large battery banks

[bootzilla]

At our house (which is off the grid), we use 12 Trojan T105 six-volt batteries wired for 12 volts, and a 2500-watt inverter. With around 1,000 watts of PV panels we have plenty of power

You power your entire house off of 12 six-volt batteries? I don't know much about Solar Power, but I find it fascnating. How many amps can that setup handle, and howmuch stuff do you typically power?

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

Todd, we have more than enough power. With a 2500-watt inverter (which produces better sine-wave AC current than the power company) I can run a table saw or any of my other power tools. Right now we live in a small cottage; once our mansion (1,000 square feet) is built I'll probably add a couple more PV panels. If I get really power hungry we could step up to a 4,000-watt inverter and add a few batteries.

No problem running computers, lights, evaporative cooler, etc. Once a good solar setup is in place you really don't even notice it, except when your friends call you during storms to tell you their power is out.

 

[etbadger]

We run entirely on solar (about 350 watts of panels on our roof) and alternator power. For our usage (fridge, computer, lights, radio, etc) we have boundless power in the summer. Winter we end up needing to drive or idle for an hour or two every couple weeks if it has been cloudy (or frequent snow on the panels). 425ah of battery storage in the house bank.

We decided to forgo a generator because we could use the engine alternator if necessary, a generator would take more space, potentially a different source of fuel (hard to find small diesel generators), noise, exhaust, etc.

The largest improvement we made to our power system was installing a battery monitor and tracking down where all the power went (lead to extra fridge insulation, switches on the electronics that drew power even when off, etc). With these cheap changes we more than halfed our daily consumption with no impact on our lifestyle.

-e