Your solar energy system is going to have a solar array (the panels that convert sunlight to electricity) and some sort of energy storage mechanism; this is, increasingly, becoming a large set of batteries, often lead-acid ones because they're cheap and in a house, the size and bulk doesn't matter. Getting your electricity from the array to the batteries will require wiring; the kind of wiring will be a function of whether the power is going by AC (Alternating Current), which requires an inverter (a source of power loss) or DC (Direct Current), which suffers transmission losses in lines of longer than 75 feet, and requires heavier wiring to begin with.
See the list to the right for complete information about how to build your own solar-powered system.
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About the Author
John Horning specializes in reporting on do-it-yourself solar power projects and related topics. Visit his website at DIY-Solar-Power.net.
