How to install Solar Panel? : a step by step installation

 Step by Step for Solar Panel Installation

This general information guide to solar panel installation will address the following topics:

* Solar Panel Purchases
* Solar Panel Installation Tips
* Solar Panels and Power Meters


Where can I purchase solar panels?

You can purchase solar panels from a variety of solar panel producers, including Sunwize, Evergreen, and Mitsubishii Electric. Prices change constantly, but a good solar panel report comparing cost/kilowatt is available here.

You can also buy solar panels securely online, from a wide variety of retailers.

Solar Panel Installation Tips

Solar Panels are typically installed on rooftops, building tops, or stand-alone facilities. It is vital to install your solar panel so that it gets the most direct sun exposure - you want to make sure your solar panel is maximally effective year round. To do this, there are several web-based solar resources to help you properly set up and install your solar panels by tracking the position of the sun in the sky over the course of the year.
Position your solar panel in direct sunlight

Solar Panels perform at optimum capacity when placed in direct sunlight. Try to position your photovoltaic array directly under the noontime sun for maximum efficiency from your photovoltaic unit.
Notice obstructions to sunlight

Remove all items unnessary items or trim branches that may be blocking sunlight to your solar unit. Trace the path of the sun in the sky to determine if an object is casting a shadow over your solar photovoltaic panels. If this is the case, then the operating efficiency of your unit will undoubtedly suffer.
Mounting your Solar Panel

Solar Panel Mounts are used to install photovoltaic solar panels. Solar panel mounts come in three main varieties: pole mounts, roof-ground mounts, and flush mounts. Using these mounts, you can install your solar panel onto an RV, on top of or against the side of a pole, on your roof, or even install them as a free-standing unit. You can learn more about installing solar panels using mounts in our mounts section.
Water pumping with solar panels

A good way to put solar panels to use is to install a solar-powered water pump for your well. Although windmills have traditionally been used to power such systems, a solar-powered system works just as well, and is equally friendly to the environment.

Your Well Pump

It is important to choose a quality well pump for use with your solar powered well pump system, one that makes the best use of your power and doesn't require an inefficient, wasteful transformer. Your well drilling provider is likely to offer you the industry standard well pump, a 220 volt alternating current model. The problem with such a high-voltage pump system is that the required transformer is extremely wasteful and can be a huge strain on your inverter during startup. This can cause the power to home to dip, and the lights to dim, which can cause a full-out inverter failure unless you have a top-quality inverter. Avoid such a high voltage system if you can, and instead, opt for a 120 volt AC model, which is much more efficient and does not put nearly as much of a burden on your inverter.
The Solar Panel

Your solar panel does not have to have a very high wattage rating in order to run your solar pump, just check with your well-drilling company to determine what wattage rating you need from your solar panel. An important consideration when setting up an outdoor solar panel system for your well pump is to ensure that you purchase a mounting rack that offers plenty of clearance between the ground and your solar panel and keep in it an open area away from trees. You don't want any large pets, floodwater, or falling branches to damage your system.

Solar Panels and Power Meters

As you purchase more and more solar panels for your home, your reliance on the city's power grid will progressively decline until your power meter doesn't turn at all. As you continue to buy solar panels, you wonder, what happens beyond that point? What happens on the days when my home produces more energy from solar panels that it needs?

Also, we reccomend using a true sine wave inverter with your solar powered pump system. True Sine wave inverters tend to work better when motors are involved (such as those found in a water pump).

If you are interested in reaping benefits from your solar panel investment, read on to discover how you can turn your power meter backwards for profit.

How Sika success in Industrial Building

How Sika success in Industrial Building

Introduction to Industrial Construction

Industrial buildings consist of many different structures with their own specific function and specification. This in return will demand different requirements and of course specific system for each of the structures.

Warehouse for example, is exposed to heavy traffic such as forklift and this will demand a high abrasion resistance floor. While food and beverage production area may need a hygienic and easy-to-clean floor system.

Sika with its knowledge and experience is in best possible position to provide a total project based solution to its customers.

Below its some examples of Sika’s products involvement in industrial building projects.

1. Concrete works

Base on concrete requirements (workability, strength) a wide range of admixture (mainly Sikament and Sika Viscocrete range) is available for producing high quality and durable concrete. Use of silicafume based material, Sikacrete PP1 is also common to reduce concrete permeability, increase strength and resistance to aggressive environment (chlorides, sulfates). Following good concrete practice and use of reliable formwork release agent (Separol) and curing compound (Antisol) shall give the best possible concrete work quality.

