For homeowners wishing to add the functionality of a solar roof without sacrificing the aesthetics of their home, solar shingles are an attractive option. While these photovoltaic cells made in the form of roofing shingles are designed to install as easily as shingles, the electrical wiring unique to solar shingles complicates the process considerably. Here we will present a simple guide to installing solar shingles.

Compared to traditional solar panels, solar shingles offer not only better aesthetics, but a less complicated attachment to the home. While solar panels require a mounting rack to be installed on top of the roof, solar shingles are stapled directly onto the roof just like ordinary shingles. Since you can view the cost of ordinary roofing shingles you would have to buy anyway as a sunk cost, you are only adding the difference in price between ordinary and solar shingles to your costs in exchange for the added functionality, and compared to a conventional solar panel roof you save on the cost of mounting racks.

Before you proceed with the physical installation, careful planning is required in order to achieve the best results. You must consider: the layout of your roof, including the placement of structural members; the number of tiles you will need to generate the amount of power you want taking into account the efficiency of the tiles you have chosen; and how the wires will be routed through the house to the power control panel and inverter. The aforementioned inverter is required to convert the DC output of solar cells into AC power of the type used by home wiring; the type and size of inverter needed depends on the size of your solar grid and whether or not you are employing a battery pack.

In order to generate the levels of voltage required by the inverter, your solar cells will be wired in series. This refers to a wiring arrangement in which the positive terminal of each element is wired to the negative terminal of the next, as opposed to a parallel wiring in which each element is placed on a different branch of the same wire. When elements are wired in series, the voltages generated or consumed by each of the elements in series add. So, if for example each shingle will generate 20V, you would need 50 shingles wired in series to generate 1 KV, or 1000V. These numbers are completely hypothetical; check the specifications of your shingles and inverter to determine the actual number needed.

Once you proceed to the actual installation, your shingles will be stapled onto the roof in an overlapping pattern, just like ordinary roofing shingles. Unlike conventional shingles, however, you will have to drill a hole in the roof under each solar shingle through which its wiring is to pass. In a typical arrangement, wiring holes may be spaced 3 1ž2 inches apart along a line of overlapping shingles. The canny installer will use a template and draw outlines of each hole in chalk before proceeding with the installation of shingles.

Each line of wires will need to be guided along a wiring raceway for security. Careful attention to the placement of structural members in the roof is needed to ensure placement of wiring holes and the associated raceways between members.

The actual wiring of the solar cells to the power control unit and inverter, and from the inverter to the power grid and/or batteries must be done by a licensed electrician.

One important note to keep in mind regarding solar shingles is that they cannot be cut (doing so will render the solar cell non-functional). Additionally, a minimum roof slope of 3:12 is required to ensure proper drainage.

Installing a solar shingle roof can deliver great rewards in energy savings, which can potentially even make your roof profitable after a point in time at which your energy savings have paid off the initial cost. However, installing this fantastic roof is also a complicated and tedious task. If you are planning to install solar shingles on your roof, we hope that this information will help to guide you through the process.