OFF‐GRID Solar system

Off-Grid solar system

Off-Grid solar system has 5
components as follows:
• Solar panel - Solar panel is used to
collect the sunlight energy and to
convert it into electricity
• Battery - Battery saves the electrical
energy to be used by the electrical
appliances or else
• Charge controller (regulator) -
Charge controller is used to protect
the battery against over charging,
so the life time of the battery will be
longer
• Load - Load could be electrical
appliances or others such as
lighting, fridge, air-conditioning etc.
• Inverter – Inverter is used to convert
the DC electricity from the battery
into AC electricity.
We have to be careful in selecting a solar panel
A solar panel that will be used for a A solar panel that will be used for a
12 volts system will have a voltage 24 volts system will have a voltage
output of 17 – 18 volts output of 35 – 36 volts
 Sizing off-grid solar system

How many solar panels do I need and what size should I buy?
The first step is to work out your load requirements. In our
example there are two types of load
- DC appliances and
- AC Appliances.

 6 x 11W 12v DC Lights - used for 4 hours per day

 1 x 150W 240V AC Television. Example is based on Philips
 32PF7321 32" Widescreen LCD TV - used for 6 hours per day
 Sizing off-grid solar system
Calculate both the DC and AC Loads
Determine the DC Load
- Lighting - 6 x 11W DC Lights - used for 4 hrs per day = 264Wh
per day
Total DC Load in Watt Hours = 264Wh per day
Determine the AC Load
- Television - 1 x 80W - used 6 hrs per day = 480Wh per day
Total AC Load = 480 Wh per day

Total Load = DC Load + AC Load = 744 Wh per day.

There will be energy losses to account for so add 20% to the
load as this will account for the losses and emergency power
use outside of the specified times.
Total Load + 20% Energy Losses = 892.8Wh per day.
 Sizing solar panel
Due to UK weather conditions and for this example, we shall use 1.5hrs of
Peak Sunshine (Peak Sun Hour = PSH)
Please note:
You do need to know the weather conditions for your area as this will affect
the size of the panel or array.

Required solar panel input = (892.8 Wh / 1.5h) = 595.2W.

You will need solar panels that will generate 595.2 watts per hour.
Select the solar panels to provide a minimum of 595.2 or 600W.
Always round to the nearest 10.
Any combination of solar panels can be used to provide the required 600W
 3 x 200W solar panels.
 Sizing solar panel
Let us assume:
Kyocera solar panel KS200GT specifications are as follows:
• Power max = 200 watts
• Current max (at power max) = 7.61 amperes
• Short circuit current = 8.21 amperes
 Each solar panel will provide an output of 200W [Pmax] at 7.61 Amps
[Current at Pmax]
As the output of solar panels vary with temperature we do need to know
what the rated short circuit current of the chosen panels.
Rated Short Circuit Current of solar panel
3 x 200W solar panels arranged in parallel
Each solar panel has a rated short circuit current of 8.21 Amps
 Sizing the deep cycle battery
The simplest way to determine the total battery amp hours
required is to determine the total watt-hours required by all loads
and then divide by the DC system voltage. This will result in the
amount of amp hours needed to operate all loads for a given
period.
The battery size is determined by the DAILY WATT-HOUR
requirements and the desired number of DAYS of storage
capacity required AND the assumption that the battery will never
be discharged less than 20% - (80% remains of its capacity).

• 12 V battery is used
• The Average Daily Load = 892.8Wh per day.
• Add 20% for system losses and safety.
• Thus load = 1071Wh per day.

