Instructions / Assembly

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6
System Sizing: Step 3 - Inverter Sizing
The solar panels put out DC power that is fed through a charge controller onto a battery bank. If you have
an application that requires AC power you will need an inverter to take that power off of the battery and
turn it into 120V AC.
When selecting an inverter it is important to know the total Wattage of
your load. In Step 1 we determined the Watt Hour consumption, but for inverter sizing we can go back to
just using Watts, and ignore the time factor.
The GS-100+KIT has two options for inverters, a light XPower 450 modified sine and a heavy PROwatt
SW 2000 pure sine. Because of the modular design of this kit, other inverters may be used as long as
they are compatible with the voltage of the battery bank.
Lighting example:
Three 60W incandescent light bulbs
3 Bulbs x 60 W/bulb = 180 W Use the XPower 450
Misc. Electronics example:
One 65W laptop for 6 hours and one 800W microwave for 10 minutes, per day
1 laptop x 65 W/laptop = 65 W Use the XPower 450
1 microwave x 800 W/microwave = 800 W Use the PROwatt SW 2000
Together = 65 W + 800 W = 865 W Use the PROwatt SW 2000
Battery Charging example:
Two 80Ah batteries per day
No AC required - No inverter needed
Pure Sine vs. Modified Sine
The XPower 450 inverter option uses what is called a modified sine wave. This means that the output of
the inverter looks more like a stair step pattern than the smooth wave shown in the diagram above. Modi-
fied Sine is fine for charging small devices but if you plan to use anything that has an AC motor you will
need the PROwatt SW 2000 inverter with pure sine output. Also, some stereos and musical equipment
may emit an unwanted “hum” when powered by a modified sine inverter. LED lights may require pure sine
wave inverters.
me
+V
-V
+12
me
+V
-V
+120
1/60th of a second
AC - Alternang Current DC - Direct Current
GS-100+KIT EXPANDABLE PHOTOVOLTAIC
POWER GENERATION SYSTEM
CONFIGURATION MANUAL Rev. 140304
Valid from Sep. 2014