How can I Use Solar Power in my Home?
September 10, 2010 by admin
Filed under General, Solar Panels
If you are looking for a way to lower your energy bills each month, a solar power home kit might be the answer. If you want to reduce the amount of money you pay on your electric bills then recent advances in solar panel design has made this technology an effective method to do so. If you install a solar system you will reduce, and sometimes eliminate altogether, your need for utility company supplied electricity.
Making your own solar and wind power for less than $200
Solar systems are simple to set up and are offered in a wide variety of different configurations. You will need an electrician to connect the system to your home’s power lines, but everything else can be done by you. The reason you need to bring in an electrician is that there are specific codes that the installation needs to adhere to in order to be approved, and a licensed electrician will be able to accomplish this for you.
You need to find your home’s power needs before you purchase a solar power system. By looking at previous electricity bills you will be able to achieve this. You need to try to settle on an average power usage for the year as well as a peak usage.
This will allow you to decide on which sized system is right for you. Most new solar power installations will allow you to get a basic setup going with only a couple of panels and then have the option of adding more at a later date. If you want to spread the cost of building the system out over a period of time this can be a good way of doing so.
The two important parts of a solar system is the solar panel and the power inverter. A rail system will hold the solar panels secure, and keep them a few inches up off the surface of the roof. This will let the rain and other debris move underneath the panels, and also give proper ventilation. To ensure that they are secure as possible you should anchor the rails to the roof joists. The panels will need to be supported properly because even though modern panels are lighter than previous models, they still can be quite heavy.
Making your own solar and wind power for less than $200
After the solar panels are assembled and in place you can run the cables down to the spot where the inverter will be located. The inverter will switch the currency from DC, which the solar panels produce, to AC, which is the format that all homes run with. There are two types of inverters, exterior and interior.
If you are using the exterior type of inverter you will run the cables to the spot that the inverter will be located. If you are going to use an interior inverter you may need to have an electrician route the cables because certain electrical codes must be followed. Once the cables are run, the inverter needs to be mounted and wired into the panels and your homes electrical system.
This should be done by a licensed electrician who is familiar with solar power home systems. Once your installation is finished you will have years of dramatically reduced energy bills to look forward to.

