We are able to manufacture, source, and supply solar power energy systems with over 58 client factories.

One of the product lines that has been gathering steam over the last couple of months is independent (household, business, and individual) solar power energy systems for “off grid” use. These units are able to work and provide household and business levels of electricity when the primary electrical grid is unstable. Depending on the needs of the residence, or building, these systems can rely on a host of mechanisms to generate power, store power and regulate power for use when needed.

These products are of interest to customers in regions that have unstable electrical power, or where the electrical power is too expensive or “unclean”. They are also useful in remote areas where power is not available, or very useful for those people who wish to disconnect from the main energy grid for whatever reason.

Essentially, these systems appear to be quite complex, but in actuality are simply a mechanism for generating electricity, storing it, and then providing it as needed when an emergency occurs. These systems are comprised of numerous components, all of which we can provide in all sorts of sizes shapes and configurations.

Central to solar-power based power supply systems are the solar panels that are used to collect the energy from the sun.

Solar Panels

Solar panels work by capturing energy from the sun and converting it into electricity for homes and businesses.

The term solar panel is used colloquially for a photo-voltaic module. A PV module is an assembly of photo-voltaic cells mounted in a framework for installation. Photo-voltaic cells use sunlight as a source of energy and generate direct current electricity. A collection of PV modules is called a PV Panel, and a system of Panels is an Array. Arrays of a photovoltaic system supply solar electricity to electrical equipment, and that is what a solar panel is.

Solar panels are very similar to architectural glass. The primary difference is that the PVD inter-layer has been replaced with PV technology. We at Smoking Lion work with factories to provide the best possible solutions to the needs of our clients. We source, select, manufacture, and produce the agreed upon products, then check for quality all prior to us shipping and handling the logistics involved. We also provide design assistance, testing, DFM and other services as needed. If you have questions or concerns about pollution, child labor, or other issues and compliance, we would be happy to provide auditing services for your operations. — A solar panel can be considered to be similar to the glass used in sheathing an office building (curtain wall). However, instead of having a PVD inner-layer, a matrix of solar cells are laid out from which the light is collected and converted into energy.

Once installed on your roof, solar panels convert sunlight into direct current (DC) electricity that flows into an inverter. The inverter converts the DC electricity into alternating current (AC) that your home can use. Any additional power generated that you don’t use gets pushed back into the electric grid for a credit on your electric bill.

We have long standing relationships with numerous companies making these arrays and are able to provide suitable designs for your specific needs and applications.

Batteries / Battery Banks

Solar panels are connected in series to form a string of panels. This enables all the panels to work in unison. The string connects to one large inverter where the DC power (generated by the panels) is stored into batteries.

A battery bank is the result of joining two or more batteries together for a single application. What does this accomplish? Well, by connecting batteries, you can increase the voltage, amperage, or both. When you need more power, instead of getting yourself a massive super tanker of an RV battery. We at Smoking Lion work with factories to provide the best possible solutions to the needs of our clients. We source, select, manufacture, and produce the agreed upon products, then check for quality all prior to us shipping and handling the logistics involved. We also provide design assistance, testing, DFM and other services as needed. If you have questions or concerns about pollution, child labor, or other issues and compliance, we would be happy to provide auditing services for your operations. — The energy collected from the solar panels are collected into large battery banks to provide energy when the sun is not available.

Batteries allow the energy to be stored to use when the sun is not shining. This could be during the night, or during cloudy or rainy days.

A battery bank can be composed of a single battery, or multiple interconnected batteries that are wired to work as one large battery at a certain voltage and amp-hour capacity. We design our battery banks to pair with our off-grid systems.

The size of the battery bank is a function of how much energy you want to use when the sun is not longer available. Charging up a single cell phone is quite different from running an air conditioner for a day. And, thus because of this, there are “rules of thumb” in sizing these banks given location, and energy use.

Central Inverter

A central inverter collects all the energy from the solar panels and the battery banks and converts them from DC power to AC power. The reason for this is simple. Most homes and residences use main public electricity from the utility companies. They supply it in AC.

A power inverter, or inverter, is a power electronic device or circuitry that changes direct current to alternating current. The input voltage, output voltage and frequency, and overall power handling depend on the design of the specific device or circuitry. The inverter does not produce any power; the power is provided by the DC source. We at Smoking Lion work with factories to provide the best possible solutions to the needs of our clients. We source, select, manufacture, and produce the agreed upon products, then check for quality all prior to us shipping and handling the logistics involved. We also provide design assistance, testing, DFM and other services as needed. If you have questions or concerns about pollution, child labor, or other issues and compliance, we would be happy to provide auditing services for your operations. — Central inverters come in all sorts of different sizes and shapes. Here is one for a large ranch that uses a large number of panels and a battery bank it’s it’s own cabin.

