effect of the light guide - only sunlight and that was indoors. Clear glass won't do anything - but feel free to try it
What happens if you mount the LED's on a circular panel, sandwiched with other circular panels with a decreasing outer diameters?
try it and see mate
Thank you very much....
You are most welcome
This would be perfect for low voltage sensor arrays.
cheers mate
I love this channel❤
cheers mate
Now all you need to do is light an LED from your .... erm .... LED's :D :D
So this raises the question *_How many LED's does it take to light up a LED :D_*
It would make a great idea for a competition. Who can light up a single LED using the least amount of LED's. A bit of a tuning/performance competition. I see creations of inverted pyramids of prism's with mirrors all over the place :D
I was so tempted to do that lol - and yeah a great idea for a competition lol
You should have a Maker fair and the trophy should be made out of recycled parts lol 😂 please keep TNT on
I like that idea!
Now do it with a clear sheet please!
i have a sheet! - so sure - cheers
... and it may work by night too, right?
well i have it sitting in my dinning room and it is still scavanging a small amount
GOOD JOB !!!
cheers mate
❤It is cool❤ /Mikael
cheers mate
i love ur vids! keep posting
cheers mate
I don't think the light guide effect works in reverse. EDIT: I guess it does. Try it with solar panels and let us know how it works in practice.
will do
Condolences for Patti :(
Thank you for taking the time to say that - it really is well appreciated
I want to make a light cube now. This idea layered until the bottom layer isn't worth it
nice
Then a green house could… and I’m sure you probably just thought why!
yes it could!
Because of our yellow sun?
I don't think so - i think it is mostly the doping used to create the colour range
I've never known leds generate electricity from light
yep - they do that
Have you ever considered hanging a towel or blanket in the room while you are recording these videos? I fee like it would improve the audio quality.
The biggest improvement would be when Robert starts to use a microphone !
Robert is an anti-microphite
you are not watching - i use a lapel mic
To be honest mate - there isn't a 'team here' - it's just me, I do my best and that is going to have to do - sorry mate
Try triangular prism cuts
or you could