Solar Nuts and Bolts Continued

2. Inverters

The brains of the system As I mentioned above, the feed you get from the rooftop panels isn’t quite ready to power your home Panels produce DC (direct current) but our homes and the grid use AC (alternating current) Your inverter "inverts" the solar DC into the AC that we need to run our homes, or sell back to the grid

There are 2 different styles of inverter… One is called a string inverter, the other is called a micro-inverter. The simple explanation as to their differences is: String inverters have all the roof-top panels feeding together into one central inverter. Whereas micro-inverters are located behind each panel, and do the inverting (DC to AC) immediately at the panel String systems are better for a simple roof with no shading Micro-inverters are better suited for roofs with lots of shading and tricky angles/directions of the roof-faces

Again, the top tier inverters are all fairly similar in quality, however the thing to keep an eye out for are the warranties and what option will best suit your roof. Some manufactures will offer 5-years plus 5-years coverage… The first 5-years includes parts and labour, but the second 5 only covers parts. Others will offer an option to extend the warranty to 20 years of full coverage for an extra cost

Incorrect placement can make a huge impact to the life-span of this essential unit In most cases a string inverter will go near your switchboard One important thing to keep in mind is the amount of direct sunlight it may get there Inverters don’t like baking in the sun day after day, this is a sure-fire way to kill them prematurely! The ideal location is the south or southeast wall of your home If this isn’t possible, inside the garage is a decent alternative, or a simple shade structure to keep the direct light and heat off the inverter. Micro-inverters are a little easier, as they sit safely underneath the panels on the roof.

3 Racking and Railing

These are the components that mount the panels to your roof The CEC (Clean Energy Council) sets standards to ensure all the materials used are high quality.

There are two steps to installing these components on your roof:

1) The footings attach to the substructure of the roof (battens/ purlins) and are the anchor points for the entire system.

2) Rails fix to the footings to support and provide secure anchor points for the solar panels

Mounting the roof-top components in this way ensures nothing short of a foundation-cracking earthquake or roofrelocating cyclone will affect your solar system.

4 Cabling and Conduit

Connecting your roof-top panels to the inverter and switchboard will be a cable run In most cases, this runs through the roof cavity, and then through the eve down into the inverter

This is a great example of why it’s better to spend a few extra bucks to ensure you get installers who have the skills and care to leave you with a watertight and fireproof install

All installers accredited with the CEC will provide a minimum 5-year workmanship warranty, so you need not fret about leaks. The top-tier companies will put their warranties where their mouths are and can offer up to 20 years on the workmanship warranty

5 Batteries

The way these work is straightforward: When the sun shines on your panels, the solar system is supplying the power to your home… So any appliances you run will be powered for free directly off your roof. Now, if no appliances are running, what happens to your solar electricity? It gets fed back to the street- or "grid" - along the same wires you ’ re currently buying power through You will get paid a small amount for the excess that gets fed back into the grid (in the industry we call it "feed-in")

So - where does the battery fit in? Instead of selling excess electricity back to the grid, your battery will store it, ready to power your home after the sun goes down As the price of electricity continues to climb at an extreme rate, batteries are filling in the missing gap for most Aussies who have solar already Solar panels dont work in the moon-light just yet!

-GIOTRGET IT ON THE ROOF

Tin: You can see the screw lines from the ground These fix your roof to the purlins underneath All we do here is remove the necessary screws to mount the rails, then replace the old screw with a larger one to ensure there is no water ingress, and that it gets a good bite in the purlin

Tiles: The same substructure exists on a tile roof All we do here is lift the tile to access the purlin underneath, so we can bolt on the footings These protrude down towards the bottom of the tile, then loop back around This lifts the tile a little, and to stop any leaks, we simply trim a small grove into the underside of the tile to allow it to sit flush.

Shading: This is something you will have a far better idea of than anyone advising you If you have trees that shade your roof, get out there during different times of the day and take some notes or pictures At the end of the day, the more shading you have covering panels, the less your system will produce IT’S NOT A DEAL BREAKER! There are plenty of great options to combat shading Unless you live under a literal rock, its always worth looking at

Keeping The Future In Mind

If you get a good run with solar (going with a great company will make sure your experience is close to this, if not exactly this) you’ll never need a call out, you won’t have a worry, you might even forget about it until those teeny tiny bills come in and put a smile on your face Because of this potential with solar, it’s important to design today’s system with the future in mind

The 30+ year expected life span of solar will see most people living very different lives in their current home So, it makes sense to plan for this right? Cast your mind to the future and make sure you allow for the extra capacity needed to support your battery and/or electric vehicle. My philosophy is do it once and do it right That way, you can focus on adding extra products to help you become ever more self-sufficient instead of having to re-do or upgrade the basic solar components you already spent time and money on