Data Sheet

Measuring the Solar Panel
and Fuel Cell Output
Chapter 11Measurements
63
Fuel Cell 10 Experiment Manual
Solar Panel Voltage
To determine the power of
the solar panel, we will mea-
sure the short circuit voltage
on the V= side of the multi-
meter in measurement range
20 (Figure 2). The voltage
will vary depending on the
strength of the light hitting
it, but it should be about 2.8
volts.
Solar Panel Current
We will measure its short cir-
cuit current on the A= side in
the 200m range (Figure 3). The
current will also vary depend-
ing on the amount of light, but
an average current reading is
about 250 mA.
Multiply 0.25 A x 2.8 V to calcu-
late a power of 0.7 watts.
Fuel Cell Power
To measure the power of the
fuel cell, first fill the tanks
with hydrogen and oxygen.
Instead of connecting the mo-
tor, insert the meter probes
into the cell’s
and sock-
ets and take a reading (Figure
4). Thus, we can calculate the
fuel cell:
Power = Voltage x Current
With 1.4 volts and 16 mA (0.16
A), the power output would be
0.22 watts. The values drop
by half as soon as we hook up
a load (the electric motor) to
the circuit instead of just the
multimeter. Then, the value
readings are called operating
voltage or operating current,
instead of no-load values.
Tests
Measure Solar Panel Voltage
Measure Solar Panel Current
Measure Fuel Cell Voltage
Multimeter Setting
Multimeter Setting
Multimeter Setting
2
3
4