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| Learn how much you
spend on electricitywith each of
your own household appliances. This
is an automated form that will tell
you
how much everything will cost you. then once you know what everything
costs you can start saving.
You've heard the buzz
about alternative energy sources but
have you ever wondered how solar
energy panels work? Of course, if
you want to install a system for
your home, you want to understand
something about how you'll get
energy from the sun and how it can
benefit you.
You've probably used
a solar powered calculator for doing
mathematic problems. You know the
kind; as long as the calculator is
exposed to light, it operates
perfectly. Did you know that there
are portable solar energy panels
that you could use to operate a
laptop computer, a radio or CD
player, a cell phone, digital camera
or other small appliance when
camping, hiking or even when sitting
beside your swimming pool? These
small, flexible solar energy panels
roll up for storage in a small space
and simply unroll for placement in
the bright sunshine when you want a
little power to run a small electric
device. These solar panels function
pretty much the same as a large
roof-top solar collector panel.
These solar
collection cells, whether large or
small, are called photovoltaic
cells. Photovoltaic, when broken
down, is easy to understand. "Photo"
means light and "voltaic" means
electric; the word means electricity
from light. These devices were
invented to power satellites and
devices in space but now are in use
all over the world in households.
Solar energy
panels, also called photovoltaic
(PV) panels, are made of material
that concentrate the sun's rays.
When the sun's rays strike a PV
panel, some of the energy can be
absorbed by the panel. This can be
used to heat water passing through
pipes in the solar energy panel. It
can be absorbed by semiconductor
material and used to generate
electricity.
When PV cells
collect electrons from the light
being absorbed, these electrons flow
in a single direction because of the
electric fields they contain. The
flow of electrons is controlled by
the use of metal contacts at the top
and bottom of the solar energy panel
so that current can be extracted for
use. This can power the small
appliance or used to power an entire
house.
Using solar energy
panels for collecting the sun's
power for home use can be quite
simple. They usually consist of a
black metal or wooden box that is
designed to be the right size for
placement on the roof of the house
where it will be installed. The box
is well insulated and is always
black on the inside to help focus
the sun's energy and absorb it most
efficiently. Inside the box may be
semiconductor material or piping.
If hot water is
being generated, the box will
contain zigzag patterns of copper
piping through which the water will
pass, becoming hot from the energy
of the sun. If the solar energy
panel is used in this way, the
heated water will then pass into a
storage tank which is very well
insulated and may be created from an
altered traditional hot water
heating tank. The water is then used
when required by simply turning on a
water tap in the bathtub, sink or
when the hot water valve opens when
operating the washer or dishwasher.
The occupants of the home never
realize the hot water is not being
heating in a traditional manner
using electricity or gas from the
utility company. A carefully
designed system can provide enough
hot water for any family's needs.
If the solar
energy panel is used to create
electricity, the current is stored
inside the home in batteries
somewhat like the one you've seen in
your car. Usually there is a bank of
several batteries that store the
electricity. A control unit makes
sure the right amount of voltage and
amperage goes into the electric
wires when someone turns on a light
switch, when the home's heat or air
conditioning comes on, or other
demand is placed on the batteries to
supply their stored electric power
to the house.
Of course, it is a
bit more complex if you get into all
the engineering details. This is,
however, a basic explanation of how
solar energy panels can provide for
your energy needs.
Contact
Our mission
us
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save money and the enviroment.
Steps
- Read all warnings before proceeding.
- Choose a charger that can supply enough current to charge the battery and keep up with the inverter's load. This will be a fairly heavy duty charger.
- Check RV suppliers for 'Converters', designed to run larger RVs if you are making a big system.
- Check solar power sources for "big" whole house chargers and inverters for very large systems.
- If an RV or home converter has an inverter built in, make sure it's isolated (or can be isolated) from the input power.
- Make sure the charger handles the kinds of batteries you are going to buy.
-
- Choose only deep cycle batteries. Do not use a car or truck battery, nor a 'marine' battery. If you will be using only one battery, a gel or 'maintenance free' battery will work adequately. For larger systems composed of multiple deep-cycle batteries, select only wet cells or AGM cells.
- Make sure the batteries are ventilated for escaping hydrogen gas.
- If you buy wet cells, make sure the charger supports an 'equalize' charge.
- Lead acid batteries are sold in 6 volt and 12 volt sizes. You will need to connect them in series to raise the voltage, or in parallel to increase the amp-hours available.
- 12 volts = 2x6V volt batteries connected in series
- 24 volts = 4x6V or 2x12V batteries in series
- When connecting series-parallel, connect pairs of batteries in parallel and then connect those pairs in series, not chains of series batteries in parallel.
- Do not mix different kinds of batteries. Newer batteries added to existing sets of batteries will be as worn as the originals very quickly.
- In larger series-parallel setups it's a good idea to swap batteries around every year or so.
- Batteries that are shallowly drained (cycled) will last a long time, while batteries that are deeply cycled will have shorter lives.
- A fully charged, new 12 volt battery is 12.6 volts at rest (each of six cells is 2.1 volts).
- A fully charged, new 6 volt battery will be at 6.3 volts at rest.
- When a 12 volt charger is operating on it, the voltage will be higher. A float charge (maintenance charge) for a 12 volt system is 13.5 to 13.8 volts; active charging requires at least 14.1 volts. You may see it go as high as 16 volts when charging, depending upon the charger. After a full charge, if the battery is not going to be float charged, the at-rest voltage will slowly return to the nominal full-charge voltage.
- A discharged 12 volt battery is 11.6 volts at rest. A discharged 6 volt battery is 5.8 volts at rest. The voltage may temporarily fall below these levels while powering a large load, but should return to a point within the nominal range after a 1-hour rest. Over-discharging to less than 1.93 volts per cell at rest will permanently damage your battery.
