Im in US and I'm currently studying photovoltaic systems. This video by far is the most detailed and informative video I've seen on RU-vid. thnx. I will subscribe!.
mjlorton Im a licensed Electrician with no prior experience in solar energy.However, I've just applied for a job with a Solar company that offers training.Hope it goes well.
Hello mr lorton i have been following your tutorials for the last year, and untill then i had no idea about electronics or solar power, but with your help i have now set up a 500watt system in my mountain cabin in Aragon Spain i have a 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter, and according to all the rules that's wrong, i have 4 ordinary 75 amp hour car batteries that work my washing machine and fridge plus 750watt microwave with no problems. i would just like to thank you for the way you teach without complicating things and i have helped several other friends with there problems, in this vicinity, and have told them of your web site. Once again thank you very much coulden't have done it without your help.yours gratefully KEN LUKE.
Angela Luke What a pleasure to read your post Ken. I'm so chuffed you've managed to get a system up and running. It does not matter if it's not perfect...it can always be improved over time if needed. The fact that it's fulfilling a function for you is brilliant. All my best to you and beautiful Spain.Cheers, Martin.
mjlorton my wife and I just signed a contract they average dollar bill out to 200 a month is what we would've paid for electric now it will go to hey $40,000 solar panels on our roof that will feed the grid and we would have no electric bill but we still pay $200 for the next 12 years
I find it over priced, but the grade, and performance of your system eludes me in order to provide an educated answer. However if you kept the solar, you will pay 12 yrs., let us say 15 yrs, PV panel lasts around 20-25 yrs., so ten yrs. x 200 x 12 months equals around 24,000 dollars, take that from the initial investment, equals -16,000 dollars. I t may seem a bad idea, but I thank you for the ecological effect that it will have on our planet, also if you are in a tiered system it will definitively be worth it on the long run, need less to say that you help me fight the invisible beast that gnaws, and claws at us from afar, know as the Petrol, Coal, and Propane giant. You may want to review this opinion as my grade of education is 8th grade, or jr. high I believe you may call it, also I reside in a god forgotten Mexican state. Thank you kindly if you went green, if not there is still time.
I can't post the rates here as YT does not like some of the characters for some reason. I will post the info in my forum as there are some interesting insights I have just realised from looking at the tariff structure. mjlorton(dot)com click forum.
Hello Mr. Lorton...I am from the Philippines...Your explanation for on grid and off grid we're very clear...Thank you...I am very interested on learning about solar panels...
mjlorton hello mr lorton, thank you very for the wonderful on grid/of grid explanation. I live in Ghana west Africa but we are now in the crisis of electricity.iam interesting of installing my 8 bedroom house with complete solar system on off Grid.can you please advice me what sort of eguipment how many solar panel, battery etc to be able to power up an 2 refrigerator,1 airconditional and about 18 lights.thanks
Christina Rodriguez Here’s the complete step-by-step setup fully illustrated manuals and easy to follow video instructions present in the guide you will be able to create renewable energy at home. Go here ==> earth4energy-new2.blogspot.com/
I have an understanding of electrical installations because i am an electrical technician but had little or not so sure idea of solar system installation.This video became a hundred percent tutorial for me even without putting the lesson into practice.
I am busy investing in acquiring a solar system business and find your videos very informative and easy to understand. Thank you and I will be following all your solar related tutorials.
I'm not sure but ,if anyone else wants to learn about make your own solar power light try Magonsi Solar System Expert (should be on google have a look ) ? Ive heard some pretty good things about it and my mate got great results with it.
There are many components to average cost of solar energy for home . One place I found which successfully combines these is the Ewans energy roadmap (google it if you're interested) without a doubt the most helpful plan i've heard of. Check out the incredible info .
I am so glad your video came up on You Tube. I am a total novice when it comes to solar power, and you answered the solar off grid/on grid question so that even I could understand it. Thank you for taking the time to make this video!
