The benefits of solar power at home are many. It ranges from lowering your home monthly electricity bills to creating a better environment for our children. You don’t have to be total green environmentalist to enjoy the advantages of using solar energy at your home. All you have to do is use some simple solar powered devices.

Advantages of Solar Powered Devices

If you want to enjoy the benefits of solar power at home, the easiest way is to install a solar water heater. A solar water heater basically supplies hot water for your household.

Some home owners may use an electric or gas powered water heater but the same function can be done by a solar water heater. As an added advantage, once it is installed, it does not use up any electricity at all.

If you have a large family, the amount of electricity used to heat up water for shower and washing can be quite substantial.

Do you want to reduce your home electricity consumption by at least 20 percent? Well, by investing in a simple solar water heater can help you to achieve that.

The Benefit of Minimal Maintenance

Once you’ve installed the solar water heater at home, there is pretty much zero maintenance. If the piping is done well with proper insulation, the system will last a long time. The solar unit installed at my home has been there for more than 20 years and is still working fine.

Generate Electricity With Solar System

If you want something more than just a water heater, the next option you can consider is to setup a solar system to generate electricity for your home. If you have the budget, you can engage the service of a professional solar contractor to setup the entire system for you. But the drawback will be the cost. Be prepared to invest upward of $40,000 for a complete solar system.

Alternatively, if you want to enjoy the benefits of solar power at home, you can build the system via a Do It Yourself (DIY) approach. A DIY system is much cheaper but does require lot of hard work.

How much would it cost you? A small solar system capable of supply power for a small house will cost around $1500 – $2000.

If you want to cut your budget even further, you can actually make the Photovoltaic (PV) panel on your own. What you will need is a good design blueprint and step by step instructional guide.

If you are looking for a good home solar manual, check out the GreenDIYEnergy program. It is one of the top sellers on the web and it comes with PDF blueprintd and High Definition (HD) instructional videos. For more information on GreenDIYEnergy, click on the link below.

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One of the key components of a home solar power system is the charge controller. All the Photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof will be connected to the charge controller via copper cables.

With so many different types of charge controller available in the market, how to we choose the right one for our residential solar power system?

When you are shopping for a new charge controller, consider the following 10 features.

1) Current backflow protection – During the day, the solar panel will generate electric current. However, during night time, the PV panels will become an electric load and draws power from the battery bank.

A current backflow protection prevents current flowing from the battery into the solar panels.

2) Battery low-voltage disconnect (LVD) – When the battery bank has been discharged to a very low level, this feature will automatically stop any further power discharge.

3) Monitoring system – System readings with either digital or analog display.

4) Protection from overcurrent – For whatever reason if there is a current spike, the fuses in the charge controller should break the circuit.

5) Flexible mounting option – Make sure the unit comes with multiple mounting option. You may want to flush mount or wall mount the charge controller.

6) Total system control – The charge controller can actually control other system such as backup generator, secondary battery bank, secondary charge system etc.

7) Secondary load controller – With special timer and controller, the unit can be used to control secondary loads such as water pump, lights, switches etc.

8) Temperature compensation – The deep cycle batteries keep in different temperature will require different voltage level to fully charge the system.

The temperature compensation feature will automatically change the voltage limit to maximize battery charging.

9) Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) – This is a method used to maintain the battery maximum state of charge. It also reduces the chances for sulfate build up on the battery plates. This can be done by a charge controller by pulsing the battery voltage at a high frequency.

10) Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) – This feature charges the battery by extracting the most power possible from the Photovoltaic panels by changing its operating voltage for maximum efficiency.

Solar Components Discounted Price

Do you want to know how to buy home solar power system components at discounted prices? There is a certain strategy to get big discount on solar parts and components without having to pay full price.

Be an educated consumer and save a lot of money on your residential solar power system with the Solar Discount Secrets guide. Click on the link below for more information.

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Are there any ways to use solar power for your HVAC? Since the air-conditioning unit uses quite a lot of power, there are not many solar powered equipment which can replace it.

There is one device that I found which can create warm air in your home by using solar energy, the device call Solarventi solar air heater. The Solarventi was invented in Denmark as a device mainly to circulate warm air in homes.

