The Delicate Balancing Of PV Panels With Home Battery Storage




Have you ever thought of non-conventional energy as an effective alternative source, to save the nature from the wraths of atmospheric pollution?

A person, who is genuinely conscious of preserving our nature, will not hesitate to explore on such possibilities. Anyone, who is going to take on solar power system as an alternative for power production at their home, has to make some basic studies about solar panels and the battery system that has to be installed.

While arranging the solar panels either on the roof or on a ground post, the primary consideration has to be given on balancing the Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels output with the battery storage. If more number of panels with fewer batteries is aligned, the result will be wastage of energy. Imagine water is flowing into a small tank, where does the excess water goes? It will just overflow and get wasted on the ground.

If it is done vice- versa with less number of solar panels and more batteries, the batteries would not get fully charged at the required level that may result in power black outs during crucial hours. Can you see how getting the number of PV panels and batteries right is a delicate balancing act?

Solar panels should be capable of producing sufficient electric charge and the battery bank should have enough storage capacity throughout the day when the sun is shining. The energy generated can be used during night hours with enough surpluses as a reserve to meet the household energy demand on cloudy days.

Hence a realistic usage chart has to be worked out; taking all these factors into consideration and the battery storage has to be regulated accordingly. Another point is to correctly work out the efficiency rating, based on the assumption that the energy efficiency usually will be less than 20 percent of the watts stored.

The drop usually occurs owing to different factors such as size of the wire, distance of the solar panels from the batteries and the connections such as power inverter, charge controller and other electrical appliances. Therefore, to balance the power storage, the solar power system being installed, has to be made capable of producing 120% of the total energy requirements.

Sounds complicated to you? If you don’t have any knowledge or understanding on electronic science, it can be very confusing. In short, what you have to do is make sure the DIY home solar power system is capable of generating more excess power than you need.

Understand this; whenever you add on a new electrical equipment such as a fridge at home, the battery reserve will also drop down simultaneously. Hence it is necessary to anticipate these factors, in addition to temperature effects in the ambience, the cycles of the refrigerators and the freezers and the possible consumption of energy by such appliances in watts.

Normally a refrigerator taking its cycles for seven minutes in every 15 minutes and thus 28 minutes in every hour draws power for 11.2 hours per day that would require 2016 watts daily. Hence the batteries are to be charged fully at least once a month, to fulfill the energy needs.

When a power system of 12V capacity shows 12.4V in the charge controller, after the sun has gone down, the factual state of charge may very much vary from what the charge controller indicates. Many contributory factors affect the actual state of charge of the solar power system, of which, the priority attention needed is on proper upkeep of batteries. This is essential to maintain the battery life cycle with full charging efficiency.

For this, the terminals on the batteries are to be cleaned with corrosive and anti-corrosive cleaners and the water levels are to be checked and supplemented at regular intervals. The batteries should indicate a quarterly check report.

The deep cycle batteries may not work at 100% efficiency during their life time. Generally, batteries continue to work in weakest capacity but the risk is that they end up in draining other healthy batteries also.

The assessment of battery storage and reserve needs minute care and attention for the fact that an old battery drains with quicker speed, when the discharge and the volt level drops down, while the ampere goes up to maintain the same watts level that the system requires to function.

So, to have a functional home solar energy system, first, you must get the balancing of the PV panels with the number of battery correct. Then, you must also maintain the batteries so it is at its peak performance efficiency.

Living Off The Power Grid – 3 Things To Consider




It would really be an ambitious project to generate your own electricity for your general household usage. Though it is difficult but not at all impossible. This might be quite challenging particularly if you don’t have much knowledge or experience on renewable energy sources such as solar.

To power your entire home by solar energy requires time and also serious investment on your part, but if you are dedicated to the idea, it can be done. Here are 3 things to consider when you are planning to generate homemade solar energy.

You must have patience.

This is one element many DIYers lack when they are planning to hook their home up with solar power and that is “patience”. There is no way you can get your home off the grid after building a single Photovoltaic (PV) solar panel.

What you’ll need is multiple numbers of solar panels linked together in series to generate sufficient electricity for your home. To do that, you have to spend a lot of time meticulously arranging and soldering all the connecting wires together.

When you have completed that portion of the project, you can start using solar panels to reduce your monthly power bills. When you feel that your power bills are almost zero, this is the time when you can actually get the power disconnected from the local grid. But for all of that to happen, it will take some time.

Getting the power requirement calculations right.

Before you know how many PV panels are needed, you have to be aware of the total power consumption of your entire home. Don’t worry, it is quite easy to make the calculation.

An American home requires an average of 588 Kilowatt (kWh)-hours per month, this can vary as it depends upon the size of your home and other power needs. Nonetheless, that figure can be used as the benchmark.

