Why Solar Power?

One of our major problems within South Africa, is generating enough electricity during peak hours and supplying electricity to our rural areas.

The solution for us might not necessarily lie in massive fields covered in solar panels, but rather in utilizing clever yet simple small solar solutions, that can operate in tandem with the grid supply or totally “off the grid”. Saftronics have several clever concepts that can minimize our everyday dependence on “the grid” and therefore alleviate a lot of the pressure that our current electrical grid is under.

Solar power is renewable, clean and has no direct emissions.

Solar panels can be used almost anywhere in South Africa and are suitable for low energy use such as lights and television.

Advantages of installing a Solar Power System

  • Save money on Electrical Bills immediately
  • Protect yourself against rising energy costs
  • Reduce Carbon footprint
  • Conserve on our natural resources
  • Work towards total Energy independence
  • Increase the value of your house
  • Never battle with Loadshedding again

How it works

Solar panels collect energy from the sun and convert it into electricity which is sent to the inverter.  The inverter is one of the most important components of a solar power system and has two very important functions. It takes the electricity from the solar panels and charges the batteries as well as convert the DC from the batteries and solar panels into 230V AC. The AC electricity is then fed into your home to power your lighting and household appliances. There is no need to change any of your lighting or appliances.

Any excess solar power that is not used during the day is used to charge your battery storage system. The battery storage system supplies power to your inverter at night or when there is insufficient solar power available to satisfy your power needs. The system uses an automatic change over switch to ensure you still have power from Eskom on occasion when there is not enough solar and battery power available. This way you are almost certain to have power available at all times, day and night.

Choosing the right system

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The size of the solution is dependent on the number of appliances, light and other equipment you want to use during periods when no power is available from the gird.

A key consideration is the energy usage of the equipment, therefore we differentiate between essential load items (lights, security systems, fridge, freezer, TVs, internet routers, etc.) and heavy load items such as geysers, stoves, aircons, and pumps.

Adding up all the essential load items that you require to function at the same time during a power failure will give you the peak power requirements. This must be less than the backup power rating of the system you purchase.

The amount of backup energy storage available is determined by the size of the battery bank.
Running time is dependent on the load, in other words, how many appliances you have on at the same time, and how much energy each appliance use.

The power rating of the inverter will determine how much peak power can be supplied at once. In other words, how many appliances and type of appliances can be on at the same time.

The peak power rating of each system will determine how many appliances can be operated at once.

Adding up the power usage of all the appliances that are on at the same time, will give you the peak power usage of all the appliances. This must be less than the backup power rating of the system you buy.

If more loads are put on the inverter than its rating, it will shut down to protect itself