Solar and electrical guides for Kenya

Electrical Panel Maintenance for Factories and Workshops: A Preventive Checklist

A preventive maintenance routine for distribution boards, motor control panels and switchgear: inspection, thermal checks, tightening, cleaning and testing.

How Much Does House Wiring Cost in Kenya? What Affects the Price

What decides the cost of wiring a new house or rewiring an old one: points, materials, conduit, board, labour and finishes, plus how to compare electrician quotes.

Lightning Protection for Buildings in Kenya: Do You Need It?

How lightning protection systems work, which buildings need them, the parts of a system and why surge protection and earthing are part of the answer.

MCB vs RCD vs RCBO vs MCCB: What Each Protective Device Does

The difference between MCBs, RCDs, RCBOs and MCCBs, what each protects against and where each is used in homes and businesses.

House Wiring Cable Sizes: Which Cable for Lights, Sockets, Cooker and Geyser?

A practical guide to typical cable sizes and breaker ratings for home circuits, voltage drop, and why a qualified electrician must verify every circuit.

Electric Cooking vs Gas vs Induction: Which Is Cheaper in Kenya?

How to compare the cost of cooking with LPG gas, induction cookers and electric coils, with a break-even calculation and tips for solar homes.

Motor Starters Explained: DOL, Star-Delta and VFD

How industrial motor starting methods work: direct-on-line, star-delta, soft starters and variable frequency drives, with pros, cons and typical uses.

Why You Need Electrical Drawings and Load Calculations Before You Build

What electrical design includes, why load calculations and single-line diagrams matter, and how drawings save money and speed up approvals.

Electrical Planning Checklist for a New House or Apartment

What to decide before wiring a new building: number of points, circuits, board size, conduit, earthing, three-phase, solar-ready and CCTV and network cabling.

Power Factor Correction: What It Is and Why Businesses Should Care

What power factor means, why low power factor wastes capacity and can raise charges, and how capacitor banks correct it for factories and large buildings.

LED Lighting Guide: Lumens, Colour Temperature and Choosing the Right Lights

How to choose LED lights: lumens vs watts, warm vs cool white, how bright rooms and offices need to be, dimming and quality checks.

Surge Protection for Home and Business: Protect Your Equipment from Lightning and Spikes

How surges damage electronics, what surge protective devices do, where to fit them and why earthing matters, including for solar and CCTV.

Home Electrical Safety Checklist: 15 Things to Check

A practical home electrical safety checklist for Kenyan homes and landlords: sockets, boards, earthing, RCDs, cables, extension leads and outdoor wiring.

Why Is My Electricity Bill So High? Causes and Fixes

The most common reasons for a high electricity bill in Kenya and how to find the cause: big appliances, faults, standby loads, tariffs and meter issues.

How to Reduce Your Kenya Power Bill: 10 Practical Ways

Practical ways to cut your electricity bill in Kenya: find your biggest loads, fix hot water costs, upgrade lighting and appliances, and use solar to cut what you buy from the grid.

Single-Phase vs Three-Phase Power in Kenya: Which Do You Need?

The difference between single-phase (240 V) and three-phase (415 V) electricity in Kenya, when you need three-phase, and how to upgrade a connection.

Earthing and RCD Protection Explained: Why Your Home Needs Both

What electrical earthing and RCDs do, how they prevent shocks and fires, signs of poor earthing, and why solar and generator systems need them too.

Why Does My Breaker Keep Tripping? Causes and What to Do

Common causes of tripping circuit breakers and RCDs: overload, short circuit, earth leakage, faulty appliances and damp. Safe steps to find the problem.

Signs Your House Needs Rewiring (and What to Do About It)

Warning signs that wiring is unsafe or worn out: tripping breakers, warm sockets, burning smells, flickering lights and no earthing. What rewiring involves.

Generators (7)

Power Outage Checklist for Businesses: Protect Equipment, Data and Sales

How businesses can prepare for power cuts: critical loads, UPS, inverter or solar backup, generator changeover, surge protection and a simple outage plan.

Generator Fuel Consumption Chart: How Much Diesel Does a Generator Use per Hour?

Approximate diesel consumption in litres per hour for common generator sizes at 50%, 75% and full load, plus how to estimate your running cost.

Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) Explained: How Generators Start Themselves

What an automatic transfer switch does, how it detects a power cut, starts the generator and switches loads safely, and when you need one.

Generator Maintenance Checklist: Keep It Ready for the Next Outage

A practical generator maintenance checklist: weekly checks, oil and filter changes, battery care, test runs, fuel quality and when to service.

