Monday, November 21, 2011

Low Voltage Lighting vs Solar Lighting

!: Low Voltage Lighting vs Solar Lighting

There is a growing debate over which type of landscape lighting is better:

Solar Lighting or Low Voltage Lighting.

This article highlights some of the pros and cons of both based on my own personal experience.

Low Voltage Lighting

This type of lighting is available in a variety of brightness levels and styles. The light emitted varies from fixture to fixture, but is usually very good. A transformer provides the electricity and can be controlled by an automatic timer. Low voltage lighting is shockless and safe to use around children and pets. It's also cost effective and the hardest thing about the installation is burying the wires.

Some of the benefits of low voltage lighting systems are listed below:

A professionally installed lighting system has been known to increase the value and resale of properties. Showcasing your house at night with low voltage lighting helps potential visitors find your property easier too.

Compared with line voltage, low voltage is easily installed, safe to operate, extremely economical, and casts beautiful light.

As a homeowner, you can enjoy more hours outside entertaining friends and family. Low voltage lighting can even be wired on your deck giving you great ambient light or even direct light for your grill.

Low voltage lighting systems are expandable so they can be adapted as properties are expanded and/or owners' needs change.

Proper lighting offers increased safety and security.

Some of the cons:

Bulbs burn out and need replacement.

Wiring can be damaged and need replacement.

Timers need to be reset with daylight savings ti

Solar Lighting

Solar lights use LEDs instead of traditional bulbs. LEDs last longer than any other light source, sometimes lasting as long as 10 years. This type of lighting requires no wiring and is the most energy-efficient lighting because it uses the sun's energy to recharge batteries. It costs nothing to operate and is easy to install. However, it should not be used to illuminate large areas brightly or for activities such as grilling and socializing.

Some of the benefits of Solar Lighting:

Lasts longer than other light sources. With LEDs there is nothing to break, rupture, shatter, leak, or contaminate.

Unlike typical conventional light sources, LEDs are not subject to

sudden failure or burnout. There is no point in time at which the light source ceases to function; instead, LEDs gradually degrade in performance over time.

Reduced Maintenance Costs - Since LED based light sources last at least 10 times longer than a normal light source, there is no need to replace the light, reducing or even eliminating ongoing maintenance costs and periodic bulb replacement. This is especially nice if you have an area that is difficult to access to change bulbs.

Energy efficiency - You can rest assured knowing that you aren't contributing nearly as much to global warming or the energy crisis when you use Solar products.

There is no mercury in the light source. Eliminating Mercury from your lighting system will enable you to meet new and future increasingly stringent environmental regulations.

Some of the cons:

The solar panels that typical lighting fixtures use need to be small. This means they collect less energy from the sun to recharge the batteries.

Areas that are frequently shaded or get little sun geographically also affect the recharging capabilities of the fixture.

The lighting is typically dim and does not cover much ground. It also tends to look blue even though it says they use "Super Bright White" LEDS.

The dim lighting means you have to use more fixtures, which creates a sort of landing strip look, or if you are using deck light fixtures they end up looking like a bunch of bug zappers, (without the ability to zap the bugs).

No matter how long they say that LEDs last, it has been my experience that the solar panel usually becomes covered in dirt and the batteries don't last nearly as long as they are supposed to. You have to keep that solar panel clean or it won't work, this means more maintenance more often.

Fixtures are usually set to come on at dark and off at light. Not much control there.

Summary

I tend to prefer low voltage lighting for the simple fact that it is better quality light and can be controlled better with timers. LED landscape lights will probably always be dim. Solar lights just don't harvest much energy from the sun, so no matter how efficient their LEDs, they will never be really bright. In comparison to your cheapie solar lights, low voltage is likely to be a huge improvement, and the low-voltage installation process is not really that much harder than it would be for solar fixtures.

I say, low voltage is the way to go until the technology can improve solar panels ability to capture energy and LEDs ability to output more light.


Low Voltage Lighting vs Solar Lighting

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Thursday, November 17, 2011

Best Solar Panels - Basic Info and International Survey Results

!: Best Solar Panels - Basic Info and International Survey Results

If you are planning the purchase of a complete solar panel system or if you are shopping for parts to assemble your own solar panels you want to make sure to purchase the best solar panels for your individual purpose. This article puts up some basic information on solar panels to help you make the right decision.