This number also depends upon the climatic conditions because in summers, many homes consume double the power as the need of air conditioners increase. Such calculations will help you to arrive at the total energy requirement per month.

You can now calculate how many solar panels are required to power your entire home. When you have that number, you can now arrive at the right total units of solar cells needed.

Again there are other parameters which you will have to keep in mind, as the electricity generation by the individual solar cell can vary. This depends large on factors such as size, location, time of the year, clouds coverage etc.

If you are hitting a road block and can’t calculate the numbers, you may need to get professional help from solar suppliers who can supply you the reliable number of average watts produced per solar cell per day.

Next, you will have to calculate how many batteries you require to store the power produced by the Photovoltaic cells during day time. During evening and night time, your power needs can be met by the power stored in the batteries.

Wet batteries which are basically lead-acid batteries are not suitable for solar power. What you will need are marine type deep cycle battery to make up your home battery bank.

Batteries which are based on deep cycle gel known as AGM are more expensive, but they can last much longer. It is a heavy initial investment but it has a longer lifespan thus saving you money in the long run.

When you’ve calculated the total energy needs of your house on a daily basis, now you can choose the battery type as per its storage capacity. This calculation will give you a fair idea about the total number of batteries you will need to power your home.

Reducing your household power consumption.

Lastly, to make a DIY home solar power system a success, you have to start thinking about reducing your home energy consumption. When we use electricity from the grid, we don’t think of energy wastage because there is an ample supply of power.

However, to go off grid, you have to take the limited power availability from your battery bank into consideration. Firstly, you have to ensure the solar panels are in peak power producing condition.

Next, you have to start thinking and adopting ways to reducing your household energy usage. A large portion of the work here is to change your family members’ power usage habits. Gone are the days where you can leave the lights on in a room with no occupant.

Shifting from grid power to solar power requires a change in your lifestyle. Because there is a finite amount of power in the battery units, your home lifestyle now revolves around the availability of power in the batteries.

When there is no sun light to activate the solar cells, you would have to forgo some conveniences at home. It is a tough decision but there are tremendous financial benefits to living off the power grid. Anyone can make the shift to be self-sufficient but it does require a lot of scarify.

Using Solar Power At Home – Save Cost By Buying Solar Panels On Sale




Ever increasing power costs and the requirement for additional electricity over the years have prompted the consumers to look for alternative sources of power. Solar energy is one of the most popular alternative sources that more and more people are depending upon to fulfill their power requirements. Solar power is a type of renewable energy that is eco-friendly and pollution-free compared to power generated from fossil fuels.

It is easy to get a lot of information related to home on solar power systems. There are a number of websites that provide a wealth of information on solar energy and solar power systems, which can be easily downloaded for use. The instructions provided in several e-books are easy to understand. In this blog alone, we have bought and reviewed quite a number of DIY home solar panel construction guides.

In addition, a lot of material may also available on solar power locally. The first step in initiating ways and means to reduce electricity costs is to understand which type of solar panels for sale are most appropriate for the individual’s requirements.

As a solar system utilizes the existing wiring, its installation is not at all a complex issue. You can buy the solar panels either from a well-established shop dealing in solar energy systems or online. Most of the sellers offer their services to install the system free of cost.

For those who want to install the system on their own, the instruction manuals would provide step by step instructions. It is important to install Photovoltaic (PV) panels correctly in order to ensure optimum performance.

It is essential to install PV panels in such a way that they always get a lot of sunshine. It should be ensured that trees and other objects do not obstruct the sun.

The weather conditions and place are two important factors that determine the amount of power that solar panels can produce.

Another advantage with solar panels is that there is always a scope to add more number of panels whenever required. In other words, if only one or two panels are installed in the beginning, more number of panels can be added at a later date depending upon the power requirements.

This will make sure that the home is never short of electric power. Moreover, adding new solar panels is very easy. An important advantage of enlarging the solar energy system is that power that is surplus to the individual’s requirements can be sold to the other consumers in the locality. In order to do this, it is necessary to install a ‘reverse electric meter’.

This routes the un-utilized power to the local grid. When the world is getting adversely affected by climate changes, the need to control the situation cannot be overemphasized. The greatest advantage of utilizing solar energy is that it is a renewable form of energy and keeps the environment free from pollution. Those who utilize solar power will be doing their lot in conservation efforts, which the green campaigners actively support.

Apart from this, those having Photovoltaic panel at home will have an opportunity to get an additional income by selling surplus power generated by the system to other consumers. The possibility that solar power can reduce overall energy costs and also provide an opportunity to generate additional income makes installation of a solar power system at home an attractive proposition.