Yes, solar cells can work with artificial light.
But you should consider that the amount of electricity produced by your solar panel will be reduced compared to direct sunlight.
There are still many devices that use artificial light to charge their batteries using solar cells.
Before you start setting up a solar array inside your house, take a minute to check what results you can expect.
I’ve used solar panels both indoors and outdoors over the years for various reasons.
And you’re not alone in wondering if you can use a light bulb to run a solar panel.
Let’s go through the ins and outs of using artificial light with solar cells and whether it will work for your needs.
Can Artificial Light Charge Solar Panels?
Yes, technically speaking an artificial light can charge solar panels.
As you know, the cells in solar panels work when they are hit with sunlight.
Lightwaves are made up of photons, which are little particles. When these particles travel from a light source, like the sun, and hit a solar cell it creates an electric field.
Artificial lights you find at home are designed to replicate the visible spectrum of light created by the sun.
And this energy from your lightbulb can be absorbed by your solar panels in the same way as sunlight.
Plus there’s a whole lot of lightwaves that are invisible to the human eye that both the sun and artificial light produces.
UV and infrared light are examples on the spectrum of light.
Of course, your light bulbs produce a microscopic amount of power compared to the sun, so they will be far less efficient in running a solar panel.
In fact, during the conversion of light to electricity in a solar cell, energy is lost. So in most situations, it is going to be inefficient, costly, and a waste of energy to charge a solar panel with artificial light.
What Can You Charge Using Solar Panels and Artificial Light?
For any larger electronics, you should forget about using artificial light to run your solar panels.
The amount of energy you will generate from a light bulb is going to be negligible, the voltage will be so low it won’t even register.
But there are some small devices that can happily run on artificial light and solar cells.
Think back to your school days.
Did you ever use a solar powered calculator that never saw the light of day?
Your calculator would only ever come out of your bag in a classroom, you never put it in the sun to charge.
This is a great example, a small device using solar panels to charge its batteries from artificial light.
What Type of Artificial Light Works with Solar Cells?
These days there are various different types of light bulbs you can choose from.
In my house, I recently changed my traditional incandescent bulbs for energy efficient LED bulbs. Plus you can also get UV and infrared lights which people use for tropical pets, growing plants, and tanning beds.
All of these give off a various amount of energy and interact with solar panels in different ways.
So what type of artificial light works with solar cells?
Incandescent Light Bulb – This is a traditional light bulb which will work best with a solar panel. This is because the length of lightwave and energy output is best suited to the way solar panels are designed.
Fluorescent Light – Fluorescent light also replicates a part of the sun’s light spectrum. You’ll find fluorescent light strips in many commercial settings. They tend to use less energy than incandescent and shorter lightwaves. However, solar cells will struggle even more to generate electricity from this light source.
LED – Light emitting diodes (LED) grow in popularity every day. This is because they have a long life, use little energy, and create bright light. They are the worst of common artificial light sources to use with solar cells. But to me it is no surprise, they can use 90% less energy than incandescent light bulbs, so naturally the amount of energy a solar panel can absorb is much lower.
If you want to read deeper into research behind this then read ‘A Proposal for Typical Artificial Light Sources for the Characterization of Indoor Photovoltaic Applications’ by Ben Minnaert and Peter Veelaert
Can Solar Panels Charge Through Windows?
Yes, solar panels can charge through windows but efficiency is reduced. This is because light can still pass through glass to hit the solar cells on your panel.
Don’t forget, many solar panels have glass covering the solar cells to protect them from rain, dirt, and general damage.
Plus many people use solar chargers for things like car batteries. These devices are placed inside the car on the window or windscreen to absorb sunlight to create electricity.
One thing to note is that the performance of a solar panel will be reduced when placed behind a glass window. In fact, charging can take 3 times longer in some situations. This is because a percentage of photons don’t pass through the pain of glass.
For example, clear glass will let through 75% – 95% of light. It will never have a 100% light transmittance. But that’s still plenty of light, even enough to get skin damage from excessive sun through a window!
So to sum up, yes, solar panels do work through windows but efficiency is reduced.
Final Words on Charging Solar Cells with Artificial Light
The final verdict is quite clear.
Artificial light can charge solar cells but the results are very poor.
It is a waste of time and energy for anything more than a small solar calculator.
You won’t get anywhere if you are trying to use a large portable solar panel or solar phone charger.
To be honest, it will just cost you money.
Even if you can get some charge it will always be better to plug into an AC mains outlet.
At the very least, you will lose energy during the process of converting artificial light back into electricity.
