Residential Solar Panels – The Basics
By Les Goss

These days it seems like everyone is talking about finding ways to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, lower our energy bills, and cut back on our carbon emissions. One of the solutions gaining renewed interest is small-scale solar power for our homes. Before you make the choice to install solar panels, it’s a excellent thought to learn some of the basic information regarding residential solar panels and how they connect to your existing system.

Photovoltaic (PV) systems convert sunlight to electric current. There are many current applications you’re familiar with, such as calculators and wristwatches that use similar technology on a smaller scale. More complicated systems provide power for communications satellites, water pumps, and the lights, appliances, and machines in homes and workplaces. Many road and traffic signs along highways are now powered by PV.

While solar thermal systems use heat from the sun to heat water or air, PV does not use the sun’s heat to make electricity. PV systems produce some electric current any time the sun is bright, but more power is produced when rays of sunlight are perpendicular to the PV panels.  Electrons freed by the interaction of sunlight with semiconductor materials in PV cells make an electric current.

Types of Residential PV Systems

If you are considering adding a PV system to your current home, you should know that it can be metered in such a way as to allow you to get credit for electric energy produced by your PV system.  Currently, 42 states plus the District of Columbia have net-metering regulations that may allow you to sell the extra power you produce back to the utility company. In effect, net-metered PV systems use the existing utility grid as storage. Before you buy or install any solar power generation equipment to be net metered, you should call your electric utility service provider, and find out from them all of the utility requirements and rules for installing and interconnecting a generator.

PV systems that are not connected to the utility grid are called remote, stand-alone, or off-grid systems. In remote areas where existing utility lines are a considerable distance away, PV is often the least expensive way to provide electricity to a building.

Off-grid systems have the same components as grid-connected systems, except that they need storage batteries to supply electricity when the sun is not bright, and do not need an inverter to tie into the grid. Also, off-grid PV systems may need additional components such as an auxiliary generator, or even a wind turbine.

How Residential Solar Panels Work

The material that converts solar energy into electricity is called a semiconductor. There are two types, one of which has a positive electrical charge, and the other a negative charge. When the two are placed together, an electrical current is produced, much like a battery with its positive and negative poles.

The device that holds these semiconductors together is called a PV cell. Cells produce electricity through a process called the photoelectric effect. The sunlight that is absorbed in the cell transfers its energy to the electrons in the cell’s atoms. This extra energy knocks some electrons out of their normal position, and they join the flow in the electrical circuit.

PV cells typically provide just 0.5 to 2 watts, so they are joined in series or parallel strings to form modules that produce up to 300 watts. Connecting in parallel boosts the current, while a series connection will increase the voltage. Modules are then connected together into larger structures called arrays. The more modules you string together, the larger the array, and the more electricity you can produce.

Les Goss is a teacher helping homeowners learn more about alternative energy sources for their homes. He invites you to learn more about residential solar panels at [http://cheapsolarpanelsnow.com]http://cheapsolarpanelsnow.com. He also has an informative blog at [http://homepowersystemsblog.com]http://homepowersystemsblog.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Les_Goss http://EzineArticles.com/?Residential-Solar-Panels—The-Basics&id=2981296

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There are many advantages to using solar panels.

One of the main advantages to using these panels is that you will be able to successfully produce power for your home in a method that is much simpler and much less expensive.

Solar panels provide a source of power that is natural and not made.

These panels utilize the rays of the sun in order to generate power.

This means that you will save money on your electrical costs and that you will not be subjected to the pollution caused by electricity when it is produced by typical means.

Many individuals find themselves wondering if solar power will be effective if it rains, or there is cloud coverage.

The wonderful news is that today’s solar panels have the capacity to store a large amount of energy that may be used in the future – even if it is dark outside!

Incorporating solar panels into your home will officially allow you to disconnect from the “grid”.

This is also considered to be an environmentally friendly means of acquiring the power that is required for your home.

If you are interested in saving time, saving money, and saving the environment, you may successfully do so by incorporating solar panels into your home.

To learn more about Solar Panels, please visit our website:
http://www.TheOnlyTrustedGuide.com/solar-panels

Duration : 0:2:20

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Learning how to build your own solar panels is an alternative route to owning your home solar power system. This approach can help you save as much as 90 percent of the cost compared to purchasing a commercial version. Comparatively affordable, the functionality of the Do It Yourself versions are also not compromised. In fact, when assembled right accordingly, the results is at par with the commercial versions.

Before you get too excited over this, you need to ensure that you meet the criteria of saving with free renewable energy. Your home are the right choice if it is situated in a sun facing direction, in open unblocked landscape, preferably with a huge roof top for mounting the panels. Of course if you have two hundred dollars to kick off this project which only requires a weekend of your time, you are excellent to go.

The next step is for you to search for the right manual to build your own solar panels. There are fantastic information online if you simply run a search for the topic, but it will take you a long time to place all of them into perspective. Hence search for a manual or a guide on the topic instead and compare to get the best. If you have friends who have already made their own panels, check with them for the right guide available. The best manuals are concise, simple to follow, with diagrams, and some of the better ones come with videos to guide you step by step all the way from building to assembly to addressing common problems. Essentially, a excellent guide is one which many have successfully used and saved money on. So check out the testimonials as well.

The materials you need for the project is are easily available at your friendly neighborhood hardware store, all for about the total sum of slightly under 200 dollars. This, compared to commercial prices, is minuscule, to say the least.

Spending time assembling the materials and connect the system can be fantastic weekend fun, especially if you can make it out to be a family project. There is no better way to bond with them than to empower and awe them with making their own energy. So going green with a home solar power system and embarking on how to build your own solar panels can have more benefits than you could reckon of. Oh yes, not to forget too, that with a full fledge renewable energy system in place, you also enhance the value of your home.

So Visit SolarWindEnergyDIY.com for Your Complete Solar Power Guide Reviews. Also Learn More on How to Build Residential Solar System and Save 80 percent on Your Electricity Bills.
Go Green With a Home Solar Power System – Build Your Own Solar Panels and Live Off the Grid

Go Green With Home Solar Power System Build Your Own Panels and Live Off the Grid

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The inverter generates the 120 volts 60Hz you need if you are in the US.

But you cannot connect the inverter output to your power lines, you will burn out the inverter or get the power company very upset. AC voltages don’t add. They will be at two slightly different frequencies, and the voltage will add and subtract as the phase changes. You will get high currents into or out of the inverter or into or out of the AC mains. Something burns out quickly.

You need a special switch that disconnects the AC mains and connects your inverter output. You can do this for the entire house or a part you select.

Or you need a special inverter that synchronizes with the power company frequency and phase, but you need the permission of the power company to do that, plus a special meter, as sometimes power will flow back into the meter.

Or, for small scale, just an outlet strip plugged into the inverter, into which you can plug your appliances when power goes out.

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