Whether you are looking to escape annoying and frequent power cuts or are just searching for a way to bring down your electricity bill, solar combos are the perfect solution.They are a smart financial investment and can provide you with a reliable power supply when you most need it. Another great advantage of solar combos is that they are good for the environment, making them the energy solution of the future.
If you want one of those, you have come to the right place. In this buying guide, we explain comprehensively how you can buy the right solar combo for your home.
Power Requirement
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Calculating Your Power Requirement
Power requirement is the sum of the power that you need to run all the equipment or appliances during a power outage. First, you must determine what appliances you need when there is no power, i.e., you must choose from among your refrigerators, PC, CFLs, fans, TV, tube lights, etc.
Then, follow these steps to determine your power requirement.
- Find the sum of loads in Watts.
- Multiply the load sum by 1.67, which gives you the UPS VA rating.
- Pick a battery voltage that is compatible with the UPS.
- To get panel size in Watts, divide the daily energy requirements by 3.
Here is an example to make the calculations clearer.
| Equipment | Power rating in watts | Number | Load | Duty cycle in hours | Daily energy consumption in watt hours |
| TV | 100 | 1 | 100 | 2 | 200 |
| LED | 10 | 3 | 30 | 2 | 60 |
| FAN | 60 | 4 | 240 | 2 | 480 |
| TUBELIGHTS | 40 | 3 | 120 | 2 | 240 |
| TOTAL LOAD | 490 | 980 |
From this, you can make various calculations.
First, let us look at the UPS rating.
UPS VA rating = Total load 490 x 1.67 = 818.3 VA.
So, you can conclude that an 850 VA UPS will be ideal for this situation.
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Size of The Battery
With an 850 VA solar UPS, you can support 12 V of battery voltage and a current rating of 30 amperes.
Therefore, Battery AH= (1.9X Total daily Watt-Hours) divided by (Number of batteriesX12) = (940*1.9)/12*1 = 155 AH.
This means you need to select size of solar battery of 150 AH.
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Size of The Panel
Size of the panel can be found out by dividing the amount of energy you use daily taken in Watt-Hours by 3.
In our example, the panel size will be 326.7 W, i.e., 980/3.
As the UPS can support a 12V system, you require 12V panels with a capacity of 150 or 100 Wp.
For that, you need to install 3 panels of 100Wp in parallel or 2 panels of 150Wp in parallel.
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Selecting The Right Inverter Type
You need to also choose the inverter type that suits your needs best because they are responsible for transforming the DC produced by the solar panels into usable AC. There are mainly two types of inverters: string inverters and MLPEs or module-level power electronics. If you are in a place with optimal sunlight, you can go for string inverters. They are the most cost-effective option. However, if you want higher efficiency and are ready to pay the premium cost, you can opt for MLPEs.
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Picking The Right Installer
Choosing the right company to install your solar combo is also quite crucial. Before selecting one, you need to be aware of their track record, reputation, certifications, and whether they have the required licenses or not.
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Miscellaneous Factors
When it comes to solar panel efficiency, the industry average is 16-18%. Also, the industry average for warranty is 10-25 years. Make sure that your solar combo compares well to the industry averages for these two parameters. Apart from this, you also need to be aware of how durable it is, how reputed the manufacturer is, and also how long the product will last.
Conclusion
Now that you are well-versed in what the selection criteria are for purchasing the optimal solar combo, you can confidently go ahead and pick one from our products. With Genus, you can rest assured that you are getting the maximum value for your money through a long-lasting and energy-efficient product.