Many homes require 240-volt electricity, for example, to operate appliances such as electric clothes dryers and electric stoves. As a general rule, you should try to avoid such appliances, not because a solar system cannot be designed to take care of them, but because they use lots of electricity and you’ll need many PV modules to supply them.

If you must have 240-volt AC electricity, don’t despair. All you need to do is purchase and install a step-up transformer such as the Xantrex/Trace T-240. This unit takes 120-volt AC electricity in and steps it up to 240-volt AC electricity. Whatever you do, don’t wire two 120-volt inverters together in series to double your voltage. You’ll burn out both units instantaneously!

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