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Posts Tagged ‘DIY solar panels’
Solar Energy Makes Headlines
Recently, a story about solar energy ran on the front page of The Seattle Times, detailing the financial benefits of generating your own energy from the sun. Sure, Seattle doesn’t have a reputation for getting very much sun, but it’s been an unusually sunny summer in the Emerald City and solar panels even soak up some energy on cloudy days. The news story profiles a Seattle couple who installed an 18-panel solar energy system on their house and whose electric meter actually runs backward in the summer. That’s because their solar panels generate not only enough energy for their home, but enough for them to sell the excess to Seattle City Light.
This allows them to not only save money off their energy bill, but make money to help them pay off the cost of the solar panels. This couple had their solar panels professionally installed, but you can learn develop your own DIY solar energy system. This will cut down significantly on the cost of installing a solar energy system, and you’ll make your money back much more quickly. You can use it for everything from a solar powered attic fan to your water heater. Why wait? Even if you live in a cloudy city like Seattle, you can start benefiting from solar energy today.
Solar Power Systems Component #2
Charge Controller
The next step in building a Solar Power System
- after the Solar Panel, after the Array DC Disconnect, the “Charge Controller”.
The Charge Controller blocks reverse current and prevents battery overcharge. Some controllers also prevents the battery from over discharging, protects from electrical overload and displays battery status and the flow of power. The Charge controller’s primary function is to protect your battery bank from overcharging. It does this by monitoring the batteries. when the batteries is fully charged, the controller interrupts the flow of electricity from the solar panels.
Batteries are expensive and particular about how they are treated. To get the maximum life span out of your batteries you don’t want to overcharge or undercharge them. Most charge controllers have incorporated a maximum power point tracker (MPPT), which optimizes the solar array’s output, and increases the energy that it produces. Some battery based charge controllers include a low-voltage disconnect that prevents over discharge. That can permanently damage the batteries.Solar Power Systems Component #1
Array DC Disconnect
If you are building a Solar Power System and after you build or buy some solar panels, is the next component we’ll talk about. The next component that you will need is called Array DC disconnect.
The Array DC Disconnect is an important part of any Solar Power System
. The use is for shutting off the electrical power supply coming in from the solar panels, you will need to do this at any time that you may do cleaning or maintenance or connect more panels.
The Array DC disconnect is a easy and safe way to cut off the power.
Safety is first and foremost when working with or around electrical components.
Think Smart, Safety First.
Teaching Kids about Energy Savings
While it’s not reasonable to expect that children understand every aspect of household finance, it doesn’t hurt to give them a head start. By teaching your kids to live within their means, you greatly improve their chances of avoiding a pit of debt later in life. I began the process by explaining the details of the heating and electric bills to my kids. Then we sat down and came up with strategies for reducing the monthly costs.
My son struck upon a novel idea that never would have occurred to me: we could pursue solar energy to supplement our household heating and electrical. I found a book online explaining how to build DIY solar panels in great detail. It turns out that most of the materials necessary for the task are widely available and inexpensive to boot. Somehow my attempt to teach the kids about budgeting transformed into a bonding experience.