Quote:
Originally Posted by All Darc
One question I'm a bit afraid to make (cause maybe I appear idiot) :
Why not connect many solar panels together in series (not parallel) to combine voltage, adding enough panels to reach 110/120 volts or 220/240 volts for residential use?
I know inversors not just convert voltage but also convert direct current to alternate current to allow energy be used for homes or go to the grid. But maybe inversors could be simpler or cheaper if they needed just to convert dirrect to alternate current and not also convert voltage.
If one panel fail, or if a cell of one panel fail, in a series connected panels, the entire system lose power, stop working, am I correct ?
If one or two panels get shadow, while the other still get sun (due some object making shadow), would the voltage be altered? I bet not.
Well, did I sounded idiot ?
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No,you don't sound like,nor are you an idiot for asking.It would be worse if you didn't ask.
I met a family in Kingman,Arizona which lived off the grid,on 12-VDC,and 120-VDC power.
They had a rather large,home-built 120-VDC wind generator which they used to charge a series-connected group of batteries.
Some of their lights and appliances were 12-VDC,and all the shop power tools had brush-type 120-V motors.
They were mentioned in the newspaper after a storm had knocked out the city's power,and this family's home was the only one 'lit up'.
If a photovoltaic array were located such that there couldn't be any stray shading,the series connecting wouldn't be a problem.
Converting a voltage from DC to AC would require some type of oscillator to produce the 50-or 60 Hertz necessary,and some sort of power conditioning to create a sine wave (motors need this especially).A square-wave and some synthesized sine-wave inverters will not produce an AC current of sufficient quality to run some ac motors.
