Ok, so you want to install some solar panels on your home to provide electricity in some way, but you don’t know where to start. Ironically, you have to think backwards to come up with your solution. By this, I mean first you have to determine the purpose behind using the solar power in your home/RV/Boat. What is it that you want to power? Is it just the kitchen appliances, or your home computer, or maybe just the outdoor equipment such as your pool or sprinkler system?
Once you quantify this, you do the calculations to determine the power requirements in Watts. Yes, you have to do a little math, but don’t worry, it’s very easy. Here’s the one formula you need to know:
Watts = Volts X Amps
Said another way: Volts = Watts / Amps or: Amps = Watts / Volts
Later on we’ll go through some examples in suing these formulas.
Another question you’ll have to ask yourself too is this; do you want a constant, steady supply of power or will you just need the short time use of the system? This will determine if you need to charge one or more batteries or if you can simply plug the solar panel directly into your appliance. Making use of batteries will cost you more obviously, but it is the most practical way to use solar power which obviously can only be harvested during the day.
If you use a battery bank there are some other pieces of equipment you’ll need of course. The solar panel(s) will connect to your battery. To better take care of your battery and prolong its life, it’s a good idea to install a charging unit between the solar panel and the battery. The battery will output an average of 12VDC, but you may need to convert this to 110V AC for your needs. To do this you need something called a power inverter. This converts DC power to AC and you can usually plug your appliances or extension cords directly into them. The small ones start out cheap, about $35 or so and go on up in price from there.
Depending on the size of your power grid you may want to install some safeguards such as those in your home now…fuses and breakers that work to protect your appliances from burning up. Finally you’ll need to run the power cables wherever necessary. Make sure you get the right size cable for the job. Grab your tape measure and start determining in feet/yards how much cable you’ll need.
Whether or not you end up doing the work here yourself to install your system, at least you will understand how it works, its limitations and what it will cost. In the next article we’ll go through a couple of examples to determine the right equipment for you and then figure out its cost.