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Technology / Re: Can a capacitor reduce home electritity use?

« on: 09/08/2016 18:11:13 »

Capacitors simply store and/or smooth out electricity and won't save you money for using. What is the OP here interpreting a 'capacitor' is though? It's not something a general consumer would be able to be concerned about nor could 'install' without a background in electronics. Perhaps he/she was referring to a backup supply for blackouts or storm surge? They certainly require capacitors as components but unless it is some brand name for some energy saving device, they are not something one would require using as a consumer. (And not to mention, dangerous if we're discussing general power supply.)

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Technology / Re: How can I connect a simple circuit to a PC?

« on: 08/03/2016 09:16:54 »

Great idea - I can attach a card to the tail and rebalance.

It may be possible to improvise a detector using an optical-mouse & a laser-pointer ...
 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ne3DcDjuuw

IIRC there is software which can detect movement in a video image,  (e.g. web-camera).

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Technology / Re: Is mid-day best for solar power?

« on: 19/07/2015 19:03:47 »

It isn't necessarily when the sun is at the maximum height. There are two real issues: 1) how directly the sunlight hits the solar panel; and 2) how much of the atmosphere the sunlight has gone through.

For the first issue, this has to do with what fraction of the sunlight gets reflected, and how much gets absorbed. If the light comes in at a 90° angle, it has the best chance to get absorbed, and the further away from this ideal angle, the more light gets reflected (wasted). This is why most solar panels are built at an angle rather than being perfectly horizontal (especially at higher latitudes, where the sun is never directly overhead).

The second issue is less critical except right after dawn and right before sunset, when the sun is very close to the horizon. In these cases, the sunlight has  a much longer path through the atmosphere than when it is higher up. This results in some losses in the intensity of the light (mostly due to scattering, but some absorption).

So to answer the title question: the solar panels can capture the most power when they are pointed directly at the sun when the sun is at the highest point in the sky. For solar panels that do not track the sun, it is slightly more complex to optimize the efficiency, and it may actually be best to have the sun hitting the panel most directly during periods when it is not quite at the highest point (especially because the sun's path through the sky is different throughout the year...)