Solar Powered Generator – Parts

The entire set-up looks something like this:

Solar Panel  – > Controller -> Battery / DC Appliances -> Inverter -> AC Appliances

Solar Powered Generator – How it Works

You can see from the above that the system begins with sunlight hitting the solar panel (the photovoltaic modules). Then that creates energy in the solar panel. That energy, in the form of electrons, travels into the circuit and goes to the controller.

The controller will feed any DC appliances that need power and then send the excess energy to the battery. The battery will store the energy until it’s needed by the AC appliances.   If the battery no longer needs power than the converter will stop supplying the excess power.  In other words: The excess energy only gets fed from the converter to the battery if the battery needs more energy.

When the AC appliances need energy to operate, the battery sends power from the battery to the inverter. The energy is then changed from DC to AC and sent out to the AC appliances. The inverter is hooked into the battery, not the controller.

Solar Powered Generator – Where to Start

You should start with improving your home or business insulation to reduce you electric load.  Once that is completed, you need to determine you electric load.  Now you can size your solar panel generator to produce enough electricity to run your home or business by solar power.

While sizing your system, remember that you could build a small solar powered generator and only offset part of your electric load from solar power.

For some more information see Solar Powered Generator – What?

Is there a solar powered generator in your future?