I'm looking at solar panels and I have NO IDEA what this stuff means.They come in catagories of Watts. What does that refer to? If a solar pannel is in the 200-watt catagory, what does that really mean? Will it produce 200 watts an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year?? How many watts of energy does the average house use up in one month? I really wish they would just tell me on the website!! :(0 points!!!!!!!! :D
Watts is a measurement of power which is a combination of Voltage x Amps Example: a 200 Watt panel can produce 6.6 amps at 2 Volts. (200 = 2 x 6.6) If you bought a 24 volt system the same 200 Watts would give you half the amount of amps since the power (watts) is the same. When determining your needs for a solar system there are many factors that have to be taken into account. The amount of power you use will depend on what appliances you have in the house, how much you use them, and how careful you are with vampire loads (A TV or stereo will use some power even when turned off unless you unplug them). The amount of panels you need will also depend on your battery system, amount of sunlight that you have in a day and how many days of reserve power you think you will need based on the weather in your area. If you wanted to completely run your house on solar energy you are looking at an investment of $5,000 - $20,000 or even more. There sometimes are tax incentive depending on where you live that will reduce your overall cost. Some examples of power usage: Toaster : 800-500W Microwave : 600-500W Dishwasher : 200-500W Washing Machine : 500W Vacuum Cleaner : 200-700W Iron : 000W Clothes dryer : 4000W Ceiling Fan : 0-50W Table Fan : 0-25W Electric Blanket : 200W Hair Blow dryer : 000W Electric Shaver : 5W Laptop Computer : 20-50W Desktop Computer : 80-50W TV (9 colour) : 70W Clock radio : W Fridge / Freezer : 500W 25 colour TV : 50W Electric Kettle : 2000W
Ok, seeing your icon is a female, I'll take a chance and offer a possible conversion factor. In diets, you count calories. When you exercise, you burn calories per minute or hour. In one exercise session you burn a total number of calories. And remember, 000 calories = kilo-calorie = food calorie. Same with solar panels and electrical power (same stuff, different units). Solar panels come in many watts sizes, like different foods and portions have different calories produced. When these panels are exposed to sunlight, they will generate this amount of watts for as long as you expose them (the units are kilo-Watt-hours), basically, like burning calories on a bike for an hour burns a total of x calories for that hour. If you have a 2-hour day, then a 00 watt panel will generate a possible total of 2 hours x 00 watts = 200 watt-hours = .2 kilowatt-hours. Just like calories burned during regular exercise varies over the year and your mood, the solar panels will generate varying level of power (watts) depending on the weather. And just like you burn calories at different rates by age and lifestyle, an average house power use is dependent on geographic location, size of house, number of occupants, etc. No real typical profile. I would recommend you get some personalized help in sorting out your power needs, A contractor/installer can give you a quote/estimate or general class of use. A second or third quote would keep you first estimate honest. Good luck!
This is not a precise analogy, but think of it this way: Volts is the pressure of the water in a pipe. Amps is the gallons per minute that come out. Watts is how much water you have after a certain length of time the pipe is open. a 200 watt solar panel under ideal conditions ( bright daylight between , say 0 am and 2 pm, held exactly flat to the sun ) will produce enough energy to run 2 00 watt light bulbs. You hardly ever have perfect bright sunlight; the length of the day varies during the year, and the angle of the panel to the sun changes from hour to hour; all this leads to a typical home in the US /Europe having only about 4 hours a day of maximum solar available. So, your 200 watt panel would give you 800 watts a day, enough to run one 00 watt light bulb for 8 hours If you are trying to run a house off solar, there are unfortunately other things needed between the panels and the lights / appliances; inverters, batteries, controllers sand each one eats up a little energy so you may get only 75 useful watts. See why more homes don't have panels? The other poster who said $30-50,000 to completely run a home on panels is about right.
