SAVE WITH SULTAN SOLAR HEATING!

Here are some reasons why you should go solar:

• A solar heating system is the only appliance that pays for It self.
• You will help in the fight against climate change.
• You will add to the value of your home.
• A correctly configured solar heating system will ensure that you have a hot shower, even if the power is out.
• Utilise your pool for longer periods of the year

Reasons why you should buy a Sultan Solar Heating System:

• All Sultan Solar Water and pool Heating Systems are proudly South African.
• Agents get distributor prices on all modules.
• Sales training and installation training included.
• Constantly making expensive technology less expensive.

 OUR SPECIAL FOR WINTER 2011

R 1900 per panel use your own plumber for installation

R 1900 per panel

 STANDARD SPECIFICATION:

• Absorber coating: Nickel bottom coating + Selective black chrome surface.
• Optical Performance: Absorption: ~95% / Thermal Emission: ~10%
• Frame Casing: Anodized Aluminium alloy.
• Cover glass: Low iron tempered patterned glass.
• Insulation: 25mm soft fibreglass layer + 25mm high- density fibreglass board.
• Back sheet: Embossed aluminium plate.
• Sealing profile: EPDM.
• Connection: Ø22/25mm
• Ext. Dimension: 2000 x 1060 x 68/75/82/95mm (L x W x H).
• Gross /Aperture area: 2?/1.85?.
• Operation pressure: 650Kpa / 6.5bar

From R 2500

 SOLAR POOL HEATING

LOCAL MANUFACTURED WIND TURBINE COMMING SOON!

  Contact Deon  bizspecialist@vodamail.co.za 

An excellent place to start for those just beginning.

Solar power works well for most items except large electric appliances that use an electric heat element such as a water heater, clothes dryer and electric stove – for example – or total electric home heating systems. It is not cost effective to use solar power for these items.The basics of solar power:

Using solar power to produce electricity is not the same as using solar to produce heat. Solar thermal principles are applied to produce hot fluids or air. Photovoltaic principles are used to produce electricity. A solar panel (PV panel) is made of the natural element, silicon, which becomes charged electrically when subjected to sun light.

Solar panels are directed at solar south in the northern hemisphere and solar north in the southern hemisphere (these are slightly different than magnetic compass north-south directions) at an angle dictated by the geographic location and latitude of where they are to be installed. Typically, the angle of the solar array is set within a range of between site-latitude-plus 15 degrees and site-latitude-minus 15 degrees, depending on whether a slight winter or summer bias is desirable in the system. Many solar arrays are placed at an angle equal to the site latitude with no bias for seasonal periods.

This electrical charge is consolidated in the PV panel and directed to the output terminals to produce low voltage (Direct Current) – usually 6 to 24 volts. The most common output is intended for nominal 12 volts, with an effective output usually up to 17 volts. A 12 volt nominal output is the reference voltage, but the operating voltage can be 17 volts or higher much like your car alternator charges your 12 volt battery at well over 12 volts. So there’s a difference between the reference voltage and the actual operating voltage.

Components used to provide solar power:

The four primary components for producing electricity using solar power, which provides common 220 volt AC power for daily use are: Solar panels, charge controller, battery and inverter. Solar panels charge the battery, and the charge regulator insures proper charging of the battery.

The battery provides DC voltage to the inverter, and the inverter converts the DC voltage to normal AC voltage. If 240 volts AC is needed, then either a transformer is added or two identical inverters are series-stacked to produce the 220/240 volts.

Charge Controller:

A charge controller monitors the battery’s state-of-charge to insure that when the battery needs charge-current it gets it, and also insures the battery isn’t over-charged. Connecting a solar panel to a battery without a regulator seriously risks damaging the battery and potentially causing a safety concern.
Charge controllers (or often called charge regulator) are rated based on the amount of amperage they can process from a solar array. If a controller is rated at 20 amps it means that you can connect up to 20 amps of solar panel output current to this one controller. The most advanced charge controllers utilize a charging principal referred to as Pulse-Width-Modulation (PWM) – which insures the most efficient battery charging and extends the life of the battery. Even more advanced controllers also include Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) which maximizes the amount of current going into the battery from the solar array by lowering the panel’s output voltage, which increases the charging amps to the battery – because if a panel can produce 60 watts with 17.2 volts and 3.5 amps, then if the voltage is lowered to say 14 volts then the amperage increases to 4.28 (14v X 4.28 amps = 60 watts) resulting in a 19% increase in charging amps for this example.

Battery:

The Deep Cycle batteries used are designed to be discharged and then re-charged hundreds or thousands of times. These batteries are rated in Amp Hours (ah) – usually at 20 hours and 100 hours. Simply stated, amp hours refers to the amount of current – in amps – which can be supplied by the battery over the period of hours. For example, a 350ah battery could supply 17.5 continuous amps over 20 hours or 35 continuous amps for 10 hours. To quickly express the total watts potentially available in a 6 volt 360ah battery; 360ah times the nominal 6 volts equals 2160 watts or 2.16kWh (kilowatt-hours). Like solar panels, batteries are wired in series and/or parallel to increase voltage to the desired level and increase amp hours.

The battery should have sufficient amp hour capacity to supply needed power during the longest expected period “no sun” or extremely cloudy conditions. A lead-acid battery should be sized at least 20% larger than this amount. If there is a source of back-up power, such as a standby generator along with a battery charger, the battery bank does not have to be sized for worst case weather conditions.
The size of the battery bank required will depend on the storage capacity required, the maximum discharge rate, the maximum charge rate, and the minimum temperature at which the batteries will be used. During planning, all of these factors are looked at, and the one requiring the largest capacity will dictate the battery size.