Having both a physics and electrical engineering background, I appreciate that you have covered the essential basics here. You understand the concepts and are giving good advice. I only hope people appreciate the level of understanding you have on this subject.
I know you mentioned the best system for South Africa but what would be the best system in the US? I'm about to sell my house and wanted to invest some of the equity in to my new home. Oh and thank you this is the most informative video I have seen so far.
You can tell clearly that what you do is done with pure Passion. I too have a great passion for this and I'm gratefull that you are willing to share this wisdom with us. Thank you!
I love your post, along with EEVblog. You guys teach me stuff I never thought of. It keeps my mind active and saved me money on equipment that was not well built. I always remind people electrical engineering is still taught as theroy for a reason, so treat it with respect.
You talked about grid invertor and normal invetor,you said you can get energy from grid invertor and to the normal invertor please elaborate more on that point.
This is all from China; just 8 - 100 watt panels (800 dollars), on a 160 dollar charge controller, and 160 dollar pure sine wave inverter off grid. Very affordable ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-E2NfsTGEWro.html The batteries are ultimately the biggest expense ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GO_d9Ek5nXg.html
Great video. My name is Ruddy, i am originally from the DR Congo but i have been living in SA for the past 5 years. i was actually thinking about bringing a solar system back to my country by opening a company that will instal efficient solar panels. your video sir really helped in knowing much more about the entire system.
15:58 actually in USA, most major cities who have a government run monopoly on the power system, they won't give you money, they basically buy (in credits) your extra power at like 1/3 the cost they sell it to you. edit: on top of that, most charge you a FEE if you are off the grid... kinda bs yeah? :D
Please don't spread lies like this. Power companies are public utilities, but they are NOT run by the government. And here in Virginia, Dominion Power pays us $0.15 per Kwh.. which is more than it costs to buy it (they sell it at $0.11 atm). So yeah, stfu if you can't post the truth.
Actually, in many large cities it is in fact a monopoly granted by the state or local government. This means you always know who to call if you see a power line down, and there aren't dangerous high voltage lines from multiple power companies criss-crossing an area. States in the US vary widely in the level of regulations imposed on power utilities. My current state is one of 4 that has flat out banned 3rd party solar sales. Christoper was telling the truth that in some places they "buy back" the power at 1/3 of what they sell it for, and charge you an additional monthly fee. Other places have much better regulations. I've lived in 10 states now, and aside from the fact that Congress mandates that they buy excess power back from you, there is not uniform set of regulations as to how much they must pay for it, or what other fees they can impose. Many state legislatures are very "business friendly", especially when that business is the local power company, from whom they extract a fair amount of their sales tax revenue. From a financial standpoint, the benefits of home solar/wind production can vary widely. From an ecological standpoint, I would absolutely go for it, providing you live in a productive area.
ladykay8 yup, some places good, some places bad. I have lived in a place that pays you back $$$ 1 for 1. Other places, like currently i get screwed. Best places, best rates, best buy backs have always come from private companies, like CPL in south texas.
Hi Mr.Lorton, I just began to look at this first video. My Girlfriend and I 'd like to buy a small house in the mountains. I'm doing the conception of the Solar system. As an electronics engineer, I don't have that much experience in solar energy. Could you please advise which type of panel you would recommend ? But I think you'll go in details into that in the next videos ? Anyway : thanks of this great video. That's better to read any technical paper. Younes.
I just found this series of videos and have to say that it's a wealth of knowledge. I have been trying to find info on how to configure my on-grid house here in western Canada and have to say this is definitely a video series I will follow closely. Thank you.
PV and other forms of renewables have been on my agenda for sometime, for my home, and for my workshop. I live in mid-France, where we have regular power outages due to storms (that in itself is something I have to research as the hail storms break the tiles on the roof!), but I have to say, this is the most useful and detailed video I have seen. I look forward to viewing the others. Thank you.
