Solar panels generating power in the dark?

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by thebobgy</i>
<br /><blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by xterrester</i>
<br />I found this story at another site and I am wondering if any one can explain what would cause solar panels to suddenly start generating power to the systems storage batteries in the middle of the night. Besides solar what other type of energy are solar panels capable of collecting?
The paragraph that really intrigued me:
"During the latter part of the storm, in complete darkness outside, an indicator on the solar cell charge controller indicated electrical current was flowing from the solar cell panel on the roof into the batteries. Twenty minutes after the observation it abruptly stopped. It is significant to realize there was no sun radiation (it was night), but another type of radiation was hitting the solar panel and the entire system. Text in full: LEDs destroyed worldnews2005.tripod.com/id11.html
SUNDAY, JULY 23, 2006<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">And that, exterrester, is how conspiracy “theories” are propagated. Weather you are starting it or just passing it on there will have to be a much stronger connection between the light anomaly and the military. What may have caused the solar panels to “generate” power in total darkness, (if true) is truly an interesting phenomenon but I won’t touch the military connection. As to the burned LEDs, I have little doubt it was caused by anything other than a power “surge”. Solar panels are mounted on the roof. Computer components, for example, can be damaged by a power surge even if it, (the computer) is turned off unless it is equipped with a “surge protector”.
thebobgy
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

After reconsidering the power generation of the solar panels the problem is, is that they, the panels, were not in total darkness, as stated in the article there was considerable "lightining" which if I am not mistaken, is "light" and that is what caused the panels to generate power. Case colsed, military vindicated!
thebobgy

thebobgy,

I didn't really pay any attention to the military references in the post, my curiosity was only aroused by the solar panels that started charging the storage batteries in the middle of the night. I posted the letter in its entirety, on reflection I probably should have edited it as I am not interested in giving the impression that I give any credence to this particular conspiracy theory.

What I am interested in is what other sources of radiation would cause a solar panel power collection system to charge the storage batteries for 20 minutes in the middle of the night.

I would think the energy source would need to be constant for 20 minutes to keep the charging going for a full 20 minutes. Would intermittent flashes of lightening be able to achieve activating the battery charging for a full 20 min? If lightening is capable of this why didn't the batteries start charging earlier? The letter mentions that this happened in the last part of the storm. My experience with lightening storms is that the worst of the lightening and thunder preceeds the storm or occurs at the beginning of the storm. By the time the storm is winding down the lightening shows are usually pretty much over with.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by xterrester</i> <br />thebobgy,
I didn't really pay any attention to the military references in the post, my curiosity was only aroused by the solar panels that started charging the storage batteries in the middle of the night. I posted the letter in its entirety, on reflection I probably should have edited it as I am not interested in giving the impression that I give any credence to this particular conspiracy theory.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">I am glad to read that you do not give credence to a conspiracy but that is the ultimate message.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">What I am interested in is what other sources of radiation would cause a solar panel power collection system to charge the storage batteries for 20 minutes in the middle of the night. I would think the energy source would need to be constant for 20 minutes to keep the charging going for a full 20 minutes. Would intermittent flashes of lightening be able to achieve activating the battery charging for a full 20 min?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">I’ll stick with the lightening. Photo cells are not instantaneous on and off like a switch they build to max power and recede to off at about the same rate. If the panels are producing 120v and the indicator light only uses 18v then I would think that one bolt could keep the light lit a short amount of time as residual power and with repeated strikes 20min is conceivable. The question would be; how accurate is the 20min time estimate?
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">If lightening is capable of this why didn't the batteries start charging earlier?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">Much would depend on the angle of the roof as to the direction of the oncoming storm maybe even blockage by trees. Some street lights are photo cell activated and do come on during a storm but not always all of the lights.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">The letter mentions that this happened in the last part of the storm. My experience with lightening storms is that the worst of the lightening and thunder preceeds the storm or occurs at the beginning of the storm. By the time the storm is winding down the lightening shows are usually pretty much over with.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">I agree for the most part but, I have experienced many storms when the lightening continued after the storm moved on. I admit that much of what I have said is speculation however, the speculation is based on two facts, 1) the panels are light sensitive and, 2) there was a lighting storm..
thebobgy

thebobgy,

Your scenario sounds plausible. I am still wondering if solar cells are capable of collecting energy from electromagnetic frequencies other than visible light.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by xterrester</i>
<br />thebobgy,Your scenario sounds plausible. I am still wondering if solar cells are capable of collecting energy from electromagnetic frequencies other than visible light.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">I'll tell ya xterrester, if or when you find that source you will become a very rich person. I wish you the best of random chance.
thebobgy