Posts Tagged ‘solar charge controller’
Micro Inverters
A solar power system for your home is a great option if you want to lower or even eliminate your monthly electricity bill. The most recent solar power systems are very affordable, extremely efficient, and easy to install. Recently, something called a micro inverter has been incorporated in some solar panels, and this may prove to be one of the most important improvements of all.There are various kinds of solar power inverters. You can visit Solar Power Inverter to learn more about solar power inverters.
Most solar systems follow the same basic principles. Usually, the solar panels themselves will be placed on the roof of the home, unless there’s a nearby area that sees even more sunlight. When the panels experience sunlight exposure, they produce DC electricity.
This DC electricity is then sent to a large inverter, which is usually located near the home’s electrical panel. Devices in the home that require electricity use AC electricity, and the inverter converts the DC electricity to AC for this purpose.
Previous solar power systems had long wires moving the electricity from the panels to the inverter, and this would result in a fair amount of power loss. This kind of power loss affects low voltage DC electricity in particular. The only answer before now was just to produce more power to compensate for the loss.
The answer to the problem of power loss has arrived in the form of solar micro inverters. Now that solar panels can be equipped with built-in micro inverters, the conversion can be performed on the spot, negating most of the loss. This means you no longer need so much redundancy in terms of solar panels. AC electricity can move a longer distance while suffering less loss than DC electricity. This also means that it’s easier to expand your system, as you can simply buy panels as you need them, without having to worry about upgrading your inverter. The up-front cost of these advanced solar panels is a little greater, but they’re actually more affordable in the long run, as they’re so much more efficient.
Solar charge controllers are necessary for most solar power systems that use batteries. Solar charge controllers work to regulate the power moving from the solar panels to the batteries. To know more solar charge controllers, you can check out Solar Charge Controller.
For the best guide to building your own homemade wind turbine, you can check out Earth4Enegry Review.
Residential Solar Systems
The main component of any residential solar power system is the solar panels. They do the actual conversion of sunlight to electricity and are at the heart of the solar system that provides energy to your home. There are a number of differences between solar panels, even though many panels look alike, and the homeowner must consider several things before selecting which panels to use for his or her home. A great set of plans for building your own solar panel is GreenDiyEnergy.
All modern solar panels are much better than older panels in both construction and efficiency. It doesn’t matter what style of panel you are looking for, you will be better off with modern panels than you would have been even a few years ago. While it is true that all of the newer panels are much better than in the past, there are many differences between different models of solar panels so selecting a panel should be done based on both your budget and how much electricity you need to produce.
First of all, you need to consider how much output voltage the system you are building needs. Residential solar panels have several standard voltage levels and you need to choose with one to use for your system. This choice concerning voltage level will have an impact on which solar panels you use as well as which power inverter you select. There are advantages to using higher voltage panels like less power loss in the long runs of wire, however higher voltage panels are also more expensive. Residential solar panels usually have output voltages of 12, 24 or 48 volts and there are some that are even higher. It is generally best to select panels with the highest voltage level that your budget allows.
Voltage level will also affect which solar system charge controller you select.
Another difference between different types of panels is efficiency. The efficiency difference between different panels, even ones that look the same, can be as much as 10%. From a given level of sunlight, 10% higher efficiency will mean a huge difference in the amount of electricity produced. Over the life of the panel, this difference in electricity generated will be really big. Because of this, you will need less space for panels and you will need to spend less money because you will need fewer panels. You should generally choose panels with the highest efficiency rating you can afford. If you spend a little more money now and get a better quality panel, you will get that difference back many, many times over the life of the solar panel.
Some of the newer specialty solar panels should also be considered. There are some panels that combine solar electric panels with solar thermal panels in one package. These can be used for both electricity and hot water. You will get the most efficient use of roof space with these panels and also get double the benefit.
Solar panels that include a micro inverter are another newer development. A micro inverter is a power inverter that is build into the solar panel. It is sized to work with just the amount of electricity the panel outputs. A power inverter converts the DC electricity from a solar panel or battery into the AC power that your appliances need. The typical configuration is to the have all of the panels and batteries feed a single, larger power inverter than does the conversion for the whole system. With a micro inverter in each solar panel, you can build up your system slowly rather than having to pay up-front for a larger power inverter to support all the panels you will eventually buy. This means you can build your solar system up little-by-little, but still get the benefit of AC power from the system at every step. Higher voltage AC electricity coming from the panels also means less power loss in the wires. For much more information on micro inverters, visit Solar Panel Micro Inverter.