Hello sir, I am building, or will be soon, a off grid home, out of shipping container's, here in the states. Your video explained off grid very well but, I have a question; should I wire my home 12v, 24v or all 120v? Maybe lights only 12v/24v and rest 120v? I am a little lost on this because I don't want to have to come back in later and change or add. I will not have grid but may in the future, not that I would want it but, some states are getting stiff on off gridder's. Thanks
i had to hit pause, and comment.. This are the BESTS videos on youtube.. unlike other solarPanelvideos, Martin goes straight to point. very informative, great job
Makes me happy that I made the right choice. I had a 3.6kw system installed here in the UK. I have 16 panels each with their own micro-inverter. It works great, in summer I pay so little for my electricity that what I earn from selling it back to the grid more than covers the cost, and in winter it reduces how much I pay by almost half Mark
lol, well i don't have 200k to spend on $30.00 a per month eletricity bill !!!!! maybe your friends will outfit my place for no charge ,( I will make a vid too) thanks for the vid!!!
We pay anywhere from $200-$400 (USD equiv) a month in Japan and we don't use much electricity at all. Those who live in the US where power is very cheap won't appreciate solar. In fact many are spoiled by cheap power and waste much of it. They would not like the compromises needed for solar. The town has been building solar farms all over the place so I'm not sure if I need to, although the ability to go off the grid if necessary, is very tempting.
Jim Davis He is just trolling anyway, nobody needs a 200k system, and with a less than 20k system my power bill would be 0 per month. In fact I priced one last night with Twelve Edison 1000 amp hours batteries, 6x275 watt solar panels, and it had everything I need to give me a usable 9,675 KWH per day, and it was only 14k, of course that didn't include wiring, fuse box and such, but even with a small propane gen set I am still looking at less than 20k. Of course I am building a house that's partially underground and has a green house, etc, so it's very efficient, any heating will come from wood or gas. It's basically a modified hybrid earth ship.
Jim Davis I admit I am no expert in power, but yes it was supposed to be 9.675 KWH a day, of course given a sunny day could use more, that is just how far I can safely drain my bank down too, which is 20 percent of total capacity. Actually it's 9.600 KWH, but given a good sunny day my six 275 watt panels can produce 1.650 KWH of power an hour, which means about 1.5 KWH per peak sun hour into my battery bank. So in just over 6 peak hours bank will be fully charged back up, but in the summer time here we get about 12 hours of Sun, so can use much more than that if used while suns out, because even off peak sun hours, cells still produce power. My point though is, it's plenty enough power since I am not using it to heat and cool with, or even cook, unless you count warming food up in the microwave cooking. People going off grid should do it right, and become self sufficient, and that includes a house that is very efficient, and appliances that use less power, and less power draining things than most people are used too.
Really good summary. I definitely learned several critical points. One recommendation that came to mind is that for any system which incorporates a battery component. the systems engineering approach is to first complete the survey of your electrical usage, as you note. You will also need to calculate what percentage of the time you can meet those electrical needs by utilizing the panels vs. those you will draw from the battery bank. The main point I wanted to note is that for lead-acid batteries, you will need sufficient amp-hours of capacity in your batteries to meet your overnight needs without reducing the energy capacity of the batteries below 50%, as any drawdown below this will lead to earlier failure of the batteries. Once you have your batteries sized, you then know your required solar panel output, as it should be sufficient to fully recharge your batteries from 50 to 100% in four or five hours, which is a typical span of time you will be receiving power from your panels each day. The controller and inverter are then sized accordingly. Finally I will note that is fairly straightforward for an off-grid system. I am now designing my own system with a grid tie-in, and clearly that will require significantly more design time. Your vid was a big help in understanding the items I need to learn more about. I will definitely be looking at your subsequent vids. Thanks.
Thank you so much for this video. I live in India and the Solar Market here is similar to what you have in South Africa, maybe even worse. This video helped me get an idea of what I need and what I need to do :) I will be following the rest of this series. Thank you once again!