This Inverter allows you to operate using the public electricity source, and when it “brown outs” or has problems, you can immediately switch to your own solar panels and battery packs without interruption in your service.

Micro Inverters

But what happens if your central inverter goes down? What happens, then? Are you able to repair it yourself, or fix it, or do you just rely on DC for all of your electrical needs?

These are just reduced size inverters where there is one inverter for each solar panel. So instead of worrying about your entire system going down when the central inverter fails, you now have multiple redundant systems that will continue providing AC electricity on demand. We at Smoking Lion work with factories to provide the best possible solutions to the needs of our clients. We source, select, manufacture, and produce the agreed upon products, then check for quality all prior to us shipping and handling the logistics involved. We also provide design assistance, testing, DFM and other services as needed. If you have questions or concerns about pollution, child labor, or other issues and compliance, we would be happy to provide auditing services for your operations. — A micro-inverter is a solar-panel sized inverter. It is useful for redundancy purposes.

The solution to mitigate this problem is to replace the central inverter with much smaller, and simpler “micro inverters”. These are just reduced size inverters where there is one inverter for each solar panel. So instead of worrying about your entire system going down when the central inverter fails, you now have multiple redundant systems that will continue providing AC electricity on demand.

In short, each solar panel has its own small inverter attached to its backside. The DC power is converted to AC power at the panel level.

Power Optimizer

A poweroptimizer is a combination of both a string and micro inverter. It is a module-level power electronic (MLPE) device that increases the solarpanelsystem’s energy output by constantly measuring the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of each individual solarpanel and adjusts DC characteristics to maximize energy output.
What is a Power Optimizer? | Solar.com

Used with a central inverter, power optimizers are attached to each panel in the array. They condition the DC power at the panel level before it moves on to the inverters.

A power optimizer is a DC/DC converter which is connected by installers to each solar module, turning them into smart modules. We at Smoking Lion work with factories to provide the best possible solutions to the needs of our clients. We source, select, manufacture, and produce the agreed upon products, then check for quality all prior to us shipping and handling the logistics involved. We also provide design assistance, testing, DFM and other services as needed. If you have questions or concerns about pollution, child labor, or other issues and compliance, we would be happy to provide auditing services for your operations. — Microinverters and power optimizers certainly do offer certain benefits over string inverters: they perform better on roofs with partial shading or which face multiple orientations (such as a gabled roof), and they allow you to monitor the performance of individual solar panels.

Traditional Rooftop Mounting System

Generally, all the components will need to be mounted on a framework. The inverters will need to be in a housing, and the batteries will need to be placed out of the weather inside an enclosure.

Mounting systems for solar panels on a roof. We at Smoking Lion work with factories to provide the best possible solutions to the needs of our clients. We source, select, manufacture, and produce the agreed upon products, then check for quality all prior to us shipping and handling the logistics involved. We also provide design assistance, testing, DFM and other services as needed. If you have questions or concerns about pollution, child labor, or other issues and compliance, we would be happy to provide auditing services for your operations. — An example of how the solar panels are mounted to a roof. Typically these panels are mounted on aluminum rails or extrusions and held in place with clamps.

Rooftop installation costs can vary quite a bit based on the type of roof and its substructure, solar array design and from region to region, based on typical wind and snow conditions.

Generally speaking, roof mountings are more complex than ground or pole mounts. However, residential installations tend to be roof mountings because that is the highest and largest clear space on the property. Roof mounts are fixed mounts, which means that the panels do not move with the sun.

But the mounting system, also called the racking system, does more than merely hold your solar panels in place at a 30 to 45-degree angle. The mounting determines the solar modules’ alignment with the sun. The better aligned the panels are, the higher the power production.

Backup Gasoline or diesel generator

So, what do you do when the sun is not shining, and there just isn’t any electricity on the mains? What happens when even your battery bank drains? What options do you have?

You have all sort of options.

The most common is to have a small generator to charge up the batteries. This can be just about anything and of any make or model. The idea is that it would generate some DC or AC used to charge the batteries.

There are three major types of generators. The first is the inverter generator, which is a smaller, more lightweight option that’s ideal for tailgating and RVing. If you want a quiet generator, this is the best option. Another generator type is a backup generator. We at Smoking Lion work with factories to provide the best possible solutions to the needs of our clients. We source, select, manufacture, and produce the agreed upon products, then check for quality all prior to us shipping and handling the logistics involved. We also provide design assistance, testing, DFM and other services as needed. If you have questions or concerns about pollution, child labor, or other issues and compliance, we would be happy to provide auditing services for your operations. — The size of the generator is a function of your energy load requirements. It need not be large if it’s role is for battery bank back up purposes.