One thing right at the beginning, there is nothing like "the world's best solar panels for everyone." It makes a big difference whether you want to generate electricity for your home and even feed surplus capacity in the power grid or if you want to charge a car battery now and then. And producing hot water from a solar installation needs actually a complete different technology. In narrower sense those so called "thermal solar collectors" or "solar collectors" are not even proper solar panels. So what's the difference?

Solar panels (photovoltaic panels, photovoltaic modules) convert shortwave radiation, e.g. parts of the sunlight, into electrical power. They consist of interconnected solar cells which are protected by a range of different materials. The surface is transparent and the solar panel is framed, mostly in an aluminum frame.

Solar collectors on the other hand, are a system of liquid filled tubes. Sunlight heats up the tubes and the liquid. A heat exchanger now transfers the heat to the facility water circuit for warm water and heating. Since this article discusses "best solar panels" let's get back to generating electricity out of sunlight and save solar collectors for another article.

Before you purchase solar panels make sure you take a close look at the Solar Panel Specification Sheet. It gives you vital details of the particular solar module and helps you choose the best solar panels for your purpose. You may want to look especially at the following data:

Solar cell itself - what kind of semiconductor material is being used?

-- Monocrystalline silicon cells (c-Si) have an efficiency degree of more than 20%
-- Polycrystalline silicon cells (mc-Si) have an efficiency of 16%
-- Flat film amorphous silicon cells (a-Si) have an efficiency of 5%--7% (best solar panels in sales at
thetime)
-- Microcrystalline silicon cells (µc-Si) in combination with a-Si cells have up to 10%
-- Gallium-Arsenik cells (GaAs), Cadmium-Tellur cells (CdTe) and Chalkopyrite cells (CIS, CIGS) have degrees of efficiency from 10 to over 40% (GaAs). They are not (yet) suitable for most private customers, because either they are very expensive or they are not fully developed, yet.
-- Panels containing organic solar cells may become the best solar panels in the future, as they can be produced at relatively low costs. At this time their efficiency is still low (pigmented Grätzel-cells have max. 10 %, others are lower) and their life expectancy is short (5000 hours). But keep them in mind for portable electric devices.

Solar module efficiency

Always look at the efficiency of the total solar module, not only of the individual solar cell and be aware that high efficiency degrees are nothing without a high minimum warranted power rating. (see next paragraph)

Solar module power rating

It tells you about the wattage of the particular solar electric module. Make sure to check the (warranted) minimum power since the maximum power, stated in Peak Watt (Wp), is always measured under standard test conditions (STC). As you know, nature is not a laboratory. It provides real live conditions and they can differ surprisingly in many ways.

Operation voltage

Open circuit voltage, stated in Volts (V), is the maximum voltage a solar cell produces when illuminated and not connected to a load. The hotter the Solar Panels get, the lower the open circuit voltage gets.

Temperature operating range (TOR)

As mentioned above, operation voltage decreases with increasing temperatures. Make sure the TOR suits your local climate conditions.

Construction

Consider that you are purchasing a fragile high tech product that may be installed on your rooftop and should be be able to withstand roasting sun as well as wind, hail and heavy snow loads. Choose the right mounting system. Medium duty is good, heavy duty is better. The best solar panels are useless when blown down the roof and crashed on the ground.

Dimensions

Compare the panel dimensions to the active area to avoid a waste of space.

Inverter

An inverter converts the solar produced electricity (direct current, DC) to alternate current (AC). Look for inverters with heavy duty copper wound output transformers. You set it and forget it. Otherwise you will have your inverter getting repaired or replaced - sooner or later. In worst case that can become necessary on a regular basis. This is no fun and a waste of time and money.

Warranty

20 - 25 years warranty on mono- and polycrystalline silicon solar panels are common. This should be the minimum when purchasing solar panels, since today best solar panels have life expectancies of 30 years and even longer. Take a look at the factory warranty and do not accept only a dealer's warranty.

Now it's up to you to choose the best solar panels for your needs. Take your time to compare different panels, inverters and mounting systems. If you want to purchase a complete solar system and get it installed, contact more than one dealer. Now you can ask them the right questions.

