Setting Up Solar Panels At Home

A solar panel on the roof with a few wires leading to a small battery bank powers my laptop and a radio mounted on a tree for receiving the wireless broadband signal.

Setting up solar panels at home. However the amount of power generated by a solar energy system at a particular site depends on how much of the sun s energy reaches it and the size of the system itself. You will need to figure the amount of time certain things will be used as well. The first thing you want to do is charge your batteries with a charger. For example if you have a cabin that you can t connect to a power grid and you don t want to rely on a traditional gasoline powered generator you might consider installing a small photovoltaic solar power system.

A small solar power generator is a relatively cheap sustainable way to generate off the grid power when you need it. But solar energy systems can contain high dc voltages within the networked solar panels and high ac voltages within the inverter there is simply no room for mistakes when working with high voltages especially where high currents are present. You will also need several deep cell batteries on which power can be stored and drawn upon. Because pv technologies use both direct and scattered sunlight to create electricity the solar resource across the united states is ample for home solar electric systems.

The system also provides enough energy to charge several small power tools run our home sound system and amazingly power a full size chest refrigerator year round. Working with solar energy can be safe as long as the voltages and currents you are working with are well below 50 volts and 1 ma. While the batteries are charging you can set up the solar panels and get them wired up and ready to go.