I am so happy to have found your videos. I hope to set up a system to power my EV and house. Your videos are very helpful. I converted my car to all electric drive. I hope my videos will be helpful to you. Thanks again
The best part about this video tutorial is that it is very informative and detailed. Since I didn’t have much information about how to tap solar power, I am glad I came across your video and understood the difference between on grid and off grid as well.
I look forward to it Martin. Nothing beats hands on practical experience to see the results. I did mount mine on ground built frames and a sun tracker stepper motors and light sensitive resistors. Makes maintenance and cleaning easy.
This is a great initiative! It's really practical to explain the difference between on grid or off grid solutions The various multimeters in the background show that you most likely have a strong affinity with electricity/electronics!
I'm mechanical engineer, from Serbia (Europe) and not THAT in electricity, but this video explain a lot... I was considering about making my own system... All I have to do is to calculate how much it gonna cost, and when it's gonna pay off. Thanks for a great video.... :)
I was confused about a lot of what you explained BUT now I see it more clearly. If only the other how to vids i'v watched where as clear and to the point
Great video, I hope you are enjoying the new system! I might add that the micro inverters also have the advantage of more efficiency because they convert the panel voltage to mains voltage at the panel. This allows the power to be transferred by smaller wire with less loss(higher voltage lower amperage).
MR LORTON be blessed i find your lectures quite excellent and very informative.Interestingly i want to learn more of the installations .I am from ZIMBABWE ,this has been and remains a rewarding info.
Hi Mr. MJLorton. I have been looking for such information. Today I found it by accident in your you tube program a clear explanation .A fantastic video. I will follow up with the rest of the articles. Regards, S.Arul.........
Hi Lyall, a rough calculation on the average yield per day over a year works out to be about 18 kWh for your array. In summer I imagine you'll produce 20-25 kWh or more per day. Hope that helps. If you need any more info consider posting on my forum. Cheers, Martin.
This is very interesting topics. I just wish everyone does take the time to learn this basic knowledge of the ways to live with PV. I live in a small town and my neighbor's think what I have is a eye sore. 2 yrs ago, had the power go out during the night and I came home to see my neighbor's in the street. So I pushed my garage door opener and it open and light's where on. My wife, she was watching TV. So I guess my neighbor's eye' got wide open for a moment, Thanks for vid.
Fantastic tutorial - building my "in town, off grid" home next summer, and overwhelmed with information and options. Very helpful - thank you sir! Now... on to your other videos.
I just watch the first video of your series and it was very good, I'll watch the others. Thanks for your effort on doing this!!! Greetings from Mexico City, this will help me a lot with my project for saving a lot on my bill.
since November 2013, I have been enjoying my personal application of this lecture on the off grid. although mine is semi off grid, because I end up charging my batteries via the grid with an installed battery charger. Now i run my entire home on 12 VOLT DC
I am glad i found your channel, am located in Southeast Asia and half the year is cloudy and half the year is sunny and electricity seems stiff and awfully ridiculous to be paying for and got me thinking to look for alternatives and am still in the research process. I am glad i stated with your channel it did explain everything i need to know, so thank you so much. I did subscribe and like the videos you posted. Again thank you.
Great video, I recently bought some PV's and a controller just to play around with. I wasn't aware of all the various options you have put forward. You've got me thinking now. Thanks and keep up the great work.
Wow! Awesome video! So informative and educational!! I am just beginning to gradually switch to solar power, and this video was worth a 6 week college course! Thank you!
Very informative. I see alot comments on how they cant afford these systems and if you can read instructions, have a basic knowledge of electricity and have some mechanical abilities you can save a ton of money on installation of these systems.
Yes, you do a great job ! I've been studying this heavily and your videos really help. BTW, I'm quite familiar with the SA electrical grid as I've been to Cape Town numerous times and have family that suffers outages.
