Photovoltaics

Customer Reviews

• Lite in content and heavy in tables.  Nov 26, 2006 (83 of 84 found this helpful)

  I am interested in designing and installing a DIY solar panel system for our home, so I purchased this book hoping that it would be packed with useful information for realizing such a project. Unfortunately I found it to be rather "lite" (if you have done any type of electrical wiring beforehand) and not quite up to date. 80 whole pages are wasted with "insolation" tables and "sun charts" covering sample locations around the world .. from Alabama to Afghanistan .. an immense waste of space and trees.
  
  Otherwise, it is a well organized basic textbook with many worksheets, examples and diagrams.
  
  To improve the value of this textbook I recommend that the publisher
  1) simply includes a link to the "insolation" tables available elsewhere on the Web,
  2) incldues additional and current data on the available component alternatives and a means for evaluating these alternatives in the design process, and
  3) raises the assumed level of the audience addressed by this textbook.

• Great Reference  Aug 22, 2005 (44 of 45 found this helpful)

  After the first few pages I knew that this was a good reference. Being a DIY person I found that this book did an excellent job expaining the theory and gave examples of practical application. Things were explained in laymans terms and all aspects of materials to use and the installation process were covered. At the end of every chapter there are questions to test your understanding of the material. These questions can be easily adopted to designing your own system. If you are considering installing a system yourself make this the first book you buy.

• Good for DIY, PV self study, and high school tech prep  Sep 1, 2005 (55 of 58 found this helpful)

  This is the textbook SEI uses for its PV Design and Installation Workshop. It's also well-suited for DIYers who have some electrical experience, and students in high school tech prep-level courses. Readers without any technical background may benefit by taking a PV or circuits course concurrently. The math is limited to arithmetic, and there are many useful tables, graphs, diagrams, and exercises that substitute for algebra. The section titled "The Photovoltaic Reaction" on p. 48 isn't entirely accurate, but this material isn't needed to design and install the systems described in the manual.

• Too much unnecessary information  Mar 22, 2007 (24 of 25 found this helpful)

  As a book writer and a teacher, I was expecting to find step by step instructions on selecting, purchasing and installing pv panels. The book has a lot of charts and graphs that have value only as additional information in an appendix. I am fairly knowledgeable on similar do-it-yourself projects but found this book quite disappointing.

• So So Solar  May 13, 2007 (16 of 17 found this helpful)

  Not a bad book, but it gives itself way too much credit by billing itself as a "Design and Installation Manual". This 315 page book could be condensed into a 50 page useful book entitled "A Basic Introduction to Considerations in Photovoltaic Design and Installation". It's choppy to read, and it has a lot of filler, generalities, and truisms. Expect a lot of this: "The major aspects of installing the photovoltaic array are choosing the most applicable mounting systems and making a proper installation". Some of the electrical theory is questionable. Still, it's the best book I've found, which means there is a great opportunity for a knowledgable PV systems integrator who can write well and put together a comprehensive, well-written text on the subject.