Part 1: Introduction
1. Introduction (pdf)
2. Introduction (video)
3. Why and wherefore: cost-effectiveness, system choice, requirements & size, site, grants (pdf)
Part 2: Components and installation
4. System components: quality, panels, batteries, charge controller, rectifier, inverter, meters, fuses, other electrical components (pdf)
5. Panels: different types, orientation, inclination, roof, ground, pole and wall mounting, series & parallel connections, making your own tracker (pdf)
6. Panels (video)
7. Roof installation (video)
8. Tracking system (video)
Part 3: batteries
9. Batteries: different types, capacity, installation, maintenance, equalising charge, sizing your battery bank, problems, testing, topping up, drop-testing, second-hand batteries (pdf)
10. Battery care (video)
Part 4: Electricity
11. Electricity: voltage, current, watts, resistance, parallel and series, volt drop, cable size, generators, three-phase (pdf)
12. Electricity, multi-meters and Ohm’s law (video)
Part 5: The System
13. Grid-connected systems: advantages and disadvantages, inverter and generation-system compatibility (pdf)
14. Building a system: batteries, panels, home wiring, charge controller, meters, inverter, bonding, cables, fuses, getting it working (pdf)
15. The System: batteries, charge controllers, inverters, cabling, fuses (video)
Part 6: Build your own panels
16. Build your own solar panels (pdf)
17. Build your own panels 1: sort and cut cells, cut and solder tabs, short string and test (video)
18. Build your own panels 2: string panel, encapsulate, compress, trim, frame, seal (video)
Part 7: Conclusions
19. Primary research: study questions, data recording, preconceptions, results, study limitations, conclusions (pdf)
20. So there you are: buying power, global trading, in reality, and finally (pdf)
21. Research and payback data (pdf)
22. Resources: suppliers, installers, courses, books, grants and funding, planning permission, solar insolation, other useful information (pdf)
23. Conclusion (video)
Any questions?
Questions about solar pv: you can post queries at the bottom of our solar electricity topic page.
Questions / problems about the course: contact us.
