DIY Manual

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DIY Manual
SYSTEM DESIGN
Solar system design involves a load analysis, battery bank sizing, solar panel sizing and
configuration, charge controller selection, and inverter considerations and sizing. Proper system
design ensures balance between battery capacity and panel charge capabilities via the correct
charge controller. An “out of balance” system may not meet your consumption needs, or worse
may waste money on unnecessary expenditures. Let’s begin!
Step 1 LOAD ANALYSIS
Designing a solar system starts not with the panels or batteries, but rather with the intended use
of the solar system. What do you want to power with the solar energy? A load analysis is an
examination of all appliances you intend to operate off the battery bank, both AC loads via an
inverter and DC loads direct from the battery bank. Each appliance has a power and time
component as a part of the overall equation.
Identify all the appliances to be powered, to include wattage and hours of planned operation
during a 24-hour period.
Load Analysis Example
Appliance / # Watts Hours Watt-Hours (Wh)
TV / 1 75W 4 Hrs 300 Wh
LED Lights / 3 20W 5 Hrs 300 Wh
Refrigerator / 1 500W Cyclical 3000 Wh
Toaster Oven / 1 1800W 0.5 Hrs 900 Wh
Total Watt-hours 4500 Wh