When designing your home solar power system, always begin by doing an energy audit and find out how much electricity your home is consuming.
Next, decide how many electrical appliances you want to connect to the solar power system. That figure will help you to decide how many deep cycle battery you will need for the battery bank.
The batteries can be arranged in different ways to get the voltage you’ll need for your power inverter. If you are using a 1000 watt at12 volt power inverter, you will need 2 units of 6 volts batteries connected in series to come up with the 12 volts.
The most dangerous part of this process is the liquid in the battery. The liquid is sulfuric acid that will seriously burn you. As a safety precocious, always have some baking soda nearby to neutralize the acid in case you spilled some on your body.
You can check the acid in the battery by using a hydrometer. A hydrometer is what you use to measure the actual specific gravity of the acid inside.
On the hydrometer, you can see several discs floating. For example, if you see 3 discs floating with one at the bottom, you’ll know the battery is about 75% charged.
Here’s another safety tip. The gasses that come off from the battery, hydrogen gas (H2), can be hazardous as well. It is highly flammable. Make sure you work with the batteries in an open space and no sparks or open flame nearby.
DIY Home Solar Power Guide
Are you planning to build your own home solar power system? If you are, check out Michael Harvey’s Earth 4 Energy guide.
Michael’s e-book comes with step by step instructions on how to make a DIY solar panel with minimal cost. Check out my review of Earth4Energy on this blog for more information.