Debate: salvaged solar cells from yard lights vs buying new panels for a phone charger build?

Last month I rigged a 5V charger from three old garden light cells I pulled off a curb, but my buddy says new panels from Amazon would charge my phone twice as fast for only $12 more, so which route actually makes sense for a weekend project?

2 comments

2 Comments

anthony12710h ago

That's exactly right. I did the same thing with some streetlight cells a while back and it was so slow I just went back to plugging my phone in the wall.

wrenstone11h ago

Hang on a sec, your buddy's got a point about speed but the math's a little off. Those garden light cells are usually around 0.5 watts each, so three of them give you maybe 1.5 watts max. A cheap 5 watt panel from Amazon can actually pump out closer to 1 amp in full sun, which is roughly 5 watts. So yeah, it's more than twice as fast, it's like three or four times faster. But that $12 difference means a lot if your whole budget is like $15 for a fun experiment. You gotta ask yourself if saving a few bucks is worth watching your phone charge at a crawl while the sun's out.