Yesterday Matthew (a friend and fellow missionary here in Nakuru) and I went to Nairobi to purchase our initial solar system. The trip went smoothly and we made a purchase at the third company we visited. This is what we bought:
Our fist time to buy anything like this. Well except for the small panel we bought for charging our phones.
A little more detail:
We now have 2 120 Watts Canadian solar panels. Canadian Solar has apparently been bought out, but these guys still have their panels. Panels that are German technology made in China. In other words we have international solar panels.
Electricity goes from the solar panels to the this little device called a charge controller. Which does as it's name suggests, controls the charging of the batteries.
There are 2 of these batteries. Which of course will store the electricity generated by the panels. Our plan was for 4 hours of power in the evening time. We have lights, t.v. DVD, speakers, and charging of phones/computer.
I believe that after the batteries will be this big 200 Amp fuse. I think. Matthew knows the layout, but somewhere after the batteries but before the inverter charger comes this fuse.
After you have generated and stored your electricity it needs to be inverted into something useful. Since we are in Kenya we will be transforming it for a 220 system. From this inverter charger the power goes to the house and we can flip on a light. We bought this particular one because we can charge the batteries with the generator through it should the need too arise.
Oops. I almost forgot to include the wire and mounting hardware we got as well.
Did we stay within budget?
Now that I've put this photo in the post I realize it is hard to read. We spent 175,000. ($2,002) Plus fuel for Matthew's car, lunch, and a stop at the media store to pick up Frozen for movie night this weekend. Within budget.
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