Thanks to members I can now understand my leisure battery !!
One question though.
I will be using a spare leisure battery for my laptop to watch dvd's and do a bit of work.
I have a small solar panel with a cigarette lighter socket.
If my leisure battery needs topping up and I plug it into my panel, how does the charge know which way to go ???
I know that the panel will not generate a lot of power, but maybe just enough to keep the battery charged.
So when the battery is plugged in to the panel how does the charge know that it has to go from the panel to the battery and not vice versa ? I am concerned that when I plug in it will get confused and send power from the battery to the solar panel and make the panel 'live'
Thanks anyone who can help. I have asked a few electrically unchallenged folk and the best reply so far is 'cos it does'. Not good enough. I dont want a live solar panel electricuting me !!!
Brenda
Thanks for the answer.
If I plug in my laptop to the leisure battery the power flows from the battery to the laptop.
However if I plug in my solar panel to the leisure battery power 'should' flow from panel to battery.
How does the diode know which way to send the power if it can only flow one way.
I am getting a bad head !!!
Brenda
A diode is rather like a valve in a tyre; a valve will let air in (from a pump) but stops the air from going the other way; a diode lets electricity flow one way (from a solar panel or other source) and stops electricity flowing back the other way - rather a simplified explanation, but that's what diodes do, because they're made that way...
Gram
------------- What's the difference between a chicken?
Thanks Gram I think your explanation of the diode sounds good, but if the diode acts like a valve and stops the electricity flowing from the battery to the solar panel then how can the diode allow the electricity to flow from the battery to the laptop to power it. This is what I can't understand. How does the electricity 'know' which way that it has to go ???????
So when solar panel plugged into battery electricity flows 'TO' the battery and when laptop plugged in the electricity flows 'FROM' the battery.
I am quite convinced that my solar panel wont get 'live' and kill me, but it's just one of those things that I want to know why wont it !!!
Cheers
Brenda
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Topic: "electrically challenged" question
Im going to use that next time Im down factory.
