We'll insert this Collection into the sequence of these collection pages' information on a Solar Power System to avoid the chance you'll get ahead of yourself before reading this.

Avoiding Shocks

Your Solar Power System can generate a lot of voltage, so could zap you hard if you connect yourself into the circuit by accident. Likewise, the solar power system can generate high amperage current, which is most dangerous.  Working anytime with live current demands respect and knowledge of safety practices.

Refer to the discussions of the relationships between the Wattage, the Voltage and the Amperage that occurs throughout this sequence of Collections.  Depending on how you connect a set of solar panels, you can increase voltage or amperage or both. It will pay to take it slow and be safe, if you're going to assemble/disassemble the system yourself.  You will protect the subsystems from damage and protect yourself by taking some pretty simple, common sense precautions:  

• All your subsystems should be grounded.  If you don't understand grounding, consult a professional electrician and installer to ensure your system design is properly grounded.
• You should follow precisely all directions from the manufacturers of the subsystems and components -- before ANY other directions or advice.  If you don't understand any of the manufacturers' directions, consult a professional installer and electrician.
• Many of the noteworthy manufacturers will readily supply advice on how to design and construct your system. They want to sell you products.  They are more than happy to tell you how to safely construct your system.  Consult them. And avoid any commercial retailer if they do not provide such advice on their products. A noteworthy retail provider, Renogy.com, provides this discussion of fuses and wire gauge.

Remember, many reading these Collection pages may be thinking of installing systems capable of generating household level current.  These pages are for determining requirements and designing the Solar Power System.  You could seriously hurt yourself if you go meddling inside your home's breaker boxes, so remember, if you put enough solar panels together, you can generate lethal current just like what comes into your house from the main power supply.

Good news about commercially available solar system components

Parts for your system are now available that are compatible based on standard connectors and subsystem components.  You can get most anything you need on Amazon.  Standard connectors are typically enclosed, so that if you purchase the right components, you don't have to handle bare wire.  Cabled connectors like the ones shown here  have easy-to-snap-together design so that they do not expose the wire.  You can assemble almost all of your system without handling any bare wire.

But there are more fundamental ways to protect yourself and your system components. If you're assembling a system yourself, or more likely repairing your system at some point, make sure you do the following.

• Include cut-off switches where power comes out of your Solar Panel subsystem
• Include cutoff switches where power comes out of your storage subsystem
• Always flip both these cutoff switches from solar panels and from batteries anytime you work on any part of the system.

This is fundamental common sense: The Solar Power Subsystem is one source of electricity fed into your system.  The Storage Subsystem is a second source of electricity fed into your system.   Disconnect them both before working on your system.  This is like the reminder you ready on many electrical system components you add/remove/maintain around your home. All of those will say turn off power to the circuit first.

A complementary practice is to deal with any bare wire connections to the Solar Power Controller and the Inverter before you connect your solar panels.  If there's no power supplied by the Solar Power Subsystem, it makes any bare-wire connection significantly simpler to deal with.

Making the final battery connection to the Storage Subsystem is typically handled like connecting the battery in your vehicle. Safest practice is to connect the positive terminal first, then negative. When disconnecting the cables from the battery, disconnect the negative first, then the positive.  And employ special care to avoid any chance that a conductor might touch both terminals of the battery causing a short circuit.