DIY Solar Panels World

Sizing Your Solar Energy Panels – Part 1

In order to size your solar energy panels, you have to decide if you want a direct grid-tie system without batteries or not. If you do not want to use batteries, the size of your solar power generator will simply be what you can comfortably afford ($$). This will help you offset your energy bills, but you’ll have to draw power from the grid at night. Things will be rather different if you want to install an off-grid system with a battery bank.

Contrary to what most people think, step #1 to sizing your solar power system is to check if there is any energy wastage in your home — lights that remain turned on 24/7, pool pumps that keep running even during the night, heaters that never stop pumping hot air, et cetera. Only after you have eliminated these “leaks” can you determine how much energy (KWh) you use every day. Otherwise you’ll be spending lots of money on a larger-than-necessary solar power generator.

It’s easy to determine how much power you use on a daily basis. A quick glance at your utility bill quickly reveals the number. This is the result of those big power-sucking elements around the house. Some examples are your clothes dryer, water heater, air conditioning, refrigerators and heaters. Having your power consumption in mind, you’ll have to multiply it by a factor of 1.15 to correct for power loss through inefficiencies in the system. (Inefficiencies occur as a result of imperfect transmission through the inverter, cables and batteries.)

Even if you are not going to immediately build a solar energy panel now, it’ll be useful to go around your house to look for these energy vampires to slay. Before we go on to the next part of “Sizing Your Solar Energy Panels” series, please do this exercise. It’ll be beneficial to you in the long run and you’ll thank me for it.

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1. Sizing Your Solar Energy Panels – Part 2 Image via Wikipedia After you know where most of your household energy goes to, you are now ready to plan for your system size. For grid-tied system (without batteries and charge controllers), you only need to make sure the inverter you use is large enough...
2. Sizing Your Solar Energy Panels – Part 3 Image via Wikipedia This is the third and final part of the “Sizing Your Solar Energy Panels” series. Have you done some calculations for your future solar power system yet? If you have been doing those mini exercises, you’ll most likely find a suitable solar...
3. Home Solar Power — Different Ways of Harnessing Energy From The Sun To Reduce Energy Bills Before you build a home solar power system, you have to understand different ways you can harvest energy from the sun. The technology involved depends on the way you intend to capture, convert and distribute sunlight....
4. 7 Different Ways of Using Solar Energy At Home and In Your Office There are many different ways of using solar energy. You can use it for heating, cooling and for generating electricity. Each approach has different costs and complexity. Here are 7 ideas how you can make use of clean, green solar power:...
5. Survey Your Household Energy Usage Before Installing Solar Panels An important step to take before you install solar panels is to do a thorough survey on how you use energy at home....
6. How To Determine The Payback For Your Solar Panel Investment (Part 3 of 3) The payback for your solar panel investment doesn’t stop at monthly utility savings. When you have a solar generator on your roof, property valuators will take that into consideration....
7. Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Projects That Can Complement Solar Panels Solar panels and solar waters heaters work well together. Just by installing such equipment, you are able to lower your utility bills by a huge percentage. You’ll also be helping the environment in meaningful ways....