Help Required for Installing Solar Energy at my Home

[hayatpower]

Dear Friends,

Hi to everyone. I am new here and need some help to install solar energy at my home to reduce electricity bill.

I am having 650 VA home Inverter with 12 Volt Battery.

I want to know that for solar energy i have to buy another inverter or my old home inverter will work on solar?

If i want to use solar power in day as well as in night also than what steps i have to take? For Example if i have connected solar panels with my battery and battery with my inverter than can i use the solar power at the same time of charging battery?

Picture of my Inverter Battery battery.JPG

How many Solar Panels are required to charge my 650 VA home inverter battery???

What about the cost of one solar panel?

Thanks in advance.

[Mike90250]

Don't buy anything more!

What is your current electric bill watt hours (or Killowatt hours) for average month last year ?

That's the place to start.

Then:
Is the grid in your area reliable ?
Do they allow Grid-Interactive (Grid tie) inverters ?

If you want to take appliances OFF the grid, and run on batteries, that will cost twice as much
as simple grid tie.

One battery that you show, will run a computer and a couple lights for a few hours.

[hayatpower]

Dear Mike90250,

I am using 5 CFL (15 Watt) + 4 Ceiling Fans. All are connected to this Inverter through Power Line.
Electricity Line is coming directly to Electricity Meter from Electric Pole.

I want to reduce my electricity bill by using solar power so which type of equipments i need to do the same.

Thanks in advance.

Regards

Don't buy anything more!

What is your current electric bill watt hours (or Killowatt hours) for average month last year ?

That's the place to start.

Then:
Is the grid in your area reliable ?
Do they allow Grid-Interactive (Grid tie) inverters ?

If you want to take appliances OFF the grid, and run on batteries, that will cost twice as much
as simple grid tie.

One battery that you show, will run a computer and a couple lights for a few hours.

[Mike90250]

What is your current electric bill watt hours (or Killowatt hours) for average month last year ?
That's the place to start.

[hayatpower]

What is your current electric bill watt hours (or Killowatt hours) for average month last year ?
That's the place to start.

Energy Consumption per Hour= 0.50 KW P/H (Used Approx 12 Hours)
Energy Consumption per day = 6 KW
Around 180 Units/KW per Month

[Mike90250]

....Energy Consumption per day = 6 KW...Around 180 Units/KW per Month

OK, using your numbers, first you need to go to to a site to determine your month of minimum sun hours.
http://www.nrel.gov/rredc/pvwatts/site_specific.html is a suggestion

Lets assume 4 hours, that means you need to harvest 9Kwh in that 4 hours. That calls for about 2,250 watts of PV panels to meet that demand.

[hayatpower]

OK, using your numbers, first you need to go to to a site to determine your month of minimum sun hours.
http://www.nrel.gov/rredc/pvwatts/site_specific.html is a suggestion

Lets assume 4 hours, that means you need to harvest 9Kwh in that 4 hours. That calls for about 2,250 watts of PV panels to meet that demand.

Dear Mike90250,


As minimum sun hours in my city is 6 hours a day. It means 180 hours in a month


As per mentioned website:

Energy Cost per kWh: 1.84 rupee

So how many Solar Panels are required to meet my power demand?
What about the connections between solar panels and my inverter?
Can i charge my battery at the same time when i am using solar power through my Inverter?
Is there any idea of cost of 1 Solar Panel?

Thanks in advance

[russ]

Dear Mike90250,


As minimum sun hours in my city is 6 hours a day. It means 180 hours in a month from http://www.gaisma.com/en/location/delhi.html

3.36	4.36	5.56	6.53	7.00	6.34	5.51	4.93	5.18	4.86	4.08	3.31

As per mentioned website:

Energy Cost per kWh: 1.84 rupee A slight problem here - your power costs far more that 1.84 Rs - On an industrial basis and wholesale we pay far more than that for power off the grid.

So how many Solar Panels are required to meet my power demand?
What about the connections between solar panels and my inverter?
Can i charge my battery at the same time when i am using solar power through my Inverter?
Is there any idea of cost of 1 Solar Panel?

Thanks in advance

Comments in bold within the text. I am presently in Gujarat.

[Mike90250]

Your yearly average sun is 6 hours daily, but December falls to 3.3 hours


So you can just plug that new # into the formula I posted:

you need to harvest 9Kwh in that 4 hours

9000 / 3.3 = 2700 watts of PV panels. I have no idea what your cost to purchase panels in your neighborhood is , but here in USA, I would likely pay about $2 per watt, for decent panels.
Then you need batteries, 4x your daily usage, to minimally discharge them for longest life.
A 36KWh battery could be sized at 48V, 800 ah to meet your need. An inverter, charge controller,
fuses, and a secure room to build this all into, would complete the system.

