Solar Power Systems
Posted: 2010-03-12
Solar power systems are a great way to reduce your energy costs dramatically, while adding a great deal of value to your property. Find out how they actually work wby reading this article.
5 Top Businesses to Benefit from Solar Power
Posted: 2009-11-03
In the Commercial climate, there are many businesses that stand to save thousands by utilizing solar for some or all of their energy usage needs.
An Inexpensive PV Power Controller
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Photovoltaic Posted:2006-07-13
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We have run our solar panel with a battery we purchased from Wal-Mart and a microcontroller-based power controller
of our own design for five years, and decided it was time to upgrade. The circuitry of our controller was a bit
too much of a load for the application. For more information on the microcontroller based power controller, see
PV System on the Cheap. We looked at a bunch of different power controllers, but the one
that we decided on was the SPC2 available at CirKits Solar Kits.
The controller was more than enough for our 50 watt PV panel. Here is what the kit looked liked when unpacked:
Here is what the new power controller looks like assembled:
Assembly was fairly straightforward. The instructions were good. The board has plated through holes, thick pads,
and a nice solder mask. Don't purchase this if you haven't soldered before. If you have the skills, though, this
is a good option for a small solar power PV system. One nice thing is that the parts are very standard, so if you
need to repair this in the future it will be quite easy to get parts.