I have a very basic though unsolvable issue so far, I bought a (shitty) mini solar panel, outputting up to 6V and 1W (166mA), and I cant get it to work with the equipment I have or even measure any current.
I do have up to 6V on my multimeter, but I don't see any current output (I plugged the multimeter correctly), is that normal ? Should I use a resistor ? If yes, which resistance would be appropriate ? Could my panel be broken even though it has a potential ?
That is the first part of my issue, which may be silly and due to a ridiculous mistake that I don't see yet, but I have more concerning issue. I bought a (shitty) 3-6V DC motor, that I tested and that draws up to 110mA at 6V at max speed, and starts around 3V drawing 50mA. The motor should run at least slowly with a decent insolation of the panel, but there again, nothing.
Be kind to a person whose strong point is clearly not electrical engineering !
Thanks for you answers.
Best Answer
How about trying something a bit different to make things easier. First, let's see if you can light up an LED with using the solar panel.
Build the following circuit.
simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab
Calculating Resistor Value
I calculated the resistor with the following formulas.
6V - 2V (approx drop for LED) = 4V
We have approx 4V to use to calculate the current. Current for the resistor can be about 20mA
4V / .020 = 200 (Ohms)
Does the LED light up?
If the LED doesn't light up then we are misunderstanding how the solar panel is providing current. And I think that is part of the problem. This may help you get to your answer.
Next thing you can do is insert your ammeter and see what current you may be getting.
Alter the previous circuit by adding the ammeter (multimeter in amp reading mode) inline:
simulate this circuit