PV System Components

Clients who aspire to commit entirely to solar energy will need to think about purchasing and installing some additional components beyond solar panels. Let’s take a look at the various accessories that round out a complete solar power system for your home or business.

Make the Most of Your Solar Power With a Sun Tracker

Since you were a child, you’ve known a basic fact of the universe: the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, moving through the sky over the course of a day. What you may not know is that a solar panel without the capability to move along with the sun can lose up to 75 percent of available energy. That’s where a sun tracker comes in.

Sun trackers enable your solar panels to collect and generate more power throughout the day, requiring little-to-no extra space without adding much to the long-term cost of solar panels.

Go Off the Grid With Solar Batteries

A solar battery, also known as solar storage, is an absolute necessity for anyone hoping to get off the grid. Solar storage can also be an invaluable boon to businesses, as well.

In a solar setup that doesn’t use a storage system, your solar panels gather energy from the sunlight throughout the day. Excess energy is sent back to the power grid (which can mean a permanent dip in your energy prices). Meanwhile, when your home requires a little extra bump in juice, it can pull that needed energy from the grid. It’s known as being grid-tied.

When you take the extra step of installing a solar battery, also known as a solar storage system, the extra energy gathered by your solar panels is funneled into the cell. Once your battery is filled, power begins flowing to the grid. You’ll only have to worry about drawing energy from the power grid when your battery’s storage is depleted.

You Don’t Need to Go Solar to Utilize Solar Storage

Homeowners who haven’t adopted solar panel technology can install solar batteries that soak up energy from the grid to be used in the event of an outage. It’s a clean way to be sure that your lights don’t go out.

Bloomington businesses can take advantage of solar storage solutions to replace environmentally unsound diesel generators, as well.

Manage the Flow of Power With a Controller

When setting up a solar storage system, you’ll need to get a reliable solar power controller. Think of the controller as the manager of your solar panel plus storage setup. As your solar panels collect energy from the sun, the solar power controller manages the voltage and the flow of power between the solar panels and batteries.

The Two Types of Controller

Whether you’re looking for a residential or commercial solar power solution, you’re going to encounter either a PWM solar charge controller or an MPPT solar charge controller. Each has benefits and drawbacks.

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) solar charge controllers provide a direct connection between your battery bank and your solar panel array. These controllers are more cost-effective. However, they require your solar batteries and your solar storage to work in conjunction with one another.

Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) solar charge controllers are more efficient than their predecessors. There’s also more room to customize your battery and solar panel setup. That said, this increased freedom does add more to the overall cost.

Let MPI Solar Solve Your Issues

You don’t need an engineering degree to implement an eloquent solar power solution. It’s only natural to ask yourself, “How much do solar panels cost?” or “How much does a complete solar power system cost?” When you bring your business to MPI Solar, the answer will surprise you.

Put your trust in an experienced team; Bloomington, Indiana’s most accomplished provider of solar power systems. Our knowledgeable technicians have the passion and knowledge to help you find the perfect controller for you.