If no inverter is used then the {Average Daily Load (1071Wh) /

System Voltage (12V)} = 89.2Ah per day
 Sizing the deep cycle battery
Now take:
For example we choose to use 100 Ah batteries (20 hours)

• The Average Ah per day (89.2Ah) x Days of Battery Storage

(Eg 3 days in case there is no sunlight everyday) / Battery
Discharge Limit (0.8) / Battery Ah Capacity of your choice =
{(89.2 x 3/(0.8 x 100)} = Number of batteries in parallel
connection = 4 nos of battery (3.345)

• If we are using 24 VDC system  DC System voltage /

battery voltage = Number of batteries in series = 24/12 = 2X

• For this 24 VDC system  Total Number of batteries

required = batteries in series X batteries in parallel
 12 Volts

24V

24V

If we are using 24 V battery 
 we need 2 nos in parallel

If we are using 12 V battery 
 we need 4 nos in parallel

If we are using 12 V battery 
we need 4 nos in series & parallel
https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/solar‐
calculator.html
POWER REQUIRED PER-DAY
Electricity consumption per-hour = 37.2 watts
In 24 hours, the electricity consumption = 24 x 37.2 = 892.80 watts-hour
Add 2% of losses (battery etc) = 892.80 x 1.02 = 910.656 watts.hour
12 volts system voltage
Amp.hour/day = 910.656 : 12 = 75.888 amp.hour

BATTERY:
12 volts system voltage
Battery back-up = 3 days
With 50 % of depth discharge  75.888 x 3 : 0.5 =455.328 AH
If we are using battery with 100AH capacity
Battery quantity = 455.328/100 = 4.55 nos  Arrange 5 numbers in parallel

SOLAR PANEL
PSH = 1.5 hours
Solar panel used = 200 Watts
Capacity of solar panel/day = 1.5 x 200 : 1.55 = 193.55 watts
12 volts system voltage
Safety multiplier = 1.55
Nominal solar panel voltage = 16 volts
One solar panel amp = 193.55 : 16 = 12.1 amp
Amp.hour/day = 75.888 amp.hour
Total of solar panel = 75.888 : 12.1 = 6.272  Arranged 7 numbers of solar panel in parallel
200W
12V
Example
12V system
200W
12V

200W
12V

Charge Battery
Controller

200W 100AH
12V 12V

100AH
200W
12V
12V

100AH
12V
200W
12V
100AH
12V

200W 100AH
12V 12V

Solar Panel
https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/solar‐
calculator.html
POWER REQUIRED PER-DAY
Electricity consumption per-hour = 37.2 watts
In 24 hours, the electricity consumption = 24 x 37.2 = 892.80 watts-hour
Add 2% of losses (battery etc) = 892.80 x 1.02 = 910.656 watts.hour
24 volts system voltage
Amp.hour/day = 910.656 : 24 = 37.944 amp.hour

BATTERY:
24 volts system voltage
Battery back-up = 3 days
With 50 % of depth discharge  37.944 x 3 : 0.5 = 227.664 : 0.5 = 227.664 AH
If we are using battery with 100AH capacity
Battery quantity = 227.664/100 = 2.28 nos  Arrange 3 number in parallel
(24 V batteries are 2 numbers of 12 V batteries arranged in series)  Total = 6 numbers of
batteries !

SOLAR PANEL
PSH = 1.5 hours
Solar panel used = 200 Watts
Capacity of solar panel/day = 1.5 x 200 : 1.55 = 193.55 watts
24 volts system voltage
Safety multiplier = 1.55
Nominal solar panel voltage = 32 volts
One solar panel amp = 193.55 : 32 = 6.05 amp
Amp.hour/day = 37.944 amp.hour
Total of solar panel = 37.944 : 6.05 = 6.27  Arranged 2 numbers of solar panel in series
3 rows in parallel (for safety 4 rows)
 Example
24V system

