Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #01502
To: "Zulu 35" zulu35@singnet.com.sg, "BEAM" beam@corp.sgi.com
From: "Hendrickson" hannah@nanospace.com
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 21:49:11 -0800
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: FLED solarengine
First of all, a PD (photodiode) conducts better in higher light conditions
when foward biased (ie. - to -, + to +) and creates a small amount of
electricity when reverse biased (- to+, + to -) so if you attach enough Pds
in parallel and reverse biased you can use them to replace solar cells. This
was used before the nice Solarbotics solar cells were available. It just
takes quite a few Pd's to do the job of a solar cell. I think Solarbotics is
actually selling some of these small Pds for such a use.
Brian
beamboter@iname.com
www.welcome.to/briansbeam
"There isn't much thrill in success
unless one has first come close to failure"- W. Feather
> i was bumming around once when i thought of how the photodiode functions.
>correct me fi i am wrong, but the photodiode conducts when it is in low
>light conditions, am i right?
>
>so i was thinking.. if one is to construct a photovore using 2 1831 or FLED
>solar engines, then, instead of using 2 solar cells, attach 2 photodiodes
>instead, (perhaps to one of the motor's power lines).. would the photovore
>still work as it is supposed to? well.. gotta wait till i get more
>photodiodes before i try this out.. meanwhile.. has anyone tried this
>before? and.. in the first place... is this workable?
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