Build a Solar Power Generator

There are a number of ways in which to build a solar power generator. And the way you choose will be dependent on your load in watts – and your form of electricity in either direct current or alternating current. If you need alternating current, your solar power generator will be more expensive to build.

You can begin by estimating the amount of watts you will need for your solar power generator. This is rather easy to find out. If, for instance, you're planning to power an entire house with a solar power generator, you will have to go throughout the house and check the labels on all of your electronic appliances. These labels (or sometimes stamps) should include whether it runs on DC or AC – and how many watts of energy it will consume per hour. A normal incandescent lightbulb, for instance, will consume about 60 watts of energy per hour (hence the “60 watt” stamp on the bulb).

You will need to determine how much you use each appliance per hour on average. You can do this by figuring out how much you use each appliance per day and then dividing that figure by 24. This will give you a watt-hour figure. It is important to segment these watt-hour figures into AC and DC categories. This will give you a rough idea of how much alternating current you will need to generate per hour and how much direct current you will need to generate per hour.

Once you have estimated these figures, you can begin to assemble your solar power generator. If you require both AC and DC, you will want to purchase enough panels to generate electricity for your given load, as well as a battery block of 6-9 batteries, and an inverter. You can have a cable directly from the batteries block to the house and another from the battery block to an inverter and then the house. This will allow you to power both AC and DC appliances. Additionally, you will be able to store extra DC in your batteries, but you can later use the inverter to turn it into AC for appliances that require it.