350 Watt grid tie inverter + 100W Monocrystalline solar panel

[Psi]

Hi all,

Need some advice i want to get involved in solar power mainly to get experience of it before i take the big plunge which costs alot. Im looking at this:

350 Watt grid tie inverter + 100W Monocrystalline solar panel

[Mike90250]

sounds like you are not fully ready to do this.

A Grid Tie (GT) inverter does not need a battery, the solar panel feeds it directly.

Your chosen panel looks like it (and up to 2 more like it) could feed the inverter just fine.

But your inverter looks to be a bit in-efficient, as it only is 90%, modern ones are 95% for GT.

Hope this helps,
Mike

[Psi]

Hi mike,

Thanks for reply,

What i want to do is start off small with a small battery bank just so i can gain experience of solar power, its expensive in the UK so just looking at a small system mainly just to practice, ill only be using it for a couple of lights in the garden for prob 1 hour a night at most.

the most i can afford to play with is a 100 watt panel, im looking at using it to light my hen house which at present would only be for 1 hour a day at most depending on power ic ould put more lights around garden. Thats why i need an inverter so i can put my lights on it.

What would you reccommend for example 2 x 6 watt lights in the garden avg use 1 hour a day at most, i only want to start with a 100watt panel but will invest in more as i gain more experience, im looking at a 300 watt inverter so i can put another 2 panels.

Any help or equipment reccomendations would be a great thanks

Psi

[Sunking]

PSI as Mike explained you do not have a handle on Solar yet. There are two types of solar systems. Grid Tied, and Stand Alone Battery systems.

The size of the solar panel is dependent on how many watt hours you need to use in a day, application of Grid Tied or Stand Alone, and most importantly your location.

As for inverters this is where you are lacking a lot of knowledge. Battery and Grid Tied inverters are completely different animals and not interchangeable with each other. Battery inverters are made to work withing a very tight voltage range of a specific battery voltage, and have a dynamic changing load from no power to max power.

Grid tied inverters are designed to work at very high voltage ranges and produce all the power made available by the solar panels into a very low impedance.

For what you are asking for is strictly a toy experimental sized stand alone battery system. With the objective of only running 2 6-watt light bulbs for 1 hour = 2 lights x 6 watts x 1 hour = 12 watt hours. Basically a small flashlight. In your area all you need is a 5 to 10 watt solar panel and a couple or three of AA size rechargeable batteries to do the job.

[tim w]

i started out like u

this limk may help show a good starter set up, if u want to use a timer on ur lights u will need a small inverter like u would get for use in a car have fun

PSI as Mike explained you do not have a handle on Solar yet. There are two types of solar systems. Grid Tied, and Stand Alone Battery systems.

The size of the solar panel is dependent on how many watt hours you need to use in a day, application of Grid Tied or Stand Alone, and most importantly your location.

As for inverters this is where you are lacking a lot of knowledge. Battery and Grid Tied inverters are completely different animals and not interchangeable with each other. Battery inverters are made to work withing a very tight voltage range of a specific battery voltage, and have a dynamic changing load from no power to max power.



Grid tied inverters are designed to work at very high voltage ranges and produce all the power made available by the solar panels into a very low impedance.

For what you are asking for is strictly a toy experimental sized stand alone battery system. With the objective of only running 2 6-watt light bulbs for 1 hour = 2 lights x 6 watts x 1 hour = 12 watt hours. Basically a small flashlight. In your area all you need is a 5 to 10 watt solar panel and a couple or three of AA size rechargeable batteries to do the job.

Generally the Harbor Freight panels are junk you can do better than that for the same cost or less.