Why you do NOT use
AC Solar INVERTERS with Solar Power Systems
An inverter is simply an electronic circuit that converts battery voltage into mains voltage. For example, 12V DC (Direct Current) from a battery, is converted to 240V AC by an inverter. A lot of energy is wasted in this conversion.
To use an AC Solar Inverter, means you’ll be experiencing this loss of energy all the time, so why do people still do it? Only because they were led to believe that their appliances require AC as that is what comes out of their homes’ powerpoints (240V AC).
Solar power systems are already DC so there is essentially no need to convert to AC. It completely defeats the purpose of saving energy.
Here are examples of what happens when you install PV panels with an Inverter and without an Inverter. Look at the amount of watts you will need in each case, to operate the same Mobile Phone from each system.
Before Solar System, you only had AC 240V:
Solar System WITHOUT Solar Inverter:
Solar System WITH Solar Inverter:
Here’s another example, using a UPS on your computer:
With a 7 Amp hour battery in your UPS you have 20 minutes backup time for your computer. The battery provides 12V at 25 Amps (300 watts) into the Inverter. The inverter puts 300 Watts of AC into the computer power supply, where it is converted to 18 Watts DC and fed into the motherboard.
NOW take away the UPS and Inverter. The mother board needs only DC, DIRECT from the battery.
It does NOT use any 240V AC. So the computer uses 18 Watts DIRECTLY to the motherboard. 18 Watts is 1.5 Amps. So now the SAME battery that gave you 20 minutes back up in the UPS will give you more than 4 HOURS back up when used WITHOUT the Inverter. Why would you want to use an inverter?!
Nearly ALL appliances in modern homes use microchips that only require 12V DC, and nearly all will come with an AC to DC converter. The manufacturers do this because they know that your home has 240V AC electricity coming from your sockets and you will need converters to turn 240V AC back into battery voltage, for microchip use. Sometimes the DC converter is inside the appliance, like a computer, for instance.
Instead of wasting energy with conversion, you should use DC Motors which are more efficient than AC motors and can power the same appliances with lesser energy.
AC is used by national power grids because electricity has to travel vast distances from the source. With solar panels on your roof, there are only a few metres of cables from your source or battery. You would not need AC to reach your home. With solar, you can go DC all the way.
It is our dream here at PLUTO 4 to turn the Sun into an accessible form of energy for all and for all to have that source of energy directly on their roofs.