[hayatpower]

Dear Mike90250,

Thanks for your valuable reply.

One more thing i want to ask that if i want to use solar energy only in night time than how many solar panels are required to fully charge my inverters battery?

Is there any special battery or inverter for solar energy?

[Mike90250]

One more thing i want to ask that if i want to use solar energy only in night time than how many solar panels are required to fully charge my inverters battery?

Then you re-reun the math, but just for the amount of power needed for nighttime, instead of the whole day, I don't know how much of 9KWh you use day:night.

Is there any special battery or inverter for solar energy?

Yes. Batteries must be Deep Cycle. If you cannot find Deep Cycle, Golf Cart batteries (6v or 4v) are
generally the next best thing.

Inverter is generally, pure sine wave, which keeps everything happy. Motors, Fridge, small electronics. Some devices (about 20%) fry in a couple minutes on Modified Sine wave inverters. Motors take a while longer. Mod Sine also causes gear to consume 20% more power than pure sine, and you must account for that extra loss of efficiency when sizing PV array and batteries. For the amount of power you are needing, a 48 volt system is recommended.
Avoid any configurations where you need parallel batteries. While it can be done, it's difficult to accomplish correctly.
And do not "skimp" when sizing your system, if you undersize something, it will cause something else to fail sooner and you will be unhappy.

But now I ask. If you only need power at night, then I assume you have grid power daytimes ? if you have grid power, solar power is always 10x more expensive. you have battery replacements every 5-7 years. Cable bolt tightening yearly. Battery water monthly. If you need power for grid failures, recharge a smaller battery bank from the grid, not solar.

But don't ask me piecemeal about a system, and then say, oh, just for nighttime, because you waste
my time, and have lead me to calculate the wrong answers for you.

[hayatpower]

But don't ask me piecemeal about a system, and then say, oh, just for nighttime, because you waste
my time, and have lead me to calculate the wrong answers for you.

Dear Mike,

First of all i would like to say thanks for your kind help.

Second thing: Why are you angry? You are a Moderator of this site and you should be calm and responsive.
If you think that i am wasting your time than for what purpose you are on this site???

If you are a moderator than its your duty to help those members who need some awareness or information regarding solar energy. If you will not help and think that members are wasting your time than who will join your website?

I was just trying to get the answer of my questions as i am a newbie in the field of Solar Energy. Sorry if i wasted your valuable time.

Thanks once again.

[Naptown]

Dear Mike,

First of all i would like to say thanks for your kind help.

Second thing: Why are you angry? You are a Moderator of this site and you should be calm and responsive.
If you think that i am wasting your time than for what purpose you are on this site???

If you are a moderator than its your duty to help those members who need some awareness or information regarding solar energy. If you will not help and think that members are wasting your time than who will join your website?

I was just trying to get the answer of my questions as i am a newbie in the field of Solar Energy. Sorry if i wasted your valuable time.

Thanks once again.

He is not angry but you do have to understand that a moderator is an unpaid position we do this for free. So it gets frustrating at times to have someone ask us to do a lot of calculations (Which if searched you would find that almost every question you could ask has been asked before) then do a switch on the system parameters which changes everything.
It is best to ask all the questions at once and give all the information you know like when it will be used etc.

[hayatpower]

He is not angry but you do have to understand that a moderator is an unpaid position we do this for free. So it gets frustrating at times to have someone ask us to do a lot of calculations (Which if searched you would find that almost every question you could ask has been asked before) then do a switch on the system parameters which changes everything.
It is best to ask all the questions at once and give all the information you know like when it will be used etc.

Thanks alot Mr. Admin,

I can understand you but Mr. Mike was using hard words that why i replied with the same.
I know your team is doing great and i wish the success for your site but plz instruct your moderators to be calm atleast with new members.

Regards

[russ]

Thanks alot Mr. Admin,

I can understand you but Mr. Mike was using hard words that why i replied with the same.
I know your team is doing great and i wish the success for your site but plz instruct your moderators to be calm atleast with new members.

Regards

Hayatpower - Get a life - It is standard practice in India to ask a question a thousand ways and then pretend to be innocent - I have worked there for more than 16 years.

You are instructed to remember that you are asking for FREE advice. You can always get the same at home by paying of course.

You have to love a newbie showing up and wanting to give instructions. Of course that is standard practice there.