Understanding Residential Solar Power Electrical Systems
With the high and unpredictable costs of energy these days, many homeowners are looking for ways to save money on their home's energy costs and consumption. Many are in fact turning to alternative energies such as solar power electrical as a means to accomplish both savings on their energy costs and overall stability in their energy budgets. Solar power electrical systems have been around awhile and have come a long way since their first inception. Today's solar power electrical systems are highly efficient and can substantially offset, and even eliminate a home's public grid requirements. Although each solar power electrical system will have its own specifications and be setup specifically for the needs of the home it is designed for and installed in, the basic elements are pretty much the same. In order to understand the workings of solar power electrical systems we will review the basic elements which include:
The Solar House Panels
Solar house panels or solar panels are the main collector devices that gather the sun's energy and turn it into an electrical current they are generally placed on the roof of a home, or in the yard on a tracking pole mount which looks similar to a satellite dish setup. Proper placement of the solar house panels is imperative to gather the maximum amount of the sun's energy during the day. The solar house panels absorb sunlight and in turn output DC electrical current. Different configurations may output at different voltages and amperes, but the standard output is 12 volt DC, but the output voltage will vary depending on the amount and intensity of the sunlight that is absorbed.
The Charge Controller
The charge controller is an electronic device which stabilizes the current from the solar house panels and maintains the proper charging voltage to the batter bank. During the day, sunlight exposure to the solar house panels will vary with sunlight being stronger in mid-day and less strong toward dawn and dusk. Clouds will also vary the sunlight exposure and cause the output of electrical current from the solar house panels to vary during the day. With the varying voltage output, several other elements of the solar power electrical system should be protected to extend their life. If the solar power electrical system employs a battery bank for storage, the batteries in the bank must be protected from excessive, or over charging which will damage them and shorten their life span.
The Inverter
An inverter is a device that converts Direct Current, commonly known as DC, into Alternating Current, or AC power. Alternating Current is the type of current provided by the electrical company in public power grid. Alternating current is the type of electrical current that a home, its systems, and appliances run on. The Inverter takes the DC Current generated by the solar panels and converts it into AC current that can power the appliances in the home.
The Battery Bank
The battery bank usually consists of a number of batteries placed inline as a storage device for DC current. Since the solar house panels will not generate electricity at night, a battery bank is often used to store electricity captured during the day to supplement night time electrical consumption of the home. The batteries DC output is converted to AC current for the home's use by the inverter. The batteries are then recharged from the solar house panels the next day.
The Grid-Tie Switch
The grid-tie switch is a connecting device which feeds the output from the inverter directly into the home's electrical system at the electrical meter, allowing the home to consume the electricity generated by the solar house panels instead of the electricity supplied by the public electric company. A grid-tie switch also allows for any excess of power generated by the solar power electrical system to be fed back into the public grid running the meter in reverse. If the solar power electrical system produces more electricity than the home uses, the public electric company is required to buy this excess power.
Residential solar power electrical systems are most commonly designed to offset electrical consumption in the home. But depending on the environmental conditions, the design and size, they can generate all the electricity that a home may require. In many instances, residential solar power electrical systems can generate excess power which can be sold back to the electric company. How efficient a particular system is will depend on the size and amount of solar house panels, and the ancillary equipment used in the system.
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