Glossary

AC Alternating current. Electrical energy which reverses its direction at regular intervals.   AC Daily Power Budget The daily amount of watts your AC appliances use.   AC Inverter and Battery Power Allowance Running an inverter draws a small amount of power from your battery. So does keeping power stored. The inverter and battery allowance in your power calculations help make certain enough power will be produced to keep your battery from running in the red.   Adjusted Total Daily Power Budget A total daily power budget may be changed to meet certain situations. For instance, if you spend only weekends at a house, then your adjusted total daily power budget will be lower. Adding a generator to your system also reduces your total daily power budget. The adjusted daily power budget provides the figure that determines the size of your solar electric power system.   Ampere or amp Electric current is measured in amperes or amps.   Amp Hours The number of amps used or produced in a given hour. Batteries are rated in amp hours.   Array A group of solar electric modules connected together in a power system.   Battery Bank A group of batteries wired together to store power in a solar electric system. Allows you to use the stored power at night, on cloudy days or to run more power than the array can produce at one time.   Charge Controller Regulates the current from solar panels to your battery bank. The charge controller ensures the batteries are not over-charged and provides protection from the current running backwards to the solar panels.   Current The rate of flow of an electric charge. Current is measured in amps.   DC Direct current. Electrical energy flowing in one direction and of substantially constant value.   DC Daily Power Budget The number of watts your DC appliances use daily.   Ground Mount A piece of equipment upon which solar modules are mounted.   Hertz or HZ The frequency of electrical current described in cycles per second. Appliances in the U.S. use 60 HZ. Appliances in other countries generally use 50 HZ.   Inverter An appliance used to convert independent DC power into standard household AC current.   Kilowatt or KW A thousand watts. (see Watts)   Load An appliance or fixture that consumes or uses the energy harvested or stored by the solar system.   MA Milliamps, 1000 MA = 1 amp.   Module Modular solar electric charger; used interchangeably with solar electric panel.   Photovoltaic Converting light into electricity. Photo means "light" voltaic means "electric". Often referred to as "PV" for short. More commonly referred to as "solarelectric".   Solar Blanket A floating polyethylene material that insulates the pool surface and allows light to pass through into the pool.   Solar Cell The smallest basic solar electric device which generates electricity when exposed to light.   Solar Electric The preferred term used to describe something which uses sunlight to produce electricity. "Photovoltaic" is the more technical term.   Thermal Blanket A floating foam cover that insulates well but does not allow light to pass into the swimming pool.   Total Daily Power Budget In a DC system, the daily amount of watts your DC appliances use, plus the battery power allowance. In a DC and AC system, the daily amount of watts DC and AC appliances use, plus battery and inverter power allowances.   Voltage or Volts Voltage is the rating of the amount of electrical pressure that causes electricity to flow in the power line. If electricity were water, voltage would measure the amount of pressure at the faucet.   Watts A watt is a measurement of total electrical power. Volts x amps = watts.   Watt Hour The quantity of electrical energy used or produced when one watt is used for one hour.