The Hack My Solar Podcast

Sizing a Solar Array A Solar Array is just a fancy term for your solar panels, which themselves are combinations of solar cells, combined into a single system.  Today we discuss "sizing a solar array." The first step is determining what your needs are.  It is always good to eliminate or reduce some parts of your usage before determining the size of your solar array.  For example at our house we got rid of our drip coffee maker and began buying roasted beans, hand grinding them, heating water on a propane stove, and using a french press.  The amount of electricity we need to make our morning coffee is now zero.  Switching to LED lighting, putting appliances on surge protectors that we turn off when not using, and drying our clothes on the line rather than in an electric dryer were some other adjustments we made before going off grid. If you are currently on grid, you have a very easy meter to determine your usage in your monthly electric bill.  Depending on your climate, you may see higher usage during certai