Consumer's Guide to buying a Solar Power System & choosing an Installer
Shopping for a solar power system and choosing a solar installer can be exciting as well as confusing at the same time. Those great deals on solar power systems may not always be what they claim. So as with any investment, to avoid making a purchase you may regret later, you need to be informed and careful.
How to make sure you get what you pay for
As an informed solar power system buyer, you must get the following points clarified from the solar power system supplier:
The panel conversion efficiency and the warranty terms.
Does the system you intend to buy fully convert the solar energy into DC current to store it to your battery bank.
Which type of solar charge controller is being used. Whether PWM or MPPT. If it is PWM, the right solar panel voltage and current rating is important to match your battery bank.
Does the solar panel array capacity match the charge controller's input to get most of the sun shine converted into DC current to store it into your battery bank.
A system with a 1 KW inverter is not always a 1 KW system. Is the KW capacity of the solar panel array equal to the inverter capacity. For example, 1000 watts panels should be connected to 1000 watts inverter or 1.4 KVA inverter. In this case your solar power system capacity is 1 KW and you pay for 1 KW. Other configurations where a higher wattage inverter's capacity is declared as system capacity are misleading and you won't get what you pay for.
When you decide to go fully independent of your grid (EB) supply, you must get your solar energy system custom designed by a professional supplier. Only they can supply an optimized system with full conversion efficiency for long life without wasting your money.
Since batteries are one of the major components and they need to be replaced once in 5 years (Our batteries come with 5 years warranty) (There are also batteries with 20 years life) you should be advised by your solar power system supplier on proper matching - to match your load usage pattern to your battery bank size to get your batteries charged from solar to its full capacity. Only in this way you can get your ROI fast and can use the solar energy harvested by your panels everyday.
Visit us for a consultation or call 28142600 (if your EB bill is above Rs.6000).
