Off Grid and Mobile Solar Power for Everyone · Your Smart Solar Guide by MSE, Lacho Pop -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Page Table of Contents Disclaimer Notice About the Authors Introduction Electricity basics

Current Voltage Power Energy Electric circuits

Short circuit Open circuit and voltage drops Resistance

Connecting loads

Which connection is preferable – in series or parallel? Loads in solar power systems Typical power consumption of some household appliances DC loads AC Loads Inductive and electronic loads

Energy efficiency

Off-grid system configurations

The essentials of standalone systems Limitations of standalone systems What type of off-grid system to choose?

Solar (photovoltaic) panels

Solar photovoltaic modules Solar module types

Monocrystalline modules Polycrystalline modules Thin-film (amorphous) modules

Electrical parameters of solar panels

Standard Test Conditions I-V curves Impact of irradiance and temperature on solar panel performance Solar modules mounting Connecting photovoltaic modules Examples of connected solar modules

Solar radiation and site selection

Solar radiation Solar maps Azimuth and tilt angles

Azimuth Tilt

Batteries

Introduction Batteries in off-grid systems Lead-acid batteries Alkaline batteries Li-Ion batteries Connecting batteries

Series connection Parallel connection

Charge controllers

Charge controller types PWM and MPPT controllers – a detailed comparison Scaling an off-grid solar power system

Inverters

Specifications of off-grid inverters

System voltage Other solar power system equipment Designing an off-grid solar panel system

Evaluating the solar resource

How to assess your location for the solar resource? Why is surveying your site important? How to perform a site survey by yourself

Selecting the system components

Selecting the solar panels Selecting the batteries Selecting the charge controller Which kind of charge controller is better – MPPT or PWM? Selecting the inverter Selecting the devices and appliances When you need a system providing AC power only? How to select the loads for your off-grid system?

Off-grid solar panel system sizing

System sizing examples Example 1: Sizing a solar system for a summer house Example 2: Sizing a mobile solar system Solar array Batteries and charge controller Inverter

Maintenance of off-grid solar panel systems

Solar array Batteries

Thank you very much for reading this book! Also by the authors Appendix A: Voltage, current, power, energy Appendix B: Getting the PSH from the NASA solar database Appendix C: Impact of irradiance and temperature Appendix D: Temperature influence on solar panel performance Appendix E: Guidelines for sizing an MPPT charge controller References