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Home Power Basics
Solar powering your home, whether connecting to your local power line or living completely power line free, here is a quick picture of what a typical solar powered residential system looks like.
Quick Solar Terms:
Off-grid Power System A power system that is not connected to a power line. Often referred to as "power independent," these systems are typically found in remote areas, where power lines are not available.
Grid-tie Power System A power system that is connected to the power lines. These systems can result in a "zero" power bill for the year by building up credits during the winter when energy consumption is generally lower and using those credits during the summer when energy consumption is generally the highest. For specific information about solar incentives and your potential savings, please refer to Rebates and Incentives. Often found in suburban areas, these systems normally qualify for rebate and incentive programs.
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SOLAR OFF-GRID POWER
About residential off-grid systems
A basic off-grid system consists of a renewable energy source, which generates DC power, a battery bank that stores the DC power, and a power inverter. Power inverters are the intelligent center of a renewable energy system, seamlessly converting DC power to clean and reliable AC electricity for your needs.
The off-grid system pictured here is a solar electric hybrid system that offers additional automatic features. It consists of solar panels, a battery bank, our top-of-the-line Xantrex SW Plus Inverter/Charger, a charge controller that manages battery charging, and a generator.
When the sun is up, the solar panels generate power to charge batteries and provide electricity. At night, the power inverter/charger automatically runs your electrical equipment from your battery bank. The generator provides additional back-up battery charging capability for extended periods of cloudy weather. The power inverter/charger can automatically start the generator and initiate a recharge cycle when the battery bank is depleted, or a load is too large for the batteries to support independently. You can even have a connection to the grid should you want to use utility power.
Recommended Off-Grid Products
Weekend Getaway Solar Power Kit
Xantrex SW Plus
Xantrex DR Series
Outback T Series
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| SOLAR GRID-TIE POWER
About residential grid-tie systems
A basic grid-tie system, as shown on the right, consists of solar cells and a Xantrex grid-tie inverter. Solar cells take the Sun's energy and turn it into DC electricity. The Xantrex inverter turns the DC electricity generated by the solar cells into utility grade AC power for use in your home or business.
To enjoy the benefits of green power production and protect your family from blackouts, you can choose a Xantrex grid-tie system with batteries and a generator, as shown in Figure 2. When utility power fails, your Xantrex power system will automatically provide power to run your home security system, refrigerator, lights, computer and other vital appliances.
A grid-tie system is an effective way to reduce your dependence on utility power, lower your electric bills, increase green energy production and improve the environment.
Recommended Grid-Tie Products
Xantrex GT 3.0
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