Solar panel

BASIC PART THAT ARE REQUIRED FOR INSTALLATION

1.Solar panel

Solar panels are those devices which are used to absorb the sun’s rays and convert them into electricity or heat. Description: A solar panel is actually a collection of solar (or photovoltaic) cells, which can be used to generate electricity through photovoltaic effect.

2. Charge controller

A solar charge controller is a solar-powered voltage and current regulator. They are used in off-grid and hybrid off-grid applications to regulate power input from PV arrays to deliver optimal power output to run electrical loads and charge batteries.

3. Inverter

power inverter or invert is a tool that transforms Direct Current (or DC) to Alternating Current (or AC) utilising transformers, switching, and power circuits. And this is the primary use of an inverter, be it solar or regular inverter

4. Battery

1. Solar panel: are of two types;

→ monocrystaline

→ polycrystaline

I. Monocrystaline: are common in Africa because heat doesn’t affect the generation of electricity unlike polycrystaline solar panel.

II Polycrystaline: is usually cheaper than monocrystaline.

Do you know there’s something called open circuit voltage and short circuit voltage in solar panel

Have been taught also in school, but don’t know the application in solar panel ( if you’re like me sit and relax while I unveil the secret behind it)

Everything you’ve to know about solar panel basically

A 12v battery cannot charge a 24v system/battery. For a 12v battery to charge a 24v battery, you’ve to combine two 12v panel together, but the charge may be very slow compared to a 24v panel charging a 24v battery. Sometimes when you use a 12v panel to charge 24v battery, you’re only doing more harm than good to the battery. The efficiency of the battery may be reduced gradually, as a result of that.

Which solar panel is better?

Both monocrystaline and polycrystaline solar panel are good but monocrystaline is better in Africa. Why it’s good in Africa is because, it’s positively affected by heat. Since Africa generate a lot of heat from sun.

NOTE: The reason behind this is because some solar panel, when it touches it too much may reduce its efficiency, leaving the solar panel with some harm. Infact wetting some solar panel with water can increase the efficiency of the solar panel, due to the fact that it’s negatively affected by too much of heat.

Question: If you’ve a 24v battery, 14v battery and 48v battery. What Solar panel rating can you use to connect it together to work as expected?

If connected with the wrong panel, can make the diode on the Solar panel to discharge battery instead of charging it, because it’s not compatible enough ( i.e not well connected). All solar panel has a diode on it. Some panel ratings can be so small that you can’t expect. For instance, a calculator using solar panel, can have a rating as low as 0.002v. still with this rating so low, it’s still a solar panel (e.g torchlight panel, power bank solar panel e.t.c)

Note: Not only what you see on roof is known as solar panel. We’ve small solar panel rating used by small devices.

Another way to differentiate a polycrystaline solar panel from a monocrystaline solar panel structurally/visually is how they look. Polycrystaline solar panel are patched together to produce energy/electricity to charge battery but monocrystaline solar panel are patched differently, in such a way that each of it can produce it own energy to charge the battery singularly. Monocrystaline also has some white dot that differentiate each patch element from the other (just like line trace).

What’s open-circuit voltage and short-circuit voltage in solar panel?

How to know open-circuit voltage from short-circuit voltage is when a panel of 24v is not connected to anything/device. The 24v panel is said to be open-circuit voltage. But if it’s connected, the voltage will be reduced because it’s now connected to a device. The phenomenon, whereby the panel is connected (the final voltage at the panel)is known as short-circuit voltage.