How to Determine Solar Home Needs
- 1
Pick a room to start with and total up the power consumption of that room in watts. Take a laundry room with a washing machine, three light bulbs, but no clothes dryer as an example. Assuming a maximum daily use of one load of laundry plus two hours usage of the lights with 60 watt bulbs, that adds up to 1,510 watts. - 2). Continue around the house and total up the wattage for every room, closet and hallway. This is a good organizational trick, guaranteeing you have a complete, accurate picture of the house's power demands. If you are only powering part of the house with solar panels, it will help you choose which part.
- 3). Divide the total wattage by six. The average day provides six hours of peak sunlight; most solar power systems are designed to meet the total daily average electrical demand of a system in those six hours. If your total house demand is 15,000 watts, it will need to provide 2,500 watts during each of those six hours. On the other hand, if the system is only providing power for part of the house, such as the laundry room example, it needs to provide 252 watts during those peak six hours.
- 4). Convert the watts into amps and volts. American household outlets release electric current at 110 volts, which makes finding the amperage easy by using the following equation: amps = watts divided by volts. Our 15,000-watt house uses 136.36 amps, for example. However, some devices, such as garden lights or pond pumps, might use a different voltage, which will always be labeled on the device. With all three numbers: watts, amps and volts, you have all the information to determine your household solar needs.
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