The Solarventi is 100 percent solar powered therefore it is essentially free to run once it is installed on your home. Since 2001, more than 20,000 units of Solarventi have been sold in the European region. Pretty impressive record!

Solarventi is built as a maintenance free device. It uses solar energy to warm the fresh air in the solar collector. The warm air is then ducted into your home via a ducting fan powered by a small Photovoltaic (PV) panel.

So how can the Solarventi solar air heater help you to reduce your home energy consumption?

Let’s take your home laundry as an example. Do you use a tumbler dryer? Since it has a heating element, the dryer can consume quite a large amount of electricity.

When it is raining outside or during winter time, you do not have much choices to dry your clothes other than using the tumbler dryer. Here’s how the Solarventi solar air heater can help.

Take a small room in your home and make it into a clothes drying area. Have it completely sealed off.

Use the Solarventi solar air heater to generate warm air and vent it into the room using a solar powered air ventilator. If possible, have the vent output at the floor level because hot air will rise up.

Now, you have a room which has circulating warm air which you can use to dry all of your laundry and yet you are not consuming any electricity because all the devices from the solar air heater to the vent fan is powered by solar energy.

DIY Home Solar Power Guide

Looking for ways to reduce your home energy consumption by using solar power? If you are, check out the GreenDIYEnergy guide.

The program comes with pdf files and step by step High Definition (HD) instructional videos that will teach you how to make a home solar system at minimal cost. For more information, click on the link below.

==> Click here to visit GreenDIYEnergy now!

A lot of people interested in using solar energy at home may be wondering how to design a cheap solar power system. But before you jump into any residential solar project, the first question you should ask yourself is why you want the solar system?

Different people would have different answer to that question. Some people may want to reduce their home energy bill while others may want to get rid of it all together by living off the grid.

Now, some people may want to have solar energy at home because they may be living in a remote area out in the country where it is too expensive to have power utility poles and cables pulled to their doorstep. It would make better economic sense to use power generated from a solar system. This is known as a standalone solar system.

Another reason to have solar power at home is to reduce global warming. Some people are green activists and would rather use renewable energy than coal, oil or gas which has a large carbon footprint.

Another reason home owners may want to use solar power is as a backup system. You may be living in an area where the power supply is unreliable and has constant energy outage. This is happening in places where the economic growth is faster that the infrastructure growth and the electricity supply has not caught up with the demand.

When the power grid is overloaded, something has to give and that something is the power supply to your home area. A solar system can be used as a backup when the power grid is down.

These are a couple of reasons I can think of why you would want a home solar power system. I am sure there are many more reasons why home owners would consider investing money on solar components.

When you know the reason, now you can start to design the solar system based on your budget. If you have money to spend, you can engage the service of a professional solar contractor.

If you are working on a shoestring budget, your only alternative is to build the system via a Do It Yourself (DIY) approach. Both approaches has it pros and cons. To make your decision, it is best to revisit why you want the solar system in the first place and proceed from there.

DIY Home Solar Videos

Do you want to get started on a DIY home solar power project? If you do, download a free copy of the 30 Solar and Wind Power For Homes Videos e-book. The e-book will show you videos on the parts and components required to setup a solar energy system and it is free to download. To download the guide, just click on the link below.

==> Click here to download free e-book!

When you were going up, do you remember learning about the sun at school? I can remember every year, we learn about the sun in science classes. Back then, we knew the sun is a ball of burning gasses and it lights up the earth. Now that we are all grown up, we understand that the sun is capable of much more than lighting up the sky.

A good example is the sun natural ability to generate electricity for a homemade solar power system. Nowadays, most houses are powered using gas or fossil fuel. Should you consider going green and start using renewable energy such as solar? Here are 3 good reasons why you should do so.

1) It can be reasonably low cost. Most people wanting to use solar power at home will start by using readymade solar system or solar components. While this approach is quick and easy, it can be rather expensive.

Engaging a professional solar contractor to setup the system can cost from $20,000 upwards. If you have some technical understanding and if you are good with hand tools, you can actually build the system via a Do It Yourself (DIY) approach.

In fact, there are a lot of guides on the web which will teach you how to build a homemade solar power system at minimal cost.

2) There are many DIY solar guides which you can find on the internet that will teach you how to build the solar powered system. Make sure you find a manual written in simple English without too many technical jargons.

