From: dobe762@gmail.com   
      
   On Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at 3:04:56 AM UTC+1, ads wrote:   
      
   > Most commercial suppliers are not interested in relatively small   
   > installations because the pricing they can give on big systems falls   
   > apart below a couple of kw.  There's similar setup time and labor for   
   > a few solar panels as for 4 times that many as well as the wiring so   
   > the costs for small solar don't work out.   
   >    
   > I'm handy at finding good used and recycled gear, as well as finding   
   > bargains in electronic equipoment.  I put together a 12 volt, 540AH   
   > (6480WH) battery bank with two 2000 watt pure sine wave (PSW)   
   > inverters, a 500 watt PSW inverter, two 30 amp MPPT charge   
   > controllers, 900 watts of solar panels and all the interconnect   
   > wiring, fuses, circuit breakers and monitoring equipment for $2100US.    
   > The electronics were shipped but the batteries and solar panels were   
   > sourced locally (no shipping, just gas for my truck).  The solar   
   > panels are not yet permanently mounted (still working out which of 3   
   > possible mounting locations is the best location).   
   >    
   > I do have 25 amps of precisely controlled battery charging equipment   
   > that can be powered by a gasoline generator (NOT the $30 cheapie   
   > charger from the auto parts store).  An hour of that charging provides   
   > 1 to 4 hours of runtime from the battery bank, depending on the season   
   > (more heat and light needed in winter and less sun available for solar   
   > charging).   
   >    
   > My design goal was "Wait until daylight" power so I would not be   
   > setting up the gas gen in the dark or during a thunderstorm because   
   > most of our outages are less than 16 hours.  Depending on the season,   
   > the system provides 10 to 20 hours of limited power.  The design meets   
   > my goal and I learned a great deal about solar power.   
      
   Thanks ads, yes that was the conclusion I'd arrived at. Interesting that you   
   went for a 12V system I was thinking of at least 24V perhaps 48V and being   
   able to use lighter wire in the system, but like I say I don't really have a   
   clue. A similar setup to    
   what you have built would probably meet my needs too.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)