2. Industrial Floor

Floor of a factory & warehouse has a key factor in ensuring the convenience of the production process. Bad condition floor will cause the disruption in productivity rate and furthermore, in some cases this will adversely affect the quality of goods produced.

Heavy traffic floor such as in warehouse or parking lot will require a high abrasion and mechanical resistance floor and this is best achieved by using Sikafloor Chapdur, non-metallic floor hardener, finished by power-float. For high abrasion requirement, Sikafloor 2 Syntop, dry shake floor hardener is a reliable solution. Pharmaceutical and food production area demand a seamless, easy-to-clean flooring system and sometimes require certain degree of chemical resistance.

Epoxy resin based flooring system has been used widely for this purpose where the type and thickness of epoxy layer are very dependant on the mechanical/chemical exposure and also the design life of the floor.

Sikafloor 2530-W New, coloured, 2-part epoxy dispersion, has been widely used in numerous projects in Vietnam. This epoxy coating produces a smooth, tough finish appearance and very suitable for use in food industry and light industry factory. If anti-skid appearance is required like in wet area such as kitchen, toilet and liquid contaminated floor then Sikafloor 7530 or Sikafloor 261 textured / screed system can be applied.

Besides these two products, Sika also provides various others flooring systems for other flooring requirements such as anti-static, high chemical and mechanical resistance floor.

3. Machine and Column Base Plate Grouting

To reach maximum effective bearing area, column base plate shall be grouted using non-shrink flowable grout such as SikaGrout 214-11. For heavy machine base plate, usually it is required to use high vibration resistant and high ultimate strength grout, Sikadur 42 MP, a 3-component castable epoxy grout, is suitable for this purpose.

How to repair the cracked concrete structures yourself

Crack injection repair to concrete structures

Scope of work:
Injection of dead cracks with low viscosity 2 components epoxy resin in order to repair the concrete structures.

PREPARATION FOR INJECTION WORK

• 14mm holes must be drilled along the crack path between 200 – 300 mm centres. The holes must be deep enough to receive the ‘metal pipe sleeves’ (approx. 20mm)

• Insert Sika ‘metal pipe sleeves’ into all the holes and epoxy into position using Sikadur 731

• Clean the concrete surface adjacent to the crack with a wire brush or sandpaper.

• Wipe down the concrete with a clean rag to remove any dust and loosely adhering particles.

• The cleaned surface is then sealed using Sikadur 731 applied by a spatula or trowel.

CRACK INJECTION

• Following the curing of the Sikadur 731 (minimum of 12 hours at 30oC) the epoxy injection can commence.

• Starting from one side or the lowest point of the crack a Sika ‘nipple’ is screwed into the first pipe sleeve and Sikadur 752 injected into the crack until the epoxy is seen to ooze from the adjacent pipe sleeve, this pipe sleeve is then sealed with a nipple, continue to inject the current port until refusal (epoxy resin can not be injected more) and then start the injection of the adjacent port and so on. This procedure is continued in the sequence indicated until all have been completed.

• Beginning at the first nipple filled, the nipple is removed and checked for incomplete filling. If any of the pipe sleeves are found to be incompletely filled, the injection of Sikadur 752 must recommence from the previous pipe sleeve to the one found incomplete until full and the nipple replaced. This checking process is continued (without interruption) along the crack until all have been checked.

• After a curing time of 12 hours the sleeve and nipples are trimmed off with an angle grinder or other suitable equipment.

How to do yourself for home energy saving using solar panels

How to make solar panels for home energy

Plenty of people have been looking into installing solar panels in an effort to combat rising energy costs.  When most of these people see the prices of the professionally installed panels they realize it may not be a luxury they can afford.  There is an easier, more cost efficient way to harness power from the sun and that is to learn how to make solar panels for your self.

Any motivated do-it-yourselfer can learn how to make solar panels for their home, workshop or business.  When compared to the cost of purchasing and installing a pre-made solar energy system, learning how to make solar panels for your energy needs and the materials you need to execute the project are far less.  By learning how to make solar panels for yourself, you have greater control over the size and design of your system as well.

Once you have a quality manual and you have learned how to make solar panels, the supplies are fairly simple to find.  Most can be found at your local hardware store like, plywood, sheets of glass, and a roll of copper wire.  It is also easy to locate inexpensive solar or photovoltaic cells to use in your project.  Many are available over the Internet or you may have a retailer available locally.  One you’ve learned how to make solar panels and you have your supplies, it usually takes about a day to assemble a 100-watt panel.  This is the perfect amount of electricity to operate small appliances or a small workshop.

