A hole in my bucket

After two weeks on my window AC unit, I'm sad to report my little panel has not collected enough juice to fill up my Powerpack. The week before I placed the 6 watt panel and Powerpack on my roof. It took 3 sunny days to get a full tank. So this weekend I abandoned the AC unit and returned the team to the roof.

I liked the AC solution because it was so convenient. Just plug in the panel in the morning. Unplug at night. The only thing with the placement....there's a tree and streetlight nearby that eventually cast shadows on the panel around midday. The shadows must be cutting down the efficiency.

After moving the setup to the roof I realized this process is very similar to collecting rainwater for use in an apartment. Sure, you've got a tap that delivers more water in a one minute than you could collect in a week. But efficient collection plus conservation could significantly cut into how frequently you hit the tap. Now it's just a matter of where I place my buckets.