I found myself in a predicament. The price of propane went up to $4.00 per gallon. So my little 250 gallon tank would have cost $1000 to fill. We use propane for heating and cooking. My intention is to save as much propane as possible until the price drops to affordable levels.
I am in the middle of constructing a new house from shipping containers and I'd already bought two pallets of solar panels and laminates. Also 4 charge controllers and two Outback 3500 watt inverters. I had everything I needed except a sheet of plywood. The installation is in no way perfect. It already is a major difference in propane usage.
First came the box to house the electronics. It's about 2 feet square and 4 feet tall.
Electronics tend to last longer if they are kept cool. I put 3 vents in the floor and 