- Batteries can be measured with a voltmeter for an approximate state of charge, but many dead batteries can hold a 'shallow charge' which drops off rapidly when current is drawn. You'll need to test them with a 'live' load over a series of hours to verify them.
- A regulated 12 volt power supply can not fully charge a discharged 12 volt battery, but it makes a good float charger if the output voltage is correct (again, 13.5-13.8 volts for a 12 volt system). Check the water level in the cells often, and replenish as needed with distilled water.
- Choose an inverter.
- Rated for continuous duty at substantially more power than you think you'll need.
- Enough 'peak' current to handle motor starting loads, which can be from 3 to as much as 7 times the rated running wattage.
- Inverters are available for input voltages of 12, 24, 36, 48, and 96 volts, and a few less common voltages. The higher the voltage the better, especially for large systems. 12 volts is the most common, but in no case should one consider 12 volts for a system of greater than 2400 watts output.
- Some of the better inverters have a built-in 3-stage automatic battery charger and transfer relay, greatly simplifying the system. These inverters are well worth the extra money; if fact they save money overall, as the built-in charger is a bargain compared to the price of a comparable stand-alone charger.
- Get cables and fuses and other hardware to interconnect batteries, charger and inverter.
- These should be very heavy gauge, well made, and as short as you can fit it all together with.
- Consider spending just a bit more for a bus bar interconnect with big dividers, instead of just 'wires everywhere'. It is tidy and helps prevent accidental shorts. It also makes it easier to remove defective batteries.
- Wear protective gear and observe safety precautions.
- Don your eye protection.
- Wear protective, non-conductive gloves if possible.
- Remove any jewelry.
- Securely attach the charger cables to the deep cycle battery, noting polarity.
- Prepare the charging system. Plug the charger into the wall and power it on. Make sure it begins a proper charge cycle, and make sure the inverter is powered off.
- Attach and test the inverter if it is separate from the charger. Hook up the cables to the batteries, noting polarity. Turn the inverter on and test it with some suitable AC load. You shouldn't see sparks, smoke, or fire at any point. Leave the inverter on with a load similar to your planned load and allow the battery to charge overnight. This will test that the charger and load are a good match. In the morning, the battery should be fully charged.
- Dismantle the test rig.
- Design a tidy enclosure. This could be shelves in a shed, or a very large container. This will hold the batteries, charger, and inverter. Generally the charger and inverter should not be right next to the batteries where escaping gas can get to them. If so, it can shorten the life of the electronics, or ignite gases from sparking if vents are blocked. Some partition should be installed and separate air circulation should be provided for the charger and inverter. Alternatively, mount the charger/inverter outside the battery box. Once ready, install the components into it.
- Make the connections. Runs of cable should be kept fairly short. You need easy access to every battery to check, so clean and tighten cables. For wet cells, you need to be able to easily take every top off to check fluid levels and get distilled water into them. Make sure the inverter is grounded. You may ground it to the ground wire on the charger's input AC, or use a grounding rod driven into the soil.
- Supplement alternatives where beneficial or necessary. You may supplement or replace the charger with solar, wind, etc., connected to their own applicable charge controller. This can keep the power running far longer than it otherwise would, even indefinitely. Also, you may supplement the charger with a generator. Attach a truck alternator to a small internal combustion engine, use a generator with 12 volt charging output, or unplug the charger from its AC outlet and then use a 'regular' AC generator to power the charger. To get detailed instructions on how to install your own power plant go to
Tips
- Do not plug surge suppressors into the inverter. It is isolated from the grid and outside.
- The UPS can be located outside.
- Install an inside and outside outlet through a wall connected only to each other. You can plug the UPS inverter into the outside outlet (with a 'gender bender' extension cable) to power the inside outlet.
- Disconnect and isolate an indoor circuit from the main circuit breaker panel. Route the wire out of that box through one of the punch-outs or remove it, and connect it to the inverter, providing conduit to shield as applicable. All plugs/lights/smoke detectors/etc. on that circuit will be powered by the UPS, so test and make sure nothing 'extra' is connected to it.
- Run conduit and/or get fancy as you see fit, relative the permanence of your solution.
Warnings
- If you're not a very safe electrician, don't try any of this.
- Grounding the inverter is not optional.
- If power goes to outside outlets or near water, either buy an inverter with GFI and ground it, or add GFI to it.
- The AC output from the inverter can kill you.
- The DC current from the battery can burn you. A ring that gets between 'hot' wires can amputate your finger.
- There is enough DC current in a battery bank to stop your heart.
- Do not wear watches or jewelry when working on the batteries
- Wear eye protection when working on batteries
- Shorting batteries can cause blinding flashes, blow wrenches into splinters, even cause the batteries to explode and spray sulphuric acid and hunks of plastic everywhere.
- Provide proper ventilation for batteries. Trapped hydrogen gas can ignite and/or explode.
- Don't mess with the circuit breaker panel if you're not a really very good (and very, very safe) electrician.
- Worked on the please use it shoes
Things You'll Need
- One or more deep cycle batteries
- One 12 volt battery charger
- One heavy duty inverter
- Battery cables
- Eye, face, and hand protection (for handling batteries)
For more information on how to
build your own solar panel.

http://www.dfwcgi.com/cfd-modeling.htm:
CFD Modeling : DFW Consulting Group can
minimize energy costs and optimize cooling by CFD Analysis that is a
cost saving measure for building
owners.
This page is owned and operated by Doug Olson
16905 59th st se Walcott,ND 701-866-2379
To email : support@makeyourownelectricity.biz
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