As energy costs continue to climb, and many people become more concern with their overall impact on the environment, solar power has become a serious consideration for more homeowners than ever before. When choosing to have solar installers install solar panels on your home, one of the first things that you need to do is get a good estimate of your home’s average energy usage. You can then work closely with your installer to determine the size of solar power system that works best for your home.

Gather Your InformationThe easiest way to get an estimate for your home’s average energy consumption is to gather your electric bills for the last year. You can then add all of the kilowatt-hours (kWh) that you used each month and divide this number by 12. This will give you the average number of kWh that you used each month. You can then divide this number by 30 to get a daily usage estimate. Because the average number of peak sun hours in the United States is 5 hours, you can divide this daily estimate by 5 to get an idea of how much electricity your system will need to generate each day during these peak sun hours.

Naturally, the number that you arrive to by this process is only an estimate. The cost of solar panels depends largely on the size of the system that you install. The estimate that you create will give you and your solar installers a good place to start when it comes to determining the size of your solar power system. If you are looking for more information about solar panels, the installation process, purchase and finance options, take a look at the rest of the information that we have available here at Solar Panel Info.

Modern day living is highly reliant on the use of electricity and the different appliances, equipment and fixtures it powers. Industries are even more reliant on electricity and their profitability is closely knit with how seamlessly their systems operate. They rely on electricity to such an extent that they rarely give it a second thought; well, at least not until something goes wrong such as:

Most of these problems can be attributed to poor power factor. Let’s understand a little more about what that is.

Power factor is essentially a measure of how effectively the incoming power is being used by the electrical equipment on your premises. It is expressed in terms of a numerical value in the range of 0-1. A higher power factor indicates that the electrical equipment is being used more effectively.

For instance, if the power factor is 0.8, it indicates that 80% of the power supply to the equipment is being utilised effectively and that 20% is being wasted. Regardless of what this ratio of effective usage Vs wastage is, the latter is an unnecessary expense. Typically, your power factor should be closer to 1; it indicates that your site is using energy in an efficient manner.

A number of businesses are currently being charged a kVA tariff and not a kilowatt tariff. This means, your service provider is probably charging you for the power they supply to you, rather than that you actually use. Simply put, you are paying for power that is being supplied to you, but which is being wasted. If your business has a low power factor, it means you pay even more for this waste. There is another aspect you should keep in view. As mentioned at the start, poor power factor has the potential to cause power drops and power losses; in turn, these lead to motor failure and overheating and failure of other equipment too.

Installation of Power Factor Correction equipment might just help avoid prohibitively expensive infrastructure upgrades; it does this by reducing the current electrical demand on your system & improving the efficiency stability. Based on which tariff you are on, power correction might just prove to be an excellent way for your business to deescalate its electricity costs.

The power factor can be improved by installing Capacitor Banks. These are PFC (Power Factor Correction) equipment and help correct the inefficiencies in the energy supply. Apart from this, they also reduce the peak demand on the power network. This is an effective and cost-effective solution to reduce your power bill as it helps lower the monthly demand and the capacity charges. Generally, the payback periods for PFC are between 1 and 3 years. Taking the life span of the PFC equipment into consideration & the potential savings, this investment can prove to be very worthwhile for you.

If you feel that you are paying too much for electricity, we at Allround Electrical can conduct a survey of the equipment used on your site and map their electrical consumption against the power your plant is using and is being charged for. We will then provide you a report of what your power factor is; and if it is low, how it can be corrected. For more information, call us at 1300 169 263. You can also drop us a line via email.

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constant-current LED driver or constant-current driver is used to regulate the amount of current that is supplied to an LED or LED array to maximize LED lifetime. If current is not regulated, LED brightness can fluctuate and life span can be shortened. The constant-current driver is used for LEDs or light fixtures that require a stable output current and operate within a range of voltages. Most finished LED products already have a constant-current driver or resistors to regulate current. If you’re building an LED fixture or replacing a constant-current driver, it’s important to verify that the output current and voltage of the driver is compatible with the LEDs’ current and voltage. If your LED product already has a constant-current driver or uses resistors in the LED array, you might need a constant-voltage power supply.

If your LEDs are dimmable and you want to change their brightness, choose a Magnitude Dimmable Power Supplies. These dimmable power supplies work by varying the power on the AC input side of the power supply by means of a TRIAC dimmer. This change in power on the AC input side will vary the voltage on the DC output side and control the intensity of the LEDs. TRIAC dimmers are common hardware store and household dimmers, which include brand names such as Lutron and Leviton.

Pulse-Width Modulation Dimming: Pulse-width modulation (PWM) dimming can be used to control dimmable power supplies such as Mean Well LPF Series. This type of dimming control adjusts the output current based on the duty cycle. As the duty cycle increases, current will increase and the LEDs will be brighter. Conversely, if the duty cycle decreases, the current will decrease and the LEDs will be dimmer. Pulse-width modulation for these drivers is based on a 10-volt signal level with a frequency between 100Hz-3KHz. The MLD-5A are compatible for this application.

Resistive Dimming: Resistive dimming can be used to control dimmable power supplies such as 12-Volt Mean Well HLG-40-240 Series or 12-Volt Mean Well HLG-600 Series or here.

The efficiency of a power supply or driver indicates the percentage of power that goes toward making your LED product function. An efficiency of 80 percent or higher is recommended for operating LEDs. 

When choosing a driver or power supply, the size of an LED product’s housing or area of installation is important. If you wish to put a constant-current LED driver inside of a product, the driver must be small enough to fit in the product’s housing. Similarly, if the driver or power supply is used outside of the product’s housing, it should fit the area of installation. Drivers and power supplies are available in a variety of sizes to suit your needs.

A Class 2 driver or power supply is in accordance with limited power levels defined by the National Electric Code (NEC) and fulfills the requirements of Standard UL 1310. Output is limited to 60 volts DC and 100 watts. Because power sources with this rating have limited output, it might not be possible to power as many LEDs or lights as those that don’t have a Class 2 rating. However, these power supplies and drivers provide protection from fire and electric shock.

A Class II rating refers to a double insulation layer between AC input and DC output wires. These drivers and power supplies do not require a ground connection.

In this digital age, having a strong online presence is vital to attract new employees and clients. However, with a few simple tools, any residential or commercial electrical contractor can quickly and easily set up a website. They can also create advertisements and build an online brand. Digital marketing is now accessible to the masses.

Even with a proper website, social media profiles, and company listings, it can be difficult to be noticed online. This is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in. This is a method of making your website appear in the top search results for a given search term. For example, if a user searches for “electrical companies in [your city]”, SEO will ensure that your website appears in the top results.

This can be a complicated process, so SEO experts exist that can handle this task for a fee. Otherwise, an active social media presence will boost your SEO, as Google and other search engines are able to gather and combine data from all over the internet. The larger your online presence, the more likely it is that your company will appear in the top results.

Digital marketing can be simultaneously simple and complex, but with these recommendations, any contractor can start building an online reputation. There are a variety of options to suit any size company. With the right ideas and good management, you can drive traffic, clients, and good employees to your business.