How do they work? Basically, what happens is that the sunlight strikes the photovoltaic solar panels which, in turn, transforms the light into power and charges the battery. But it's not over here, since you need to link the power created this way to the power-grid of your home. It's when the charge regulator enters the picture. It insures proper charging of the battery. After it's full, the battery creates DC (direct current) which gets to the inverter. This one converts the direct current into alternative current, which is what electronic devices use to function.
The thing is, most of the household electronics (fridges, TV's, PC's) can run on a simple portable solar generator system, and it's output is usually stated in watts. The panels can be wired in series or in parallel. In this way, you can gain more power.
In the case of series wiring, the positive terminal of one panel is linked to the negative terminal of another. So the amount of volts you generate is equal to the sum of the two panels. However, the amperage will remain equal to the one of a single panel.
In the case of parallel wiring, the positive terminals are linked to other positive terminals, while negative terminals are linked to other negative ones. In this case, the voltage is the one that stays the same, while the amperage represents the sum of the two panels' amperage.
The charge controller is the element that checks the battery's charge level. This is necessary in order to know when the battery needs to be charged, or when it is over-charged. Without such a device, the panel risks to malfunction and break-down because of overheating.
As for the batteries you need to buy in order to link to your solar panel system, I would recommend deep cycle ones, which are created to face hundreds of discharges and recharges. These batteries last between 20 hours and 100 hours. Calculate the type of battery you need depending on the amount of period in which your solar panel gets no sunlight (during the night).
You can find all of the materials I described on homedepot or any other big electrical stores.
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Alec Deacon is a DIY passionate and owner of http://www.DIYreport.com, one of the best sources of DIY projects and plans. Topics like solar panels, woodworking, aquaponics and DIY in general are covered in daily articles in the blog section. Comments are always appreciated so please feel free to join and share your thoughts and ideas.
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