A home solar power system is a very good way to generate free electricity from sunlight and lower your monthly utility bills. You can now reduce or even totally replace the power you buy from the local electricity company with home solar panels which are much more efficient and less expensive than they were even 10 years ago.   A great application of these solar panels is a   do it yourself solar charger .

The newer types of solar panels are greatly improved in many ways and, with little maintenance required of the homeowner, will provide decades of use.   The primary way these home solar panels have been improved is in the area of efficiency converting the sun’s energy into electricity.   Modern solar panels can achieve nearly 20% efficiency and so you will not require as many panels to produce the same amount of power as you would with older panels.   Because of this, you will not need as much space for the solar panels and installation costs will be much lower.   Homeowners with limited roof space will especially appreciate this benefit.   Previously, such homeowners could mount only as many solar panels as could fit on their roof and thus they may have been able to produce only a portion of the electricity needed.   Today they can meet their energy needs by generating more power with the same amount of roof space.

Another advantage to newer solar panels is they are more tolerant to orientation.   In order to produce maximum power output, older home solar panels had to be pointed due south.   This gives the panels access to sunlight at a direct angle for the most time per day. Because of the severe angle of the sunlight, these older panels would generate significantly less power during the day, just because the house didn’t have a side facing due south.   For the many people with houses that don’t have a southern facing side, these new panels are great news.   If you want to build your own solar panel, a great guide is   earth4energy review .  Generating threshold is another big improvement in these newer solar panels.   The generating threshold is the minimum amount of sunlight required for the conversion to electricity to begin.   The older solar panels required quite a bit of sunlight before they would start generating power.   The result was on cloudy days or at sunrise or sunset, the panels might not produce any power at all.   Because of the reduced generating threshold of the more modern panels, they can produce power for more days of the year and for more hours each days.   This will also help people that have their solar panels mounted in a position that is less than perfect so that they can generate power for a longer time each day.   The combination of these improvements means more power produced for your home.   Making use of free energy from the sun means that will have to buy much less electricity from the power company.   If you’re interested in plans to build your own solar panel have a look at   home made energy .

Solar power systems always rely on an inverter of some type .

In order to provide electricity to the home, most home solar systems operate by a sequence in which solar panels charge batteries, with the batteries then providing the electricity to the home . This ensures that power is available in the dark , when the solar panels themselves aren’t generating . The electricity provided by both solar panels and batteries is of the Direct Current (DC) variety . This needs to be converted to Alternating Current (AC), which is used by appliances in the home . Solar power inverters are responsible for converting the DC electricity to AC .

When it comes to inverters, there are two main types: Modified Sine Wave (MSW) and True Sine Wave (TSW) . MSW inverters turn DC electricity into the most basic form of AC power . Certain appliances work problem-free with MSW inverters, but others don’t . Some kinds of audio equipment, for example, often suffer problems when used with MSW inverters . TSW inverters, though , work very well in a home setting .

It’s fairly easy maintain an inverter once you’re up and running . Avoid putting the inverter in the same box as the batteries, but make sure it’s otherwise as close to them as possible . Use a large size wire to run between the batteries and the inverter . The necessary size will most likely be listed in the inverter manual . All wires to and from the inverter will need a fuse . Make sure the inverter is in a spot where it will not be exposed to wetness or extreme temperatures .

There are two problems which are particularly common for people using solar power inverters . First, there’s RF interference . All inverters broadcast a certain amount of radio noise while working . The easiest way to deal with this issue is to place any receiver as far away from the inverter as possible . Another solution is to switch to a battery powered radio, the batteries for which can be recharged at any time with the solar power system .

The other problem is that of phantom loads . This refers to the electricity that is drawn by certain electronic devices, such as many new TVs , while they’re turned off . Since they’re constantly using energy , these devices prevent inverters from going to sleep . The inverters then add to the problem of wasted energy , as they’re constantly in active mode . If you’re able to connect the devices responsible for the phantom loads to a power strip with an on/off switch, you can address this problem effectively . This will keep the devices from drawing power from your system while the power strip is turned off .

For more info about the most recent technological improvement being offered in solar panel systems, go to  Solar Micro Inverter.

If you want to build your own solar panel, visit  Build Your Own Solar Panel.