I've been learning all kind of things about power systems, electricity, and living off grid. Here's the batteries that are the heart of my electrical power. They are responsible for all the power storage so I have electricity even if the sun is not shining at the moment and the generator is not running. Right now I have two of these and they are 155 amp hours each. In a few days, two more will be added so I will have a bank of 4 for a total of 620 amp hours of storage.
Below is my little generator. It really has been a champion so far. Starting in cold weather, using a tiny amount of gas, and running the house or charging the batteries.
This is the weather proof cables with #10 wire that run about 50 feet from the little clearing where my solar panels sit and into my house. There seems to be very little line drop in the power produced. I did not want to put the panels on my roof for two reasons. My house is almost one hundred percent shaded in the winter. And I want to easily be able to clean snow off of them which would be difficult on a roof.
I just realized it's pitch dark outside and I didn't actually get a shot of the panels where they are sitting outside. But here you can see the frame a very kind friend built for me in his shop. There are two of these so they can more easily be moved. Each frame has two 100 watt panels for a total of 400 watts.
Here are the two current batteries plugged into the charger and generator on one end and the inverter on the other end. Below you can see the addition of the controller for the solar panels. This set up allows me to run the house directly off the generator or the batteries by switching the plug from the generator to the inverter. And the batteries can be charged by the generator and/or the solar panels.
