Make A Plan

electricity from the sun by John Drake II | home

Make A Plan

These pages are set up to help you design and install an alternative energy system

using photovoltaic modules, the basics also apply to systems using wind or water

generators as the power source.

First off, ask yourself what you want your system to do.

Is it for an off-grid (self-sufficient) home, a remote telemetry or monitoring station,

a vacation cabin or lodge, or a back-up system for your home or business in case

the utiltiy power goes out?

As more people are retiring and becoming full-time RVer's they are learning something new.

When you live in your motorhome, fifth wheel or travel trailer, or on a boat, you become your

own power company.

You learn how to make power, and just as important, you learn how to use power wisely.

Each one of these types of installations has its own requirements for power production,

storage and monitoring components.

The first thing I recommend is to pickup a pad of graph paper and a ruled legal pad.

The graph paper is for making a dimensional drawing of your system with all of the components and

the wire run distances between each component.

The legal pad is to start a parts list as well as to make notes.

Don't be surprised if you go through many pages of graph and legal paper before you are ready to

start buying components.

This is, in opinion, the wisest thing to do.

If you get in a hurry you will most likely end up with a cobbled up system that will not work to your

expectations.