Guys just a couple of questions, I'm looking at setting up my first system here's what I'm looking at, three 250W panels = 32 amps? Six 6v gulf cart batterys = 12v 585A probably a morningstar MPPT controller, now first question, if I'm reading the wire chart right to get the 750w 32A 50 feet to batterys I'll need #1 wire for 12v #4 wire for 24v is that right? Next question, if I go 24v can I knock it down to 12v for appliances that don't take 24v?

Well a Year Later and 20 of the .4 amp LED are Now hot and running 9 of the .3 LED are up. On two Marine RV Batteries and two NT 60 watt kits. I have hit 100 percent on Lights now. I am now into the Hard stuff Icebox and freezer next with swamp cooler. I think I can pull it off with the tiger claw 1500-2000 watt inverter,

But for now Yah hooo the lights alone were a milestone

Well I was off today and since it had been a while I took a good look at the Batteries, And decided to do some Maint/Cleanup. Well Being color blind is not a plus, I cleaned up the terminals added a little H2O Put a red wire where a black out to be. You know the rest, Panels and the House hold lights made it fine. The APEX TV however had a bad day. Thank god for Walmart and its extended warranty. Had to ship it back to the WH, but a new one is in route. As with my Comrades in a quest to be…

will my 10 amp charge controller be ok running 2 - 45 watt kits plus a single 15 watt panel for a total of 7 panels?

We My Wife got into one of those Gota go to Garage same moods yesterday. Me I would rather have had a wino cut my liver out with a pickle fork than go but yesterday I took one for the team.(and got lucky)

Got light fixtures and Heavy Steel mounts for the 145 watt DM Solar Panels I had been Searching for mounting bracketts for a while total cost 4 bucks. Wife and Lady luck sometimes reward you for looking at all the Pink Chick foo foo junk at garage sales.

School Has me slowed…

Enrolled in a College course that is chewing up a lot of time for the next 16 weeks. 12 Volt Project has really has gone super well. Searching for a low voltage 12 volt motor with low amps for the Evap Cooler, Winning at this is very slow.

Went to my local HF today and they had one of the 15 watt panels from the old kit on sale for $39.99 so I had to buy it to add to my other kit.

Appliances We have been clicking around all over the web, Since we have started the 12 volt project at our farm we find a mixed bag of what looks like advertising voodoo when searching for 12 volt appliances. Cash is a Big Factor. We have made enough mistakes by not checking this Forum. I have looked and check and have a good Idea on where to get these Items.

Television, Small Cooler/Fridge,…

Hey guys and gals. It has been a while but I am glad to see most of the same crew. I have been away for a while tending to other matters, mostly work related.That isn't a problem anymore as the ungrateful ^$&^*% sort of laid me off on a permanent basis. Then they had the gall to replace me with the CFO's 21 year old nephew at half of what I was making. I had been doing that job since 1982. But oh well. Now I can start doing the things that I want to do like building cool stuff and…

Hi, glad to be here,

I just recently purchased 6 Harbor Freight 45 watt kits and one of the 8 kit connection devices. Do I plug each three to one connectors into the 8 connection device and control it from there?

I also saw on eBay a Thunderbolt Magnum 500 watt charger controller for $35.00. Or is there a better way?

Anyone with a correct wiring diagram would be greatly appreciated.

Refrigeration, no Ice at Camp! It took a quarter kilowatt to do it but I’m very pleased. Actually closer to 300 watts but that’s beside the point. I’m able to keep food, beer, and beverages cold & fresh now just using Solar Power my system generates. No more soggy foods. I don’t have to drain coolers or toss plastic ice bags into the trash. I use the thermoelectric chiller to transport to and from and a …

My inverter jumps to 197 volts when a heavy load is added, even though the total load is under 2000 watts.  Has anyone had a similar occurance?  Under a lighter load it is okay.  It will trip out when an even heavier load is added.

I have been reading posts all day and am still confused. Not to mention now becoming a little nervous about playing with power. In addition to the solar panel kit, I have 2  550 and 650 deep cycle batteries as well as a 2000/4000 modified sine wave inverter. The first problem I ran into was not being able to purchase the correct wiring for this project from the same retailer. Gotta love Harbor Freight. So I am looking for alternatives on purchasing the wiring. I am only interested in maybe…

My 2 145 watt DMSolar panels came today and I swapped my 2 sharp panels off my satellite dish mount with them. For now I have one panel going to my battery bank and the other going to a 300 watt GTI. I need to get some T branch mc4 connectors so I can have both panels charging the batteries.

Thanks Ray for this great site. I'm new to the solar power thing. I need to find a way to charge my rv battery so that I can use my cpap breathing machine and other small appliances. I just purchased a 45 watt Thunderbolt and need some advise. Any help would be appreciated.

Combining different solar panels

Can I add a 140 watt panel to my 12 harbor freight panels…

I am new to this group and I have a question.  I just received a notice that the 145 Watt will probably go up for sale on Amazon.com Friday morning.  Does anyone have any idea of when they will be offered again after that?  I also heard that there is a $80 coupon available occasionally.  Will that be offered again?  How can I keep track of these things?  I know I can watch the posts, but we are trying…

I think if you ask the general public who the average "do it yourself solar energy enthusiast" is they would say he or she is someone who is trying to save some money. And sure, that's true for a lot of us. Including me! 

But that is just part of what motivates most of us, I think most of our members are motivated by what I call "fear of being plunged into darkness". And no matter how small your system is you will avoid that when Mr. Big Grid decides it's your "brown out day"…

I have been working on reducing my consumption for about 2 years now and in the last year have added solar to the mix. Below you will see the usage trends for my PG&E electric bill. Starting with the most recent and I highlight the highest month of that year.

From a high in Jun-July2009 of 1252kwh to a high in Jun-July2011 of 855 kwh. That's a reduction of 397 kwh. (Update) New lowest usage was the last bill May-June…

I would like to propose a meeting of those in Tucson Az on this group any takers?