I am reading a bit about solar energy, and for my own curiosity, I would really like to know the insolation on my balcony. That could tell me how much a solar panel could produce.
Now, I don't have any equipment, but I do have a smartphone, and an app called Light Meter, which tells me the luminious flux per area in the unit lux.
Can I in some way calculate W/m2 from lux? E.g. the current value of 6000lux.
Best Answer
There is no simple conversion, it depends on the wavelength or color of the light.
However, for the sun there is an approximate conversion of $0.0079 \, \text{W/m}^2$ per Lux.
To plug in numbers as an example: if we read 75,000 Lux on a light sensor, we convert that reading to $\text{W/m}^2$ as follows: $$75,000 \times 0.0079 = 590 \, \text{W/m}^2 \, .$$
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