200W 200W
12V 12V

Charge
Controller

200W 200W
12V 12V

Battery

200W 200W 100AH 100AH

12V 12V 12V 12V

100AH 100AH
12V 12V

200W 200W
12V 12V 100AH 100AH
12V 12V

Solar Panel
 Sizing PWM charge controller/solar regulator
The purpose of the solar regulator or charge controller is to regulate the current from Solar
panels to prevent batteries from overcharging. A solar regulator senses when the batteries
are fully charged and stops the current flowing to the battery and also prevents the battery
from feeding back into the solar panel at night when it is dark.
Most solar regulators include a Low Voltage Disconnect feature, that senses the battery
voltage and if the battery voltage drops below a a pre-determined level (cut-off voltage) the
solar regulator will switch off the supply. Solar regulators are rated by the amount of current
they can receive form the solar panels.
Important note:
The solar regulator should be capable of handling the total short circuit current of solar
panel.
From the example shown above we have 3 x 200W solar panels arranged in parallel (voltage
not increase but current increase) and the solar regulator must be able to handle the
increased rating of the short circuit current.
Thus, the short circuit current = 8.21 [A] x 1.25 [increased rating/safety factor] = 10.26 Amps
 we can choose a PWM charge controller with 15 amps capacity

NOTE:
Always increase the solar regulator and add an additional 25% capacity to allow for growth
and the fact that the solar panels may exceed their rated output.

NOTE:
Always allow for future growth so size the regulator accordingly.
 Sizing MPPT charge controller/solar regulator
For example, we could have a 3,000 watt solar module array that operates at
91.5 volts DC and your battery bank is 48 volts DC.
MPPT charge controller are rated by the output amperage that they can
handle  not the input current from the solar module array.

To determine the output current that the charge controller will have to handle
we use the very basic formula for power in Watts: Power = Volts x Amps
Here we know the power is 3,000 Watts, the battery bank is 48 volts, so:
3,000 Watts = 48 volts x Amps  which gives us:
Amps = 3,000 Watts/ 48 volts
Amps = 62.5A

We still want to adjust this value by 25% to take into account any special
conditions that might cause the solar module array to produce more power
than it is normally rated for (e.g. due to sunlight's reflection off of snow, water,
extraordinarily bright conditions, etc).
So, 62.5A increased by 25% is 78.13A.

In this case we'd probably choose a 80 Amp MPPT Charge Controller

Example

12V 12V 12V

12V

12V 12V 12V 12V

12V 12V 12V 12V

12V 12V 12V 12V

 Another benefit of MPPT charge controller
Because MPPT charge controllers can handle a higher input voltage from
the solar module array than the battery bank's voltage, you can also use
these charge controllers with solar modules that have voltages that don't
match your typical system voltage (i.e. 12, 24 or 48V).
For instance, you could have a solar module that has a nominal voltage of
30.5 volts and charge controller and battery bank that's 48 volts efficiently
with an MPPT charge controller.
Keep in mind that MPPT charge controllers have a maximum system
voltage limit that they can handle from the solar module array.
It's important that you make sure there is no condition that the solar
module array voltage will go above this limit or you could potentially harm
the controller.
You want to make sure that the open circuit voltage of the solar module
array does not go above this value.
You also want to give yourself a little bit of a margin for safety to take in
account for the potential that an array's voltage will actually increase the
colder it gets.
If you give yourself a 25% margin of error you will be alright.
 Another benefit of MPPT charge controller
Here's an example:
We'll use twelve Sun Module Pro Series 30.5 volt 250 Watt solar modules
with four parallel strings of three in series for a nominal voltage of 91.5 volts
and a 48 volt battery bank.
If we look at the solar module's specification page we see that each module
has an open circuit voltage of 37.6V.
That means the array has three times that because there are 3 modules in
series.
So the array open circuit voltage is 37.6V x 3 = 112.8V.
We'll increase this by a safety factor of 25% and we get 141.75V.
We can take a maximum of 150 volts MPPT charge controller
 Sizing the inverter
Inverters should always be chosen that would be more than
capable of supplying the maximum anticipated AC load. This is
always taken to be the combined maximum load for all AC
appliances running at the same time.
Always allow for loads that have a surge rating, such as motors
and fluorescent lights etc. It is advisable to use pure sine wave
inverters where possible.

Generating AC from a DC supply source requires an inverter

Converting DC to AC results in a loss of efficiency for the
inverter and energy losses are assumed to be 20%.

We therefore achieve an inverter efficiency of 80%.

Thus 892.8Wh / 0.80 equates to 1,071.36 Wh per day
We can choose a 1200 Wh inverter !