HOW TO MAKE YOUR SOLAR SYSTEM TO LAST LONGER
Any wise person that wants to cut down expenses will know that solving power issue either for workshop, home or office is paramount, and that's where solar energy comes in.
Investing in solar energy is like investing in the future, a free energy from the sun where YOU LET THE SUN TO PAY YOUR BILLS.
Now imagine after investing so much money in solar and you don't get the satisfaction you hoped for, I mean when the performance of the solar system don't meet you expectations in handling your power needs.
In this this article I want to let you know how you can enjoy your solar system more.
Clean the solar panels regularly
After owning a solar system, don't just leave the solar panels there on the roof unmaintained, yes unmaintained. Solar panels needs maintenance to be able to produce the desired power initially required by the system or the engineers that installed it, maintaining them is not to unmount them or rewire them; just clean the solar panels regularly, yes ! Concentrate more on dry seasons especially when you are from the part of the world where there is higher concentration of dust in the atmosphere during dry season. Clean your solar panels with soap, water and with rags, dry them of properly after cleaning.
It is expected to clean these panels at least once every two months during dry season and once every 4 or 5 months during raining seasons, during raining seasons, the rain normally wash the panels but don't forget that droppings from birds or other sources can cluster the surface of some cells of the panels and all the cells of the panels are supposed to be exposed to the sunlight (not covering some and exposed some), if some are covered and others are exposed, it will drastically draw down the power generation.
You may also like: ALL MATERIALS NEEDED FOR SOLAR INSTALLATIONS
Use original energy saving LED lights/bulbs 💡
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Don't underestimate the energy consumption of bulbs in your mind regardless of the size, model or design. Use low watts bulbs in your house, and to achieve this, don't just buy any bulb or light that you like it also check the power consumption; refer to the products details description on it's body where you will see the input current and voltage.
Remember power is measured in watts and current in amps and voltage in volts with formula v* I= w i.e (voltage * current= watts.)
If they gave you, voltage and current use this formula to find the power and vice versa.
Avoid using lightening points with 30watts or higher ratings, remember this is a continuous power consumption, using these high watts over time will greatly draw something big from your system that will surprise you. Imagine using 5 bulbs with 20watts rating for 4 hours, that is 20*4 = 80watts equivalent to the power consumption of a normal 55inches tv for 1 hours or a laptop computer, so don't neglect bulbs.
You may also want to check this out: Battery saving tips for iPhone users and how to maintain a good battery health
Low and high voltage disconnect
One battery tips you should know is that less you discharge a battery to it's allowed cut off voltage or frequency at which you complete DODs (depth of discharge) of a battery, the more stronger it becomes and the more you fully charge a battery and allow it to float at the allowed float voltage before or during use, the more stronger it becomes. So, avoid discharging your battery to it's lowest voltage frequently, if your battery type cut off voltage is 11.0 for eg then increase it to 11.7, this will make the battery to have more of reserves power in it and also don't overly charge your battery at a high voltage, this will burn out the battery cells.
High voltage ⚡ disconnect in orange 🍊 color that's is 14.6 highest and low voltage disconnect in red that's 10.0 for a 12volts system, this reading is for a typical gel or seal lead acid battery. So what this means is to maintain a steady highest charge voltage from 14 2 to 14.6, I recommend 14.4 and discharge from 10.8 to 11.3, I recommend 11.3. Tubular batteries and lithium batteries might have slightly lower voltage cut off.
Let the solar panel power be times two bigger than the total estimated loads
This is important to help compensate for rainy and cloudy days and to fully charge and float charge the battery also while the loads are connected.
As you are enjoy the solar system during the day, make sure your battery is also charging, that's means that the total current coming in from panel must be bigger than that of the current of load leaving leaving your battery. At night you only have the amount of current the system is able to store in the battery to use. So always check out for this.
Use more of DC loads than AC loads
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| DC fan and DC bulbs behind it |
Dc loads have high efficiency, that's they consume less power compared to AC loads. There are lots of DC appliances rated 12volts or 24volts input in the market like fans, tv, home theater, fridge and freezer, lights etc
The only issue is that they are a bit costly but will greatly help your solar system to give you better performance and to last for a longer period of time in terms of the battery
Check out this post for other tips: ALL MATERIALS NEEDED FOR SOLAR INSTALLATIONS
Don't over size your inverter
Majority of solar users rates a solar system by the inverter wattage rating (kva), let me explain, if you only need to power loads like; lights, and tvs and fans and charging of phones or laptop without any freezer or fridge, a 1kva Inverter is okay for the load, you only need bigger inverter systems when you have loads with higher pick power for starting them like freezers and fridge or water pumps etc.
One big reasons here to note is that the bigger the inverter, the more power it consumes at rest of (when no load is connected).
Other minor tips...
....If you are using a tubular battery, ensure to always gauge it with distilled water when the gauge is low.
.....Always turn off any load you are not using, reasons are that any load you leave on is exactly something you will need to use someday and it won't be available again, what this means is that you should note that your battery has lifespan and number of cycles or how many times you can charge and discharge them and they become useless.
.....Use correct wires gauge for your system; from PV to charge controller, from charge controller to battery, from battery to inverter or from charger controller to loads/inverter.
In conclusion, your solar system is a form of potential energy, so be available to sometimes monitor its performance, this is the only way you will know when any of the components needs your attention. A well maintained solar system will save you huge cost over time.
Thank you for these
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