The most important step is finding a quality manual with detailed instructions for learning how to make solar panels.  In many cases you get what you pay for, so don’t be afraid to spend a few extra dollars on a well-reviewed instruction manual.  Overall, the cost of the making your own panels is so low, the price of the how to guide is minimal-you will still be paying way less learning how to make solar panels on your own than purchasing a professionally installed system.

With a little bit effort, you can be on your way to learning how to make solar panels to meet your energy needs.  Then sit back and bask in the pride the next time the power goes out on your block.  Your lights will still be on because you learned how to make solar panels and your energy supply is still in your battery bank.

How to install Roof Sentry Control Roof/Gutter Deicer Cable

Learn from other experience here: We had several unusually heavy snowfalls in Western Pennsylvania this past winter ('09 to '10) and my home had quite a bit of interior water damage due to ice dams forming on our roof. We had old heat cables in place but some failed and the others did not provide adequate heat or were not in the proper places (we have sky lights that were not properly protected). I researched new heat cables on the internet, at Lowes and Home Depot, and at some local electrical supply stores. Easy Heat RS-2 Roof Sentry Control Roof/Gutter Deicer Cable seemed to be very cost effective, but what really helped to sell me was the fact that their installation manuals for all of their products were on line and seemed to be very thorough yet easy to use. I decided to use their manuals for planning my project regardless of what product I was going with.

I ultimately decided to go with Easy Heat RS-2 Roof Sentry Control Roof/Gutter Deicer Cable, but was unsure how I wanted to control them. We travel quite a bit during the winter, and I wanted a controller that would protect our house but that would not waste energy on the cables when they are not needed. There were a variety of thermal only controllers out there, but the Easy Heat RS-2 requires both the proper temperature AND the presence of moisture before it will energize the cables. If it worked, it seemed to me that I could turn it on and forget it for much of the winter and feel confident that the house would be protected.

I decided to try an all-Easy Heat solution. I redesigned my cable runs to reduce the number down to just two cables to save money. This is because each RS-2 can handle up to 1200 watts, but they only want one cable plugged into each RS-2. I ordered the cables and two RS-2's through Amazon and everything arrived well ahead of promise. I tested the cables before installation and was pleased at the amount of heat they gave off in a very short period of time. I tested both RS-2's in buckets of ice water and they worked as advertised.

My old installation had been done about 25 years ago by the previous homeowner and there was no documentation. It was strung through my attic and used old thin two wire "zip cord" instead of adequate wiring and wires went off in all directions. (We were lucky we never had a fire as I found that one of the roof cables had shorted out against the gutter drain pipe). The cables were "hard wired" to the (ungrounded) circuit whereas the Easy Heat Products are set up to use standard 110V grounded plugs. I decided to be safe and ordered a GFI circuit breaker from Grady's through Amazon so that the entire circuit would be protected regardless of how it had been wired. The toughest part of my installation was when I fished new romex (with ground wire) through the old holes in the attic walls and then mounted new water resistant plug receptacles under the eaves outside of the house. I also mounted the two RS-2 control boxes beside the new receptacles in a place where I could see the indicator lights (to determine both if the controller had power and if it was powering the cables) without crawling out on the roof. I also removed all of the old zip cord that I could find and installed a switch for the cables inside the house (not in the attic).

Once I had the new 110V plugs in place, installing the Easy Heat RS-2 Roof Sentry Control Roof/Gutter Deicer Cable was, well, very easy. The clips that came with the cables worked far better than the originals from my old installation and damaged the shingles far less. I had plenty of extra clips once I was finished. The only problem I had was fishing some of the cable down my drain pipes as I could not get the rusty screws from the pipes off to pull the cables in from beneath. (I should have just drilled out the screws in the first place). My cables were just barely long enough even though I used the planning guide and then added a 10% safety factor on top of that. I think it was in part because of how in my particular situation, I wired the required cable sections near the RS-2 controller and used more cable than I planned. I would suggest that when you order your cables, if your circuit can stand the extra wattage, you consider ordering the next cable size up to allow a bit more comfort in the installation.

Now that I have power out to the roof and controllers and cables that plug in as easily as an extension cord, I can easily upgrade or change the installation. I plan on re-shingling the roof in two or three years, and this cable installation will remove quickly and can be put back into place quickly during that job. The total cost for everything including what I bought at Lowes (Romex, outdoor boxes, receptacles, wood screws, etc) was just over $400 which is much less that what I had been quoted to have a professional do it. I spent about 16 hours researching and planning (ok, I AM an engineer), about 3 hours in the attic undoing and redoing wiring, and about 5 hours on the roof (again undoing and then redoing). So far I am very happy with the product and installation and I am looking forward to seeing how well they work this coming winter.