What to Consider When Installing a DIY Solar System at Home

Recent solar technological advancements have made it possible to take advantage of DIY solar energy and gain energy independence from the official power grid. This makes it a recommendable project to undertake in remote regions with no access to electric lines or in suburban areas where you want to supplement your energy sources. Solar power is versatile, so you can power home appliances and security camera systems from the same power source.

Solar energy is natural and renewable. Installing a solar photovoltaic (PV) system can minimize carbon emissions by up to 1.6 tons in a year. The energy requires no machinery to produce it, making it a good alternative to reduce your carbon footprint and contribute to sustainable living efforts and “Go-Green” initiatives.

Since it’s a DIY project, you can save thousands in installation costs. While planning, setup and installation may take time, once a solar installation is up and running it will reduce electricity bills. To achieve a successful installation, you need to spend some time planning, perform a workload calculation and familiarize yourself with the capabilities of the system components.

Spending some time making a detailed plan helps ensure a smooth DIY solar installation and guides you in purchasing the right solar products. Determine your goals and decide what you want from your solar system. It can be financial savings, backup power for outages, or the ability to go off-grid. Your goals will help you determine the right type of solar energy system you need, such as on-grid hybrid or off-grid.

Table1: Pros and cons of the three systems to consider

Check your city and state for any rules and regulations regarding solar energy. Design your DIY system considering energy needs, the amount of sun your location gets, solar panel angle and orientation, shading, expandability, battery size and charging, if applicable.

Determine the power ratings of the appliances that you want to connect to the solar system and their running time. Appliances that use a lot of energy and those that stay on for a long time need solar power kits with a higher power capacity compared to low-energy devices like a fan.

To get the watt-hours, multiply the run time by the power rating of your home equipment. For example, to get the watt-hour of a TV, with a rating of 11W and run time of 7 hours a day: 11Wx7=77 watt-hours. Do this for all the appliances and add the results to get the total watt-hours.

The battery in the solar system works to store excess energy during the day and ensure a constant voltage output. Solar batteries differ in capacity, depth of discharge, round trip efficiency and battery life. Understand that the voltage of a battery has an indirect relation to the current produced.

Consider lithium-ion (Li-ion) and nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) for smart home applications or lead-acid tubular batteries. The latter has a deep, slow discharge rate and allows for partial discharge, making them ideal for commercial applications.

Charge controllers come in handy to regulate the voltage from the panel to the battery. This is ideal for deeply discharged batteries and effective for cold and hazy days.

Charge controllers operate within the battery voltage and are effective under warm temperatures or when the battery is close to full charge. Ensure the controller charge rating corresponds to that of the system.

These devices convert the current from DC to AC. The three types to consider are pure sine wave, square wave and modified sine wave. The choice depends on the required efficiency and type of appliance.

Most appliances are compatible with the pure sine wave, making the inverters universal. It’s also a necessity for the grid-tie system. Sine wave inverters also produce minimal sound levels, causing less noise interference. The modified sine wave inverters are less expensive and are recommended for supporting motors.