How to Make a Solar Vent Fan
A Solar Vent Fan is a green way of getting electricity and using it to cool various areas such as a garage or an attic. A solar vent fan may be made with the help of solar panels, which transform solar energy into low voltage electricity. Making a solar vent fan is easy even for beginners.
You Will Need:
- A solar panel (choose a 6 Watt and 12 volt panel)
- A circuit box
- A fan (12 volt) (a computer fan is fine)
- A 25 V capacitor
- Solder and soldering iron
- Wire
- Solar energy
- Hot glue
- A cutter or an exacto knife
- A plastic/ metal box
Step 1 – Get Your Materials
You can obtain the needed materials from a hardware store. The solar panels should use wafer-based silicon, which will be able to transform the solar energy into electricity.
Familiarize yourself with the solar panel, the circuit box and the capacitor.
Step 2 – Connect the Positive Wires
Find the positive wire, which is marked with a + sign and is red, at the back of the fan. Connect this to the red wire of the capacitor and the positive wire of the panel. Use the soldering iron to make the connection.
Step 3 – Connect the Negative Wires
Using the soldering iron, join the negative wires as well. All of the negative wires will be black and marked with a - , so they can be easily differentiated from the positive ones.
Step 4 – Glue the Parts in a Box
Get all the joined parts into a plastic box. Use a hot glue to fasten the parts in the box.
With a cutter or exacto knife cut a hole or a rectangular shape, which should be approximately the size of the fan. Make sure the fan is located under the hole; the fan should also be next to the capacitor.
Step 5 -- Place the Solar Panel Outside
The solar energy is essential to make a solar vent fan work. The energy from the sun will be transformed into electricity due to the wafer-based silicon. The solar panels are semiconductors.
If the solar panel gets sun, the panel will provide power to the vent fan. If there is excess energy, this will be accumulated in the capacitor. If there is not sufficient solar energy and there is not enough accumulated energy in the capacitor, the fan will not work. However, the fan may work even during the night, if sufficient sun light is accumulated during the day.
Tips
Make sure that the output voltage of the solar cells is at least as high as the voltage needed for the vent fan to work.
The vent fan may also be wired to a motor or a battery, which can be used as a backup when there is not sufficient solar energy. This can be done by connecting the positive wire of the solar panel to the positive wire of the fan and the negative wire of the motor or battery.