Luckily, some of the guides come with lots of diagrams and step by step instructional videos. All you have to do is follow the instructions making the entire process fast and simple.

3) When you are using a DIY homemade solar power at home, you will begin to see a reduction in your home energy bill. No doubt the reduction may not be a lot, but if you were to multiple it with 10 or 20 years, the money saved can be quite substantial.

A good DIY solar system can last 1 or 2 decades. That is generally the lifespan of the solar components before you need to replace them.

The next time you look at a sunset, admire its beauty because it is simply amazing. The sun gives out large amount of energy every second. If you were to take the time and build a solar system, you can use the energy to power your home electrical appliances.

DIY Home Solar Power System

Want to know how to get started on a homemade solar power system? If you do, begin by downloading a free copy of the 30 Solar and Wind Power For Homes Videos e-book. The e-book will show you videos of how solar power works and the components needed in the system. To download the e-book, click here.

During winter and summer time, you will notice a sharp spike in your electricity bill. Reason being, you are using more power either to heat up your home during winter or cool down your home during summer.

Let’s take summer time as a topic for discussion. Are there any ways to reduce your electricity bill during summer time?

One option you can try is by installing ventilation fans on your attic. The idea is to remove the hot air from the attic or roof thus reducing the temperature of the living areas below.

If you are looking for a ventilation fan, check out the Auro Solar Attic Fan from Active Ventilation Products.

What’s so special about this fan?

Well, it’s powered by solar energy meaning it does not use any electricity and yet capable of removing hot air from your roof and attic.

The Auro Solar Attic Fan uses 4 units of 10 watt CPU fan. Yup, the same type of fan used on your personal computer. They are efficient, light weight and very quiet when running.

The ventilation unit measures 12 inches in diameter and 9 inches tall. It is made from durable aluminum and tested for wind up to 200 mph.

Whenever the sun is shining, the internal fans will kick in because they are powered by a Photovoltaic (PV) panel on top of the unit. The fans will create a negative pressure hence sucking the hot air out from the bottom. It’s a smart idea of using the free energy from the sun for cooling purposes.

If you are keen on the Auro Solar Attic Fan, it is selling at $205 per unit from Amazon.com. To order the fan from Amazon.com, click here.

DIY Home Solar Energy System Guide

Another way of reducing your home electricity consumption is to supplement your power needs with a solar system.

Unfortunately, a system installed by a professional contractor can be quite expensive. A cheaper alternative is to build the system via a Do It Yourself (DIY) approach.

If you are looking for a DIY home solar guide, check out Ben Ford’s Homemade Energy Guide e-book. It is a comprehensive pdf file with step by step High Definition (HD) instructional videos. For more information, read the Homemade Energy Guide review on this blog.

When was the last time you look at your home electricity bill? If you were to compare it with last year bills, most probably your utility bill has increased.

This is due to rising energy cost and new electronic gadgets available in the market. We keep on buying new electrical appliances for our homes. Guess what, all these gadgets run on electricity.

To reduce electricity cost, many home owners are looking into residential solar power to supplement their energy needs. If you were to engage a professional solar contractor, be prepared to set aside a budget of $25,000 to $40,000 for a complete system.

It is a large investment, but for the residence of Mississippi, you are in luck because you can get a 30% federal tax credit on your home solar system. The tax credit is for gross cost at installation for on solar electric, solar water heating and wind turbine. There is also no cap available for residential and commercial installations. Meaning you can go for the biggest system your budget will allow.

If you want to save some cost, you can actually opt for a Do It Yourself (DIY) solar system. However, before you begin the project, it is best you understand how electricity works and the science behind solar technology.

Generally a residential solar energy system has 4 major components which are the solar panels, charge controller, battery bank and power inverter. This system is supported by smaller components such as voltage meter, amperage meter, DC disconnect switch, cut off fuses, system monitor, copper cables etc.

The heart of the system, the solar panels create electricity by using a special semi-conductive material known as Photovoltaic (PV) cell. By linking multiple PV cells together, the electric current created can be stored in a battery back which can be used to power your home electrical appliances.

When you have multiple appliances using free energy from the sun, you will begin to notice a reduction in your monthly electricity bill.

