Sunshine power

Whilst it may have seemed in short supply this year, sunshine has to be one of our greatest methods of 'free' power; I've already had a surprising amount of interest in the solar panel bonded to the new roof, so here's a little more info.

The panel is a 95watt flexible unit from Amperor Associates. Measuring in at a touch over 800mm square, the unit is a mere 4mm in thickness making it absolutely ideal for this location. Being flexible allows it to stand up to any subtle movement in the roof and can be mounted to a surface that may not be absolutely flat. It is extremely robust and totally weatherproof, being bonded to the roof means it should be fairly theft-proof as well - the same can't be said of the thicker, bolted-on units.

The panel feeds into a small solar-regulator hidden next to the leisure battery. This takes the maximum 25v input from the panel (on a very sunny day!) and feeds a maximum charging current of 4.6amps to the battery. Ideal for leaving a laptop, camera or mobile phone charging.

So I guess all we need now is some sunshine? Although the panel works remarkably well in average daylight.