SOLAR POWER – A VIABLE BACK-UP SOLUTION

For those of you wishing to ‘dip your toe’ into the world of solar power and with concerns for consistentcy in Eskom supply over the coming years; a small solar option is a good way to ‘kill 2 birds with one stone’.
By purchasing a small solar system to cover solely for your emergency lighting; TVs; Radios and computers, enables you to reduce your electricity bills whilst having an automatic back-up system for when Eskom re-starts its programme of Load Shedding.
The average home can get by with some 350W in appliances which would cover those listed above and particluarly if you have opted for LED lights which consume around 1/10th. of conventional lights.
As an example, let us take the emergency appliances for the average home:
6 x 11W lights 66W
1 x 54cm TV 100W
M-Net Decoder 35W
2 x 180W
TOTAL Peak Watts 381W   
Using these appliances over 5 hours would equate to around 2000 Watt Hours.
Translating this into a solar option would equire some 400 Watts of panel, a 30 Amp solar regulator; 3 x 102AH deep cycle batteries and a 500W Inverter.  Add in a panel frame and some wiring & cabling and you would still be in for a cost of less than R20,000.00 (including VAT).
This is not too expensive, and let’s you start on your road to total solarisation!