Using an Inverter:

An inverter is a device which changes DC power stored in a battery to standard 120/240 VAC electricity (also referred to as 110/220). Most solar power systems generate DC current which is stored in batteries. Nearly all lighting, appliances, motors, etc., are designed to use ac power, so it takes an inverter to make the switch from battery-stored DC to standard power (120 VAC, 60 Hz).

In an inverter, direct current (DC) is switched back and forth to produce alternating current (AC). Then it is transformed, filtered, stepped, etc. to get it to an acceptable output waveform. The more processing, the cleaner and quieter the output, but the lower the efficiency of the conversion. The goal becomes to produce a waveform that is acceptable to all loads without sacrificing too much power into the conversion process.
Inverters come in two basic output designs – sine wave and modified sine wave. Most 120VAC devices can use the modified sine wave, but there are some notable exceptions. Devices such as laser printers which use triacs and/or silicon controlled rectifiers are damaged when provided mod-sine wave power. Motors and power supplies usually run warmer and less efficiently on mod-sine wave power. Some things, like fans, amplifiers, and cheap fluorescent lights, give off an audible buzz on modified sine wave power. However, modified sine wave inverters make the conversion from DC to AC very efficiently. They are relatively inexpensive, and many of the electrical devices we use every day work fine on them.
Sine wave inverters can virtually operate anything. Your utility company provides sine wave power, so a sine wave inverter is equal to or even better than utility supplied power. A sine wave inverter can “clean up” utility or generator supplied power because of its internal processing.

CONGRATULATIONS!
IF YOU HAVE READ AND BASICALLY UNDERSTAND ALL THE SECTIONS ABOVE, THEN YOU CAN BEGIN PLANNING  A POWER SYSTEM USING SOLAR POWER AND CUT ESCOM POWER USAGE BY 75%!!!!!.

New Battery allows use of solar energy at night

Information from Frost & Sullivan Technical Insights

August 2010

Public left powerless

October 18 2009 at 11:15am

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By Vivian Attwood and Matthew Savides

Cash-strapped South Africans will have to work even harder to reduce their electricity consumption and, somehow, prepare for proposed massive Eskom tariff hikes.

Power bills are set to triple in the next three years, and local ratepayer organisations are concerned that many people will face severe financial difficulties and could be forced to sell their homes or businesses amid the spiralling costs.

To counter this, homeowners will have to consider power-saving measures, including the use of solar power.

Concerns have also been raised about how other costs, including essentials like clothing and food, could rise with electricity costs.

Despite receiving an electricity hike of 27 percent in 2007/08, followed by another of 31 percent in 2008/09, Eskom announced this week that it intended to drastically increase the price of electricity by the 2012/13 financial year.

The country’s electricity distributor has asked the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to phase in the increases, giving two options:

First, that tariffs increase by 45 percent a year for three years, and 

Second, that there will be an initial increase of 146 percent next year, followed by two consecutive years in which tariffs will be increased by 12 percent. If either option is chosen, electricity charges in the 2012/13 year will be four times higher than they were in 2008, and triple what they are now.Apart from a general reduction in power usage, including switching off lights and unplugging non-essential appliances, many homeowners will have to consider investing in long-term power-saving products to counter the increases.

With geysers and swimming pool pumps considered among the biggest power guzzlers, linking these to solar panels – at a start-up cost of between R15 000 and R20 000 – could considerably reduce the monthly electricity bill, saving money in the long term. Converting indoor lights to run on solar power will cost in the region of R2 000, but will also result in monthly savings.

On the plus side, Eskom does subsidise between 15 percent and 30 percent of the costs to install solar powered geysers.

Lilian Develing of the Combined Ratepayers Association of Durban, said that the proposed increase was “simply untenable”.

“Should the increases happen, many people are going to be put out of business and get rid of or downsize their homes.

“This will result in us having more and more poor people, who will have to be subsidised. The Eskom increase is just not sustainable,” she said.

Clairwood Ratepayers and Residents Association chairman Rishi Singh agreed, saying that the increases would drive people into poverty.

“What will happen is that the poor will keep on getting poorer. Electricity will become completely unaffordable, and this is wrong because it is a basic necessity,” he said.

Singh added that the organisation would write to Nersa and the Minerals and Energy Department to oppose the increases. However, it was ordinary citizens who needed to make their voices heard.

“People have to protest against Eskom. The increases cannot be allowed to happen, and the people need to speak out against them,” he said, urging residents to attend public hearings and write to the relevant bodies.

Develing said she wasn’t only concerned about the electricity hikes, but also about other cost increases.

“My rates went up 100 percent last year, and again by 10 percent this year.

“Pensioners are having to dip into their capital to pay bills. Food is getting more and more expensive.

“If the only increases were electricity increases, people would be able to cope. But, as it stands, the situation is unsustainable,” she said.

Head of the National Consumer Forum, Thami Bolani, said that the Eskom hikes would undoubtedly affect other products and services.

“If the hikes are approved, it would have a significant effect on inflation, ensuring that food and transport prices go up, that people would have to start compromising on children’s education, what they eat and how they live,” he said.

Cosatu has also weighed in on the matter, describing Eskom’s request as “outrageous and insensitive”.

The union said if the trend of steep electricity hikes continued, many of the poor would not be able to afford electricity at all, and would turn to more dangerous sources of heat and light, such as paraffin and gas.

“As well as the direct blow to residential consumers, this proposed increase flies in the face of the government’s efforts to create decent work through small and medium businesses, many of which will be unable to survive such increases…,” Cosatu said.

matthew.savides@inl.co.za