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Caps and solar panels

roadkillguy

Apr 2, 2011
5
Joined
Apr 2, 2011
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Hi everyone, I guess I'm pretty much new here.

Anyway, I have some questions that I've been wondering about since I first started dealing with capacitors and solar panels. You can call it homework, but I've been trying to figure it out in my free time, so it's really not.

Anyway, imagine a solar cell connected in parallel with a capacitor. The idea is that it would charge the capacitor over time. The only problem is, a capacitor's current is based on it's charge, and the solar panel's voltage is based on it's draw current, no? The capacitor's charge is based on it's input voltage, which will then affect it's draw current. It goes full circle, and doesn't really make sense to me. Maybe it reaches an asymptote at some point?

I've been struggling to find a clear answer to this, because in high school they only teach you V=IR kudurr and nothing about draw or source. (I've asked the teacher and she gives me the dumbed down answer. (We never discussed flow rates through capacitors.))

Thanks!
 
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