DIY Home Solar Guide

If you need some information on how to start a homemade solar power setup, check out the Power4Home e-book from John Russel. John is an inventor from Minnesota that created the Power4Home manual to assist DIY enthusiasts to build their own solar system in their backyard.

Since the Mississippi federal government is giving you a tax credit of 30%, why not make full use of it by building your own solar generator. For more information about Power4Home, click on the link below.

==> Click here to visit Power4Home now!

Do you know one of the world’s largest oil producers has a division that sells solar technologies? Yup, I know it is kind of like a corporate oxymoron but it is true. The oil giant, British Petroleum (BP), has a company known as BP Solar that offers both home and business solar solution.

BP Solar has a very popular residential solar system known as “BP Solar Home Solutions”. It is a system using BP solar components installed by BP registered dealers.

BP Solar Home Solution is very similar to other domestic solar system offered in the market. It comes with all the standard solar components.

The heart of the system, the solar modules, is made from high performance monocrystalline and multicrystalline. The key function of the modules is to harness the energy from the sun and converts it into usable electricity.

One of the main challenges when installing the solar panels is the roof. All houses have very different roof design. Some uses slate, metal, Spanish tile, asphalt, shake shingles etc. If you are a novice, without the proper mounting and tools, securing the solar modules on the roof will be a tough and dangerous job.

Luckily, part of the services offered by BP Solar’s representative is to access your roof. Representative from BP Solar will assess your roof to determine the best location and angle of placement.

The assessment will cover the roof type, roof pitching, shape and orientation as well as analyzing any potential shading throughout the year. The initial roof assessment will ensure maximum power output from your home solar power system.

What are the other components that come with the solar system? It is the inverter and utility net meter.

The solar modules up on the roof only produce Direct Current (DC) when exposed to the sun. All modern home appliances nowadays are designed to run on Alternate Current (AC). The function of the inverter is to convert the DC to AC.

If you are planning to sell access power generated by your home solar system back to the utility company, you will need to install the utility net metering unit. The meter will track your home net energy usage by spinning forward when electricity is used from the grid and spinning backward when there is access power. In short, it generates a credit when the solar system creates more electricity than you need.

DIY Home Solar Power Guide

If you do not understand how a residential solar energy system works, the information above may sound like Greek to you. Before you contact the people from BP Solar, it is best for you to brush up your knowledge on solar power system.

If you are looking for a good DIY home solar guide, check out the Earth4Energy manual from Michael Harvey. It is an e-book with High Definition (HD) step by step instructional videos. For more information about Earth4Energy, click on the link below.

==> Click here to visit Earth4Energy now!

Are there any ways to heat the air inside our home using solar energy?

As a matter of fact, you can use a solar air heating system. I found one solar air heater made by a company call Solarventi. Unfortunately, the unit is selling at $1,395.00 at Amazon.com!

That’s a bit too high for me and I think most home owners will say the same.

Well, if you want a cheaper alternative, you just have to make the solar air heater unit yourself. The good news is, someone has already done it.

Check out the video below of an inventor who makes his own solar air heating system in his garage.

==> Click here to visit the solar heater guides!

Firstly, the 50044 kit comes with 4 solar panels capable of producing 15 watts each. Hence, the total power output you’ll get is 60 watts.

The solar kit also comes with a 200 watt power inverter, a 7 amp charge controller and wiring accessories. The only thing that is left out are the batteries.

The number of battery will depend on your personal power requirement. It is best to go for deep cycle battery because it generates a steady power output and can be discharged to a very low level without damaging the internal parts.

Here’s a tip, do not use car battery for a home solar power system. Car battery is designed to generate a high energy spike in order to crank the internal combustion engine. A residential solar system needs a steady power output over a long period of time. Therefore, always go for deep cycle battery.

What type of equipment can you power with the Sunforce 50044 solar kit?

With a 200 watt power inverter, you can plug in most of your home electrical appliances such as laptop, television, Ipod, light fixtures etc. You may not have sufficient power to run all the equipment simultaneously, nonetheless, you can power the appliances with free energy from the sun.

If you have a small room, cabin or RV, the Sunforce 50044 is great as a remote and portable power generator unit.

The kit is available from Amazon.com at $289.99 inclusive of shipping charges.