Project 13 : Solar Home Lighting System

 Solar Panel 70W

5W LED Downlight Type A ( 240Vac/12Vdc)

 5W LED Downlight Type B ( 240Vac/12Vdc)

 DC 12V,15W CFL Type Spiral

  DC 12V,15W CFL Type Kalimantang

 Solar battery charger and batteries

LEDs light up during testing

Solar panel on the roof

Descriptions:

This a solar based project. A solar home system is part of a green home system incorporating solar panels, controller and loads. Loads vary from downlight, LED lights, CFL, autogate system etc. Basically the solar home system is rated at 12 V system because most of loads operate at this voltage. Even a water pump may be powered by solar panel if it has the same rating.

To install a solar system at home, you need to invest a bit large amount of money during early setup. This includes the cost of solar panels,controllers and batteries. Although it is very costly, you can get back your money, pay back period or return of investment (ROI) in 3-5 years depends on the size you install the system. The solar panels may lasting up to 25-30 years if they are maintained well while batteries need to be changed every 2-3 years.

The LED light is highly recommended as it has a very good lifetime period. Some of them may last up to 10000 hours of operating time. In addition, it suits with the solar panel voltage. Using LED also reduce the number of power required to light up a room. Let say previously you used 2 CFL lights rated at 15W (total power = 30W). You should try change to 2 LED lights rating at 9W (18W), you will get the same number of light intensity (counted in Lumen). The saving is around 12W.

Prinsip operasi

Sebuah projek pencahayaan lampu menggunakan tenaga solar utk aplikasi di kediaman/pejabat/pondok....Sesuai utk diaplikasikan dikawasan bandar(urban) dan pendalaman (remote area) jika bekalan TNB tidak dpt dicapai. Terdapat kepelbagaian jenis lampu dari jenis downlight/kalimantang dan teknologi dari jenis LED/CFL boleh digunakan bagi sistem solar. Kebiasaannya sistem LED dipilih kerana lampu dan cahayanya lebih cantik dan menggunakan kuasa watt (P) lebih rendah berbanding CFL utk mendapatkan keamatan cahaya yg sama. Keamatan cahaya diukur dlm unit Lumen menggunakan meter jenis Luxmeter. Untuk mod pembacaan buku unit Lumen sekitar 200 cukup utk kecerahan diperlukan sesuai dgn yg diperlukan oleh mata manusia.

Jika menggunakan lampu LED, jenis sistem boleh dipilih samada berasaskan 240Vac (talian biasa rumah) atau 12Vdc( sistem solar panel). Jika sistem solar panel dipilih, pengguna perlu mempunyai tambahan kepada sistem iaitu solar charge controller dan bateri drpd jenis SLA (seal lead acid) atau Gel atau Lithium Ion....Kos permulaan bagi sistem solar agak mahal namun pengguna boleh mendapatkan keuntungan slps tempoh pay back period (PBP) atau return of investment (ROI) mereka bergantung kepada saiz sistem yang dipasang. Kebiasaannya selepas 5 tahun. Namun begitu solar panel mampu bertahan sehingga 25-30 tahun dan bateri hanya perlu ditukar setiap 2-3 tahun.

Memandangkan ketahanan lampu LED melebihi drpd jangkaun nilai pelaburannya, sistem ini lebih praktikal dipasang dengan solar panel. Sebagai contohnya kita memerlukan 2 biji lampu LED pada kadaran 9W utk sebuah bilek, kecerahannya akan bersamaan dgn 2 biji lampu CFL biasa pada kadaran 15W.