How do I know if the solar panel is working?

[frog4ever77]

Hi Everyone,
I am new to solar, watched a ton of Will's and others videos on youtube. I don't really understand much of what they are talking about but I still find it interesting. I wanted to start out tiny and ordered 4 solar panel with water pumps for bird baths. 2 stopped working, either I burned out the pumps or the panels broke. I can't switch out the known working parts with the nonworking ones because the other connectors are different.

1. How do I test the panels to see if they still work?
2. Is it possible to make an adapter to use the solar panels to charge a usb power bank?

One of the solar panels is:
Solar panel power: 9V 1.8W
The other is 10V 6.5W with Rechargeable Li-ion 7.4V 1500mAh

Here is a picture of the connector they both have, one panel has a female end and other panel has male end.

Thanks in advance,
Kristy

 

[gnubie]

You can confirm the panels are working if you have a multimeter. Measure the voltage and then the current. The 9V panel will probably show around 11 volts and approx 150mA in full sun. The 10V panel will probably be around 12V and approx 540mA in full sun.

Alternately a 3W 12V lamp should light to some degree if put across the panels too but won't give you any indication of how well the panels are working.

It is possible to charge a USB power bank from solar but usually they expect to be able to draw a given amount of current at a given voltage so no guarantee your particular bank could be charged using these panels. If you check the usb bank's charger requirements and post them that'd help, or failing that link to the product page for it.

 

[frog4ever77]

Ok thanks Gnube! I will try that tomorrow.

One of the usd power packs is 5V/1A input, output is 5v 2.4A and has a capacity of 6000mAh

 

[Craig]

I have a solar panel connected directly to a 12/24 volt USB port the panel is only 7.5 volts and while slow it works fine I can use the power port to charge any USB device.