Diesel vs Petrol Generator: Which Should You Buy?

Compare diesel and petrol generators for homes and businesses: fuel use, cost, durability, noise, size ranges and when each is the better choice.

UPS vs Inverter vs Generator: Which Backup Power Is Right for You?

The difference between a UPS, a home inverter with battery and a generator, with typical uses, runtimes and costs to help you choose backup power.

What Size Generator Do I Need? A Simple Sizing Guide

How to size a standby or portable generator: add up running and starting loads, allow headroom, choose single or three-phase and plan an ATS and fuel.

Networking (7)

How to Secure Your Office Wi-Fi Network: 10 Practical Steps

Practical steps to secure business Wi-Fi and networks: strong passwords, WPA3 or WPA2, guest networks, firmware updates, VLANs and monitoring.

Fibre vs 5G or 4G vs Satellite Internet: What Is Best for Your Home or Office?

Compare fibre, mobile (4G/5G) routers and satellite internet by speed, reliability, latency and cost, and learn how to add a backup line.

How Many Wi-Fi Access Points Does My Office Need?

How to estimate the number of Wi-Fi access points for an office from users, devices, area and walls, with rules of thumb and the value of a site survey.

Structured Cabling Explained: Why Every Office Needs It

What structured cabling is, its parts (patch panel, racks, outlets, backbone), standards, labelling and testing, and why it beats ad hoc cabling.

How to Fix Wi-Fi Dead Spots in Your Home or Office

Why Wi-Fi drops in some rooms and how to fix it: router placement, access points, mesh vs wired backhaul, channels and interference.

Cat6 vs Cat5e vs Fibre: Which Network Cable Should You Use?

Compare Cat5e, Cat6 and fibre optic cable for offices, homes and CCTV: speed, distance, cost and when each makes sense.

Office Wi-Fi and LAN Setup: A Practical Guide for Small Businesses

How to plan structured cabling, access points, switches and a secure network for an office: coverage, speeds, PoE and common mistakes to avoid.

CCTV & Security (11)

CCTV Camera Not Working? Troubleshooting Guide for No Image, Offline Cameras and Recorder Problems

Step-by-step checks for CCTV problems: no picture, offline IP camera, recorder not recording, hard drive errors, night vision issues and remote access failures.

How Many CCTV Cameras Do I Need for My House, Compound or Business?

A practical way to decide how many CCTV cameras you need: entry points, blind spots, field of view and typical camera counts for homes, shops and compounds.

Electric Fence Problems: Why Is My Fence Not Shocking, and How to Fix It

Common electric fence faults such as low voltage, grounding, vegetation, broken insulators and dead energisers, and a simple maintenance routine.

CCTV and Privacy in Kenya: Signs, Data and Your Responsibilities

What to consider about privacy when installing CCTV in Kenya: warning signs, where cameras may point, who can see footage and how long to keep it.

How to View CCTV on Your Phone Securely

How remote CCTV viewing works, what you need, and how to keep your cameras safe from hackers: passwords, firmware, port forwarding and cloud access.

CCTV for Shops and Retail Stores: Camera Placement and Setup

Where to place CCTV cameras in a shop, supermarket or retail store: entrances, tills, aisles, stock rooms and parking, plus recording and remote viewing tips.

Wired vs Wireless CCTV Cameras: Which Is More Reliable?

Compare wired (PoE or coax) and wireless (Wi-Fi) CCTV cameras for reliability, image quality, installation and security so you can choose the right system.

What Affects the Cost of CCTV Installation in Kenya?

The factors that decide CCTV installation prices: number and type of cameras, resolution, recorder, storage, cabling, power and remote access.

How Electric Fences Work: Types, Safety and What Affects the Cost

How an electric fence energiser works, wall-top vs freestanding fences, safety rules, maintenance and the factors that decide the price in Kenya.

CCTV Storage: How Many Days of Recording Does Your Hard Drive Hold?

How to calculate CCTV hard drive size from camera count, resolution, compression and recording mode. Includes an example table.

How to Choose a CCTV System for Your Home or Business in Kenya

IP vs analogue cameras, resolution, night vision, NVR vs DVR, camera placement and remote viewing: a practical guide to choosing CCTV.

Solar (26)

Solar Security Lights: Floodlights and Motion Sensor Lights for Your Compound

How to choose solar floodlights and motion lights for home and business security: lumens, battery, panel, sensor modes, mounting height and durability.