Windmill

I personally believe that once you have a battery bank and inverters, the homestead would be well advised to have supplemental systems in the form of wind, water, gasoline and wood / coal to supply energy to your batteries. One of the most common secondary systems is the use of a windmill to generate electricity.

Renewable energy experts often recommend installing hybrid wind and solar energy systems for off-grid living. These systems work well because wind and solar energy tend to be most available at different times. We at Smoking Lion work with factories to provide the best possible solutions to the needs of our clients. We source, select, manufacture, and produce the agreed upon products, then check for quality all prior to us shipping and handling the logistics involved. We also provide design assistance, testing, DFM and other services as needed. If you have questions or concerns about pollution, child labor, or other issues and compliance, we would be happy to provide auditing services for your operations. — When the wind blows these turbines generate power and all your supply comes from these generators. Whenever the wind blows 10 miles an hour, then the turbine produces energy more than your usage, so the rest of the energy goes to the electrical grids and give supply to your neighbor’s home. In this situation your power meter runs in reverse and credits you for supplying electricity.

“Technically, if you look at wind maps, we’re in a bad location for wind, but we wanted to be off-grid for environmental reasons,” Cam says. The biggest issue with the Mathers’ property is that they have too many trees, and even though their small wind turbine is easily 40 feet above the tree line, the landscape slows down the wind. Wind still makes sense for them, though, because they’re off the grid, so their only electricity is what they produce and then store in batteries. They started with solar panels, but adding a wind turbine to the mix made the whole system much more stable and efficient — a major benefit when you’re solely responsible for generating your own electricity.
Motherearth News

A typical house uses about 9400 KWH of electricity a year. That means you would be needed about 780 KW hours a month. So, after depending upon the wind’ speed of your area, you would be needing a wind turbine in between 5-15 KW range. However, if you wish to use the turbine to supplement the solar collection system, it can be much smaller.

Renewable energy experts often recommend installing hybrid wind and solar energy systems for off-grid living. These systems work well because wind and solar energy tend to be most available at different times.

Microhydropower systems

If you have a grade on your target properties, you can use water and streams to provide a main source of power, or to use as a backup source of supply to your solar power system.

Microhydropower can be one of the most simple and consistent forms or renewable energy on your property.

Microhydropower systems usually generate up to 100 kilowatts of electricity. Most of the hydropower systems used by homeowners and small business owners, including farmers and ranchers, would qualify as microhydropower systems. But a 10-kilowatt microhydropower system generally can provide enough power for a large home, a small resort, or a hobby farm. We at Smoking Lion work with factories to provide the best possible solutions to the needs of our clients. We source, select, manufacture, and produce the agreed upon products, then check for quality all prior to us shipping and handling the logistics involved. We also provide design assistance, testing, DFM and other services as needed. If you have questions or concerns about pollution, child labor, or other issues and compliance, we would be happy to provide auditing services for your operations. — Microhydropower systems can supplement, or replace solar power systems if you have a grade from which a head of water can be developed.

If you have water flowing through your property, you might consider building a small hydropower system to generate electricity. Microhydropower systems usually generate up to 100 kilowatts of electricity. Most of the hydropower systems used by homeowners and small business owners, including farmers and ranchers, would qualify as microhydropower systems. But a 10-kilowatt microhydropower system generally can provide enough power for a large home, a small resort, or a hobby farm.

A microhydropower system needs a turbine, pump, or waterwheel to transform the energy of flowing water into rotational energy, which is converted into electricity.

System Sizing

In general, there are “rules of thumb” on how to determine the sizing of systems for various applications. For the most part, we can consider solar power systems for most residences and small business to fall under the following guidelines;

Small Home = 3 Kw
Large Ranch = 5 Kw
Business / American Home = 10 Kw
Large Business = 20 Kw

However, if you have unique needs you can always calculate your ideal system yourself. Here’s a pretty good guide to get you started…

How to calculate the energy requirements of your solar power system. We at Smoking Lion work with factories to provide the best possible solutions to the needs of our clients. We source, select, manufacture, and produce the agreed upon products, then check for quality all prior to us shipping and handling the logistics involved. We also provide design assistance, testing, DFM and other services as needed. If you have questions or concerns about pollution, child labor, or other issues and compliance, we would be happy to provide auditing services for your operations. — You can calculate your energy requirements by using this handy little guide.

Conclusion

We at Smoking Lion work with factories to provide the best possible solutions to the needs of our clients. We source, select, manufacture, and produce the agreed upon products, then check for quality all prior to us shipping and handling the logistics involved. We also provide design assistance, testing, DFM and other services as needed. If you have questions or concerns about pollution, child labor, or other issues and compliance, we would be happy to provide auditing services for your operations.

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