Your guide to smart, optimal, self-sufficient energy.
Your guide to smart, optimal, self-sufficient energy.
Running your refrigerator on solar power is quite feasible since fridges consume a relatively low amount of energy. However, it’s important to note that relying solely on solar panels won’t be sufficient to make this project a reality. To run a refrigerator on solar power, you would need…
When trying to figure out what size charge controller you’ll need for your 800W system, you’ll need to consider 3 ratings: The Battery voltages (12V/24V/48V) that the charge controller is designed to operate with. The Output Current rating of the charge controller (in Amps). The Maximum Input Voltage…
When sizing a solar charge controller, the main specification to consider is the Output Current rating of the charge controller. For example, a 10 Amp rating means that the maximum amount of current that the charge controller is capable of delivering at its output is 10 Amps. The…
The main rating of a solar charge controller that you should consider is its Output Current rating. The Output Current rating or the “size” of the solar charge controller that you need for your 300w solar panel, will mainly depend on 3 factors: The voltage of your battery…
In this article, I explain how to correctly size the wires that you need to connect your solar panels to your charge controller. After reading this, you’ll learn about wire size and ampacity, wire insulation, electrical codes for sizing these wires, temperature correction factors, etc…To make this guide…
Fuse and other overcurrent protection devices are an essential part of any electrical circuit. In this article, I’ll explain why you need fuses between your solar panels and the solar charge controller, and I’ll show you how to correctly size these fuses. Do you need fuse between solar…
Do I need a fuse between charge controller and battery? The answer is yes, you do need a fuse between your charge controller and battery bank. Should an overcurrent occur, you would want to have an overcurrent protection device (OCPD) placed between your charge controller and battery. An…
Undersizing your wires can lead to unwanted power and energy losses and potential safety risks. And, since copper wires are expensive, you also don’t want to oversize your wires too much. Below you’ll find a calculator that will help you find the right cable size to connect your…
The amount of solar power that you need to run an 8000 BTU will mainly depend on the energy consumption of the AC unit, which itself depends on other factors such as run time and temperature. However, solar panels are not the only things that you need. A…
In general, solar panels can work in the shade, but the effects that shade has on solar panels might be different than what you would expect. For example, in the image above, you can see that one shaded cell (out of 36 cells) can have an enormous impact…
