Solar System Tutorials

Batteries, Parallel, Series -

  At the heart of any solar PV system sits the battery bank; the battery bank can be either a single or multiple batteries connected to each other. Batteries are connected to each other in order to increase:- the battery voltage (in Volts, V), or- the battery capacity (in Ampere hours, Ah), or- both capacity and voltage.(Power = Volts x Ampere, or W = V x A). You can connect batteries either in series or in parallel. The following happens when batteries...

Read more

CoC, Installation, Safety -

Once your solar PV or backup system has been installed, it’s important to ensure that a Certificate of Compliance (CoC) is issued. Basically, this document checks that the electrician who performed the installation has complied with the rules and regulations that are in place to assure a safe installation.

Read more

Batteries, C-rate, Lithium -

Are you certain you have the right battery size in relation to your inverter? Follow the steps below to check your battery size (We will only focus on Lithium LiFePO4 batteries in this tutorial). First of all, find all the technical specifications or data-sheets of your equipment, and then follow these steps:Step 1: Determine the capacity of your inverter in kW (kiloWatt).Step 2: Determine the capacity of your battery in kWh and Ah.Step 3: Determine the C-Rate of your battery. Step 1: Determine the capacity of your inverter in kW (kiloWatt)....

Read more

Elements, Installation, Solar -

A solar Photo-Voltaic (PV) system includes the following elements:   - Solar PV panels- Racking and mounting system for PV panels- Batteries- Inverter- charge controller- wires- switches- performance monitoring system   Photovoltaic panels (or simply solar panels or PV panels) collect sunlight and convert it into electricity. Sometimes it is mounted on a roof, but it can be placed anywhere there is sun. The larger the surface of the solar panel, the more electricity it collects when the sun shines....

Read more

How to, Inverters, Sizing -

There are plenty of options available when it comes to selecting an inverter. Inverters vary in size, efficiency, performance, and capabilities. So what’s the best solution for you? The key questions you have to answer are the following:   Do you have a single phase or three-phase electricity supply? Do you want back-up power from a battery? What is the size of your solar panel array? How much power are your appliances using?   What is an inverter? An inverter...

Read more