Voltage Required for Solar Circuit

Many hundreds, Possibly more. Plus you will need batteries, charge controllers, an inverter and someone who knows what they are doing.

Assuming 8 hours per day of sunlight x 30 days = 240 hours, the panel(s) need to produce 1250 watts on average. Consult some manufacturers/vendors; I think a reasonable number of panels can do this.

You need to consider current as well as voltage in your source as well as in your load.

From: Tim Hawley Master Mech.

Photovoltaic array panels at 1 meter square, with typical isolation ranges from 4 kWh/m²/day, in northern climates, to 6.5 kWh/m²/day in the sunniest regions. Typical solar panels have an average efficiency of 12%, with the best commercially available panels at 20%. Thus, a photovoltaic installation in the southern latitudes of Europe or the United States may expect to produce 1 kWh/m²/day. A typical "150 watt" solar panel is about a square meter in size. Such a panel may be expected to produce 1 kWh every day.

With the proper system installed any un-used power will be metered and credited to your account from your power company supplier

If your appliances all run on 115 Volts AC your calculated PF is 31.74050 ohms.

Volt / Resistance = Current

Voltage 115 Volts AC

Current 3.62313 amps

Resistance 31.74050 ohms (PF)

Power 416.66 watts

300 kilowattsHrs/month is = to

300,000 watts/(24 Hrs. x 30 Days) =

300,000 watts/720 hours per month =

= 416.66 watts per hour average usage.

The conversion of Volts to VA is governed by the equation VA = Amps · Volts/PF

For example: 1.5 amps * 12 volts/0.6 = 30 VA

The conversion of Volts to Amps is governed by the equation Amps = VA·PF/Volts

For example 13.12769 VA* 31.74050 / 115 volts = 3.6233 amps

Converting Amps to Volts at fixed VA:

The conversion of Amps to Volts is governed by the equation Volts = VA·PF/Amps

For Example, 13.12769 VA · 31.74050 / 3.6233 Amps = 114.999 Volts

one monent: pf=0.6 or 31.74??????

From:Tim Hawley Master Mech.

0.6 is only an example..

If your appliances all run on 115 Volts AC your calculated PF is 31.74050 ohms.

The PF has to be calulated based upon the voltage and current draw average with the voltage as a constant 115 volts ac

What? PF is not measured in ohms.

From: Tim Hawley Master Mech.

I had to go back to my reference material for a proper definition.

In AC the volts and amps are not always in phase (meaning that the peak of the voltage curve is does not happen at the peak of the current curve). So in AC, if the volts and amps are not precisely in phase you have to calculate the watts by multiplying the volts times the amps at each moment in time and take the average over time. The ratio between the VA (i.e. rms volts time rms amps) and Watts is called the power factor PF.

VA·PF = Watts (any load, including inductive loads)

In other words, volt-amps x power factor = watts. Similarly, KVA*PF = KW,
Or kilovolt-amps times power factor equals kilowatts.

When you want to know how much the electricity is costing you, you use watts. When you are specifying equipment loads, fuses, and wiring sizes you use the VA, or the rms voltage and rms amperage. This is because VA considers the peak of both current and voltage, without taking into account if they happen at the same time or not

Finding the Power Factor

How do you find the power factor? This isn't easy. For computer power supplies and other supplies that are power factor corrected the power factor is usually over 90%. For high power motors under heavy load the power factor can be as low as 35%.

Industry standard rule-of-thumb is that you plan for a power factor of 60%, which somebody came up with as a kind of average power factor.

Converting VA to Amps

How to convert VA to amps? Use the following formula:

Solar panels are down to around $1-2 per watt now. For under $5000, DIY, you would have enough panels to make 300 kwh per month. Around 10 125 watt panels should do nicely. Then, if you don't grid tie, you get into battery banks and inverters. Roughly every $1.00 you spend making your home more energy efficient reduces $5.00 from the cost of the solar system needed to run it. Also, if your system is ground mounted on a tracker, it can be smaller, because of increased efficiency. Here are some solar prices from major mfgs. http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/surveys/free-solar-panel-price-survey/ I would hate the thought of ever tiptoeing through hundreds of individual 1 volt cells, looking for the loose wire from my DIY install. 20 wires off of 10 panels would be okay, though.