Why Is My Solar Inverter Beeping? Common Alarms and What They Mean

Common reasons a solar inverter beeps or shows faults: low battery, overload, overheating, grid fault and loose connections, with safe checks you can do.

Solar for Schools, Churches and Clinics: What Institutions Should Know

How institutions can plan solar to cut power bills and keep critical loads running: load audits, maintenance, budgeting and procurement tips.

Solar for Farms in Kenya: Irrigation, Dairy Cooling and Poultry

How farms can use solar for water pumping, milk cooling, egg incubation and lighting, with load planning tips and what to ask an installer.

Does Solar Work With a Kenya Power Prepaid Meter?

How solar power interacts with prepaid (token) meters in Kenya: savings, backup systems, grid-tied export and what to confirm with Kenya Power.

How to Calculate Battery Backup Time for Your Solar System or Inverter

The formula for how long a battery will power your appliances, with worked examples, depth of discharge, inverter losses and lithium vs lead-acid differences.

How Many Solar Panels Do You Need to Run a Fridge?

A simple way to size solar panels and a battery for a fridge or freezer, with typical daily energy use and an example calculation.

Solar Panels in Series vs Parallel: How to Wire Them Correctly

What series and parallel solar panel connections do to voltage and current, how strings are matched to an inverter, and why wiring mistakes cause poor output.

Solar for Shops, Offices and Small Businesses in Kenya

How small businesses can use solar to cut power bills and survive outages: loads to cover, system types, payback logic and what to ask installers.

Is My Roof Suitable for Solar Panels? Direction, Tilt, Shade and Strength

How to tell if your roof can take solar panels: orientation near the equator, tilt, shading, roof material, structure and space.

Monocrystalline vs Polycrystalline Solar Panels: Which Should You Buy?

The difference between mono and poly solar panels, how efficiency and cost compare, and what to look for on a panel datasheet.

How Long Do Solar Panels Last? Lifespan, Degradation and Warranties

Typical solar panel lifespan, how output declines over time, what warranties cover and which parts of a system wear out first.

Solar vs Generator: Which Is Cheaper to Run in Kenya?

A fair comparison of solar and diesel generators: running cost per kWh, noise, maintenance, reliability and when to use both together.

Solar Water Pumps for Boreholes and Farms: How to Size One

How solar pumping works, how to calculate pump and panel size from flow and head, and what to check for boreholes, irrigation and livestock.

What Can a 3 kW Solar System Run? Appliances and Limits

A realistic guide to what a 3 kW solar inverter and a typical home solar system can power at once, with appliance wattages and what to avoid.

How to Choose a Solar Inverter in Kenya: Hybrid, Off-Grid or Grid-Tied

What to check when choosing a solar inverter: type, continuous and surge power, battery voltage, MPPT, pure sine wave, protection and warranty.

How to Clean and Maintain Solar Panels in Kenya

How often to clean solar panels, the safe way to do it, and the simple checks that keep a solar system producing well for years.

Solar Street Lights: How to Choose the Right One for Your Estate or Road

How solar street lights work, how to size lamp wattage, pole height, battery autonomy and spacing, and what to check before buying for an estate, school or road.

Solar Water Heater vs Electric Geyser: Running Costs Compared

How much electricity a geyser uses, how to calculate your hot water cost in Kenya, and when a solar water heater saves money.

How to Choose a Solar Installer in Kenya: Licences, Quotes and Red Flags

A practical checklist for hiring a solar installer in Kenya: EPRA licensing, what a good quote includes, warranty questions and red flags to avoid.

Grid-Tied Solar and Net Metering in Kenya: What You Need to Know

How net metering works in Kenya, reported limits for home systems, why unapproved export to the grid is a problem, and how to connect a solar system legally.

Solar Batteries in Kenya: Lithium (LFP) vs Lead-Acid and Gel

Lithium iron phosphate versus lead-acid and gel solar batteries for Kenyan homes: lifespan, usable capacity, cost over time and how to choose.

What Size Solar System Do I Need for My House? Worked Example

How to size a home solar system in Kenya: list your appliances, calculate daily energy, then size panels, inverter and battery. Includes a full worked example.

On-Grid, Off-Grid or Hybrid Solar? Which System Is Right for You

On-grid, off-grid and hybrid solar compared in plain language: how each works, what they cost relative to each other, what happens in a power cut, and who each suits.

Is Solar Worth It in Kenya? A Step-by-Step Payback Calculation

Work out whether solar pays off for your home or business in Kenya: a simple payback calculation with a worked example, and when solar is not a good fit.