home solar panel
There are two basic types of home solar systems. The most common is a Grid-Tie system that supplies power to your home and is tied in to the power companies grid. In this case your solar system produces power when the sun is shining and sends all unused electricity back to the power company for distribution to other customers. In most areas, the power company will credit you with the retail price for power generated. Of course, when there is no sun, your home will use electricity from the grid. Ideally over a years period the amount of power consumed will equal the power generated and your electric bill will be zero.
The other type of system is a stand alone system that produces power and stores the electricity in batteries. This typically is for a homes that are in areas where there is no power grid. This is a little more difficult to plan since you need to account for all power requirements, even when there is no sun or the sun is low in the sky in winter. Most of the components of these two types are the same and are discussed below.
Solar Panels provide the electricity.
Solar panels produce electricity depending on the amount of power they receive from the sun. When the sun is directly overhead shinning directly at the panels you will receive peak power, and when shaded or the sun is low in the sky, the panel will produce much less. Most panels are designed to produce a max of 14-16 volts when connected to your system and the panel is rated at 12 volts. The output in watts will depend on the size of the panel and the efficiency of the solar cells, but home panels generally are designed to produce 100-200 watts.
Solar panels are then linked together in an array to produce more power and to run the system at a higher voltage. There are two options for wiring the panels together. In a series circuit the current must flow through one panel to get to the next panel. The positive connector on the first panel is connected to the negative panel on the second panel. In a parallel circuit the current flows directly from each panel to the main junction and each panels positive and negative connectors are connected with wires from the main junction.By wiring them in series, the voltage is increased so, for example, two 12 volt panels will output 24 volts. By wiring them in parallel, the voltage will remain at 12 volts. Most systems will use a combination of series and parallel wiring so they run at 24 or 48 volts.
Inverters Convert DC to AC Current.
The electricity generated by a solar electric system is low voltage direct current (DC) while most home electrical requirements are for high voltage alternating current (AC). To make this conversion, the inverter uses a transformer to increase the voltage. A transformer boosts voltage using the principals of electromagnetic induction. Basically it is a iron core with two windings of wire that turn it into an electromagnet. Because there are more turns of wire on one side of the core, the difference in the magnetic field causes the voltage to increase.
The second task is to convert to AC current, and this is not so simple. In alternating current the electric charge rapidly reverses direction in the form of a sine wave. In simple terms, you need a rapidly operating switch that will allow current to flow back to the DC source following two alternate paths. In most modern inverters, this consists of a complicated electronic circuit which is needed to replicate the exact sine wave of power company current.
Grid-Tie inverters have a third task which is to use the solar power when available, send excess power to the grid, and then to accept power from the grid when supplemental power is needed.
Batteries to Store Electricity
Batteries are required if you have an off grid system to store power when there is no sun, and are used as backup for power outages in a grid-tie system. For the off grid system, you need “deep cycle” batteries that are designed to be heavily discharged and recharged several hundred times without changing the amount of charge it retains. Most often you can use 12 volt lead acid batteries similar to a car battery, but with a different design to achieve deep cycle performance. Typically you will need an array of batteries to power a home system.
For battery backup on a grid-tie system, it is better to have a sealed battery since they are not used often and have a different design that allows them sit charged for a long time, and then completely discharge when backup is needed.
Controllers and Disconnects to Regulate Current
In a simple Grid-Tie system you will need an automatic disconnect between the inverter and the main electric panel that will shut off the solar system in the event of a power outage by the power company. This will protect workers fixing the lines since without this safety mechanism, your solar system could be supplying electricity to the grid and wires would be hot. If you have a off grid system, or a battery backup system, you will also need a controller to prevent batteries from overcharging which would destroy the batteries.
My name is Bruce Clancy and I’ve been a Do It Yourself nut for over 25 years. In that time, I’ve gained a huge amount of knowledge about the challenges that homeowners face when they tackle a new project and learn new skills. With the cost of energy skyrocketing, I have turned my energies to solar installation for the homeowner. If you want to learn more about Solar Home Energy System, visit my site at DIYSolarSecrets.com
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