How to Power a Home With Solar Panels

Powering your home with solar power will mean reducing your energy consumption and your reliance on the power grid and realizing savings on your electricity bills. You will be able to use your lights and appliances as much as you like without worrying about your month-end account. At the same time, you will reduce your impact on the environment and help promote a "green" philosophy, using renewable energy that will never run out. You can use solar power to provide all your energy requirements, or alternatively just to provide backup or to power certain appliances.

Energy bills
Calculator
Solar panels
Mounting brackets (mounts)
Charge controller
Power inverter
Batteries
Wiring
Circuit breaker
Installation manual

Instructions

- 1
  Calculate how much energy your household uses on an average day. The best way to do this is to take three to six months' utility bills and work out the daily requirement from the information on your account, as well as the average number of hours per day of direct sunlight or ultraviolet light in your region.
- 2
  Calculate the number of solar panels you need to fulfill your power requirements. Solar panels are made from an array of photovoltaic cells, each of which produces energy. The average-sized American home requires between six and 12 solar panels and around 15 batteries to store the generated power.
- 3
  Decide where to install the bank of solar panels, which should be positioned at an angle facing the sky. Homes located north of the equator should position the panels facing south in order to capitalize on the hours of sunlight and ultra violet light. Rooftops are ideal if they have an angle of 45 degrees or less, but neither flat roofs nor steep pitched roofs are practical.
- 4
  Purchase your solar panels ready to install, or make your own using photovoltaic cells and a metal backing sheet. You can choose to purchase the individual cells and create the panel, or you can actually make your own cells to use.
- 5
  Follow the instructions in your manual and install the solar panels using the appropriate mounts. Connect them to the charge controller which will transmit the energy to the inverter or batteries. The DC power generated by the solar panels will be converted into AC power that will be redirected to power the home, or stored in the batteries for future use.
- 6
  Replace or augment your hot water tank independently with a solar-powered hot water system rather than using the solar-generated electricity to heat the water. This type of system comprises a solar water panel in which water is heated by the sun and then circulated through the water in the tank and back to the panel. In this way the water remains at a warm temperature and only requires slight electrical or gas energy to heat up.
- 7
  Have your installation checked over by an expert to ensure that it is safe and that you have done it correctly.

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