The_Ogre
Honorary Master
So, in light of recent articles of people having spent 200k and even one person spending 400k for his solar setup, I decided to do this write-up for the average Joe out there who doesn't have this kind of money lying around.
I also see lots of threads of guys wanting to go solar and not knowing how or where to start.
I'll be using my own power requirements as an example; I went on a hunt to find the most cost-effective solution to suit my needs. I'm not going to bore you with any calculations right now.
Right now everything in my house is powered by electricity and we use about 600Kwh per month. For the purposes of this exercise I'm going to ignore the geyser and stove because eventually I'm going to replace these with a solar geyser and gas stove respectively.
So I'm estimating I'll need around 300Kwh per month and this will be consumed by the following:
50 inch plasma TV
2 x 32 inch LED (only uses 48w each)
Explora
Surround sound system
1131 decoder
2 x Roku
A desktop PC with 22inch LED monitor
ADSL modem
Router
Fridge/Freezer
9x 11w globes
In future these will also be moved to solar:
Washing machine
Chest freezer
Microwave oven
Summary of what is needed:
Inverter:
So, we need to be able to supply the house with power in any conditions. And for this I have chosen a hybrid inverter - that is an inverter that can be used both when the grid is on or offline.
This will be the brains behind my setup, you might want something else, but for the price and the huge amount of features I'd say its worth a look at.
The cheapest I could find it online is over here
R15 800.40
Calculating the solar array size:
The inverter I'm looking at needs 116VDC before it kicks in. That means I'll need to buy at least 5 300w/24v panels. Cheapest I see them online is around R9.50/w.
R14 250
Battery bank:
The inverter needs a 48VDC feed from the battery bank. I can get 8 x 6v (225ah) batteries at R1 850 each.
R14 800
Total initial outlay
R44 850.40. Remember you can buy anything listed above, piece by piece, except the batteries, its very important to buy them at the same time! So rather save up until you have all the cash, instead of buying a couple every month.
The above system is a complete solar system and you can run your entire house off of this, if you're willing to piggyback on the grid for demanding.
Take not of the following: You'll need to buy at least 1 solar panel and add it to the array for the next 5 months to allow this system to only rely on the grid in case of an emergency.
Now, how does this all work?
The inverter is highly configurable (I had the pleasure of playing with one) and these are the settings I will be using
The inverter is synchronized with the grid 24/7, however it does not feed back (well, I'll disable that feature). During the day, the PV (Photovoltaic = Solar Panels) array will first power any loads in the house, any excess power is diverted to the battery bank.
In the event that the demand of the house exceeds the power produced by the PV array, the batteries kick in to help the panels.
If the batteries are below 20% DoD, only then does the inverter pull power from Eskom.
I'm changing all my electric plugs and sockets to those red ones used by PCs. I'm only leaving two as is: one in the kitchen and one in the laundry (kettle, hair dryer, iron, etc) and these will be put on a single breaker on the DB - they'll feed directly from the grid.
Since my family is not very nocturnal I will only really draw from the battery bank between 18:00 and 22:00 after which the grid tops the batteries up until sunrise.
Any questions?
I also see lots of threads of guys wanting to go solar and not knowing how or where to start.
I'll be using my own power requirements as an example; I went on a hunt to find the most cost-effective solution to suit my needs. I'm not going to bore you with any calculations right now.
Right now everything in my house is powered by electricity and we use about 600Kwh per month. For the purposes of this exercise I'm going to ignore the geyser and stove because eventually I'm going to replace these with a solar geyser and gas stove respectively.
So I'm estimating I'll need around 300Kwh per month and this will be consumed by the following:
50 inch plasma TV
2 x 32 inch LED (only uses 48w each)
Explora
Surround sound system
1131 decoder
2 x Roku
A desktop PC with 22inch LED monitor
ADSL modem
Router
Fridge/Freezer
9x 11w globes
In future these will also be moved to solar:
Washing machine
Chest freezer
Microwave oven
Summary of what is needed:
Inverter:
So, we need to be able to supply the house with power in any conditions. And for this I have chosen a hybrid inverter - that is an inverter that can be used both when the grid is on or offline.
This will be the brains behind my setup, you might want something else, but for the price and the huge amount of features I'd say its worth a look at.
The cheapest I could find it online is over here
R15 800.40
Calculating the solar array size:
The inverter I'm looking at needs 116VDC before it kicks in. That means I'll need to buy at least 5 300w/24v panels. Cheapest I see them online is around R9.50/w.
R14 250
Battery bank:
The inverter needs a 48VDC feed from the battery bank. I can get 8 x 6v (225ah) batteries at R1 850 each.
R14 800
Total initial outlay
R44 850.40. Remember you can buy anything listed above, piece by piece, except the batteries, its very important to buy them at the same time! So rather save up until you have all the cash, instead of buying a couple every month.
The above system is a complete solar system and you can run your entire house off of this, if you're willing to piggyback on the grid for demanding.
Take not of the following: You'll need to buy at least 1 solar panel and add it to the array for the next 5 months to allow this system to only rely on the grid in case of an emergency.
Now, how does this all work?
The inverter is highly configurable (I had the pleasure of playing with one) and these are the settings I will be using
The inverter is synchronized with the grid 24/7, however it does not feed back (well, I'll disable that feature). During the day, the PV (Photovoltaic = Solar Panels) array will first power any loads in the house, any excess power is diverted to the battery bank.
In the event that the demand of the house exceeds the power produced by the PV array, the batteries kick in to help the panels.
If the batteries are below 20% DoD, only then does the inverter pull power from Eskom.
I'm changing all my electric plugs and sockets to those red ones used by PCs. I'm only leaving two as is: one in the kitchen and one in the laundry (kettle, hair dryer, iron, etc) and these will be put on a single breaker on the DB - they'll feed directly from the grid.
Since my family is not very nocturnal I will only really draw from the battery bank between 18:00 and 22:00 after which the grid tops the batteries up until sunrise.
Any questions?