In the following I have listed some manufacturers of solar panels, that made it into the Top 3 of ENF's 2007 brand survey on the world's best solar panels. ENF is a reputable photovoltaic information company located in China and in the U.K.
The survey gives you a good starting point to find the right panel for you. Please keep in mind that 2 years can be a long time in hightech business so do not rely blindly on the results. For actual info check my blog from time to time (see below). Here are the ENF results:

Best Solar Panels

Global No.1 Brand: SunPower (USA)
Global No.2 Brand: Schott Solar (Germany)
Global No.3 Brand: Solar World (Germany)

No.1 Product Quality: Sanyo (Japan)
No.1 VAlue for Money: Suntech Power (China)

Best Solar Panel Inverters

Global No.1 Brand: Kaco new energy (Germany)
Global No.2 Brand: OutBack Power Systems (USA)
Global No.3 Brand: Mastervolt (the Netherlands)

No.1 Product Quality: OutBack Power Systems (USA)
No.1 Value for Money: Kaco new energy (Germany)

Best Solar Panel Mounting Systems

Global No.1 Brand: Direct Power & Water (USA)
Global No.2 Brand: UniRac (USA)
Global No.3 Brand: Schüco (Germany)

Best Solar Trackers

Global No.1 Brand: Zomeworks (USA)

Best Solar Systems

Global No.1 Brand: Sharp (Japan)


Best Solar Panels - Basic Info and International Survey Results

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Friday, November 11, 2011

Understanding Transformers

!: Understanding Transformers

We must establish some basic principles of voltage before expanding into transformers. What is current, voltage or a load? Imagine a man a hauling a cart uphill. The voltage (v) is the man (120v). The current (amps) is how much work he is doing to get up the hill (2amps) and the cart is your load (a motor of some sort). Or possibly the man brings a friend creating the two of them (240v) with both of them working together they do less work (1amp) with the load staying the same (a motor of some sort).

What does a transformer do? Transformers form a way control voltage. They take voltage and either step voltage down, step voltage up or isolate voltage in one area from another. So why is it so important to control this voltage. Take for example your local power company. It uses a step up transformer to give high voltage to the power lines which creates low amperage. Then before entering your home or local business steps the voltage back down so the voltage entering is not excessive.

What parts make up a transformer? A transformer is made up of a three main components; the laminated iron core, primary and secondary windings. The primary winding is connected the power entering the transformer (input voltage). The secondary winding is connected where the power is going to (output voltage). The laminated core is used to separated the primary and secondary windings from have any physical connection.

So how do transformers work? There are no moving parts of a transformer, instead a transformer uses induction to pass electricity from the primary winding to the secondary winding. Easy way to understand what induction is it uses a electromagnetic force to take the voltage from the primary winding and move it to the secondary winding. We control induction with turn ratio.

What is a turn ratio? A turn ratio is the relationship between the primary and the secondary winding. If there was 120v entering the transformer and 24 volts leaving the transformer. Our voltage would be stepping down with a 5/1 turn ratio. Simple math is used to calculate this; voltage entering / voltage leaving the transformer. With 120 / 24 you would have 5/1 ration.

How do you size a transformer? You size a transformer for secondary winding of a transformer. The secondary winding is rated in VA (volts times amperage). An example of this would be you have a 24v control circuit thats capacity is 2amps. You would take your voltage (24v) and multiply it by your maximum amperage (2amps) which would be 24 times 2, which equals 48 or 48 va. This means you would need a transformer rated for 48va.

Do transformers need to be serviced? No, with no moving parts there is no maintenance required. Once a transformer has gone bad, which will general show on the primary windings, it will need to be replaced. Some transformers come with a fuseable link, or a safety. If a transformer has been tripped or has gone bad, it is a general rule to search for a source causing the problem. A bad transformer is never "the problem" only a symptom of the real problem.

What are the different types of transformers? There are many types of transformers you will see in the field; step up, step down, isolating, multi tap and autotransformers. There are also another type which is a three phase transformer, this transformer pertains more to voltage entering a commercial building. As a general rule the most common type of transformer you will see is a step down transformer (control voltage).

What is the difference in these types of transformers? Step up transformers take the primary winding and step the voltage up for the secondary winding. Step down transformers take the primary winding and step is down for the voltage on the secondary winding. Isolating transformers have the same voltage on the primary and secondary. A multi tap transformer is a step up or down transformer that has multi taps on either the primary winding or secondary winding. An autotransformer is a special types of transformer which does not follow common rules of transformers. It uses a continuous winding that is tapped to provide a step down or step up function.

Transformers play a key role in AC powered systems. They are a way to control voltage. There is no maintenance required to transformer though they are excellent indicators of problems. Understand these terms and principles is key to troubleshooting and designing electrical circuits.


Understanding Transformers

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