Great video. Watching this was like taking a class on solar power. There is a lot of really great information explained here. This video explained everything I have had questions about and how the equipment works together. Thank you for taking the time to make this video.
I know this old site, but I wanted to add 2 items to consider before you think about implementing solutions 1) You cover power-factor - very important - you need to generate VA but generally only measure Watts. This this becomes more important with low loading where most of the electrical load is fridges, freezers, and general transformers plugged into the wall, to such an extent that you might be measuring 50Watts, but requiring about 200VA. 2) National requirements on "Islands". An electrical island is when a source of electricity can supply the grid without the grid supplier control which could potentially kill a grid electrician while they fixing grid problems. In the UK this is very strictly applied to such an extent you cannot have an instant switch over device, but it must be a systems the fully isolates the grid supply before the local battery supply turns on. Ie you cannot not have automated and instant electricity uptime. There will be a delay before the the house kicks in, and you require a national-grid certified switching device.
Thanks for the feedback. The general rule is that the higher voltage inverters are more efficient. Also means less current need to be carried by wires as the voltage is higher.
Im in Botswana and have graduated in Physics from UB. Wow....this is a very detailed video. I want to start with assembling my own solar panels so I need to know if all the materials e.g. solar cells, including all the equipment I have seen in your video, are available in SA or in Bots. Thank you
No, we need to disconnect from the grid to prevent feedback because net metering is not widely available here yet. Grid tied systems also need to disconnect automatically when there's a general power failure to ensure power worker safety on the grid.
Good point about manufacturing process, it would be good to see what the full impact is on the environment so we can make informed choices when going this route. It certainly is not "free" energy though.... Cheers, Martin.
Very useful info !...I will be following your tutes from now on. I have a PV system installed here in east coast OZ and with the new Li battery technologiy racing ahead, would like to one day become free from the grid, I am developing a VAWT with F&P alternator which will supplement the solar input. You are very inspiring and helping me with electronic theory....thankyou
I live is the " States" as you say. actually in the middle ( Iowa ) we all have 240v ac supplied to our home. the us has 240vac @ 60hz. Europe has 220vac @ 50hz. Great video and very informative.
Thank you for the time you took to do this. You are very detailed and easy to understand. Only on part 2 of these but enjoying it so far. Thank you and keep up the great work!
Thanks for the feedback...and yes, I certainly do enjoy the system from both a technical and financial point of view At this point we are only consuming about 25% of our normal consumption from the grid.
Thanks for your inpout, I whant to now if i can power 2 x 5KW inverters direct from the grit with a 240/24V ac to dc and keep in mind no Pannels or Batterys.House normal use 2 Kw but when my wood woking whop start it when up to 7-8 kw with the equipment running. Question will i save money throu the inverters or will it be the same as from the grit but pannels and batterys will be aad,
No worries, I look forward to seeing your posts. Thanks for sharing what's involved in your installation. I hope the Panama trip is a good one. Cheers, Martin.
Your explanation is crystal clear which mean you have good knowledge about what your talking, thanks for sharing this I have subscribed to your channel and looking forward for more of such vid's.
Hi Tony...it's a good question...but there are many household appliances that need a fair amount of power which would not be practical at 12v DC with high current. However, changing lighting to 12 volt is certainly a consideration. I'll try and remember to cover a bit of this in the next video in this series. Cheers, Martin.
for a complete installation guide... www.amazon.com/Installing-Solar-Like-Pro-detail/dp/152397236X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456936141&sr=8-1&keywords=installing+solar+like+a+pro
amazing video!! the most detailed and scientific video i have seen. very helpful. can't thank you enough. deeply appreciate your commitment to this technology.
Hi Eddie, thanks for your feedback. The rules will differ from country to country and in same cases you need to complete loads of paperwork and have safety checks done...but your energy company should be able to tell you what is required. Cheers, Martin.
