How To Design Your Own Solar Panel Electrical System

March 11, 2010 by tmccar
Filed under Renewable Energy

There is a lot hype round living “green” or eco-friendly, however the one thing that places people off are the price involved in going green. I do know, as a result of that’s the very first thing that involves my thoughts after I think of going green.

I put some effort into researching numerous different inexperienced power sources and have come to the conclusion it might not be as costly as we first think.

From the assorted options, solar panels appeared to be our greatest option. It won’t be for you though.

Causes I want a solar panel system:

* Not as noisy as wind generators
* Easily expendable
* Easily movable which is a bonus in case you’re on a farm
* Our local weather is ideal for it

A few downsides:

* The initial outlay of costs
* The space it will occupy (primarily the batteries)

To begin with, let’s look what a solar panel system consists off.

It could possibly mainly be break up into 4 parts, namely:

1) the solar panels
2) solar regulators
three) batteries – storage
4) inverter – DC to AC

Solar Panels

Merely put, these are the panels that will take the sunlight and convert it into power. They are rated in output in Watts, which suggests the amount of energy the solar panel is anticipated to produce at a daylight intensity of 1000w/meter at 25 degrees centigrade. You could be asking, “What?!” at this stage.

Throughout the completely different areas of South Africa, the typical quantity of solar per day varies. The common in South Africa is 8.5 hours per day. (Attention-grabbing facet fact, in London it’s 3.8, Rome it is 6.four and New York it’s 6.9). South Africa has the of the highest common quantity of sunshine per day in the world. This makes it perfect for photo voltaic panel usage.

For those who take a eighty Watt panel, it means it will generate a median 680 Watt Hours (Wh) per day all through the year.

Solar panels will be wired to extend voltage or current. A standard panel’s terminal voltage is rated between 17 and 22 Volts, but making use of a regulator regulates it to thirteen Volts. The explanation for this is that the secure voltage for charging a battery is between 13 and 14 Volts.

Solar Regulators

As talked about, the solar panels can produce between 17 and 22 Volts. This is nevertheless a lot more than the secure vary of between thirteen and 14 Volts that you could cost a battery. To control this we make use of a solar regulators which drops the present inflicting a secure voltage.

The batteries you’ll be using are delicate to over charging and dropping under a certain voltage. The regulators helps to not over cost the battery or have the batter run too flat.

Photo voltaic regulators are rated by the amount of current they will obtain from the solar panels.

The regulator should be capable of deal with the maximum current that a solar panel could produce. This may be as a lot as 25% more than the rated output present of the panel. So when you have a 100W solar panel with 5.eight A present rating you’d wish to use a 7.fifty four A regulator. I’m utilizing 30% to be on the secure side.

Batteries

Once the sun light has been converted to electrical energy, we need to store it somehow. For this function we’ll be using deep cycle batteries. These are the same as regular automobile batteries, but with a few differences. They are designed to be discharged over a long period of time and could be recharged again and again and over and over. Automotive batteries are designed to offer a large amount of present in a short amount of time.

So as to get the most out of your deep cycle battery, you must not let it discharge to under 50% of it’s capacity. By letting it go beneath 50% it reduces the life span of the battery.

These batteries are rated in Ampere Hours (Ah) and it features a discharge price in Hours. This is the quantity of present that it might provide over a sure variety of hours.

A one hundred Ah batter with a 100 hour fee will supply 100 Ah over one hundred hours. This is 1A per hour for 100 hours. This could also equate to 5A per hour for 20 hours.

Energy Inverters

Now that we’ve got the facility saved in the batteries, we want a approach to make use of it in our on daily basis lives. Batteries can provide saved electricity as Direct Current (DC). Our every day appliances in the home make use of Alternating Present (AC). Thus we want a technique to convert it from DC to AC so that we will use it.

That’s where Inverters come into play. The one that is beneficial is the True Sine Wave Inverter, which supplies AC energy that is basically identical to the facility we obtain from Eskom.

Inverters are rated by the quantity of AC energy they will provide continuously.

Now that I’ve defined all the above, you might need a greater understanding of what a solar power system is. Let’s have a look at how you would go about sizing your set up requirements.

Appliances and Power Utilization

The very first thing it is advisable do, can also be is most cumbersome. You could decide how much electrical energy you may be using and for how long. This is easy, you write down how a lot Watts (W) an equipment makes use of, and what number of hours per day on average you run it. That will provide you with a certain quantity of W per day.

Let’s look at an instance:

5x 60W globes = 300W working 8 hours a day every single day = 2400 Wh

1x 300W TV = 300W working 2 hours a day every single day = 600 Wh

1x 250W Fridge = 250W working 24 hours a day daily = 6000 Wh

1x 800W Washing Machine = 800W working as soon as per week for two hours = 228 Wh

That means we use a complete of 9228 Wh a day

Power Inverter Measurement

To determine the size of the inverter you will require you’ll want to determine the entire Wattage (W) of the appliances.

From the above example it should just be:

Light Globes – 5x 60W = 300W

TV = 300W

Fridge = 250W

Washing Machine = 800W

Complete energy draw require = 1650W. Which means that when all those appliances are on at the identical time, it’s going to draw 1650W. You will also add in a few 50% buffer. That manner if you ever run your hair dryer at the same time the system could have power in reserve to run it. So a 2500W inverter can be excellent for this and can leave you with ample buffer. Keep in mind this calculation is about appliances that can run at the identical time. By planning right (i.e. use either the kettle, hair dryer or iron at a time, however not all at once) you possibly can convey down the quantity of energy you require, thus bringing down the price of this solar panel system.

The variety of Photo voltaic Panels and their rankings

The whole energy usage day by day is 9228 Wh. Now you have to to know on average what number of sunlight hours your region has. I’ve discovered many websites that detail this, in order that shouldn’t be a problem. Let’s work on about 7 hours. Meaning 9228Wh / 7h = 1318.30W. Add about 20% for a buffer and for any inefficiencies with the panels, and you’ll find yourself with a requirement to generate 1576W of energy per day.

You may have to get sufficient panels to have all their outing scores add to 1576W. So should you wished to get 140W panels, you may get 12 of them, as a result of 12 x 140W = 1680W or 24 x 70W = 1680W.

How many Batteries?

This is dependent upon the panels that you simply use. The 140W panels produce a present of 7.7A. So if in case you have 12 of them, the overall current could be 92.four A. The current also also be there for about 7 hours a day (the amount of daylight per day). That means there will probably be 646.8 Ah per day that must be stored.

If we look at the 102Ah batteries, they shouldn’t be allowed to discharge greater than 50%. That leaves us with about 50Ah. Therefore, to make up 646.eight Ah per day we’ll want at least 13 batteries.

What size regulator?

The very last thing to consider is the solar regulator. A 140W panel produces 7.7A of current. There might be a total of 92.four A of current. Which means at least 4x 30A regulators.

Now the entire system:

12x 140W Solar Panels
4x 30A Solar Regulators
13x 102Ah Batteries
1x 1500W Invertor

Chris Meistre

Help save energy and power to less your home expenditures used used wind turbines. Read more articles here: build wind power and wind power turbine.

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3 Comments

At 2010.03.11 14:40, Save On Home Energy Info said:

[...] How To Design Your Own Solar Panel Electrical System [...]

[Reply]
At 2010.03.11 14:42, Electricity Is Indispensable said:

[...] How To Design Your Own Solar Panel Electrical System [...]

[Reply]
At 2010.03.11 18:54, How To Make Solar Panels said:

Before designing a solar panel we should know how it works and how much energy we get by this.

[Reply]

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How To Design Your Own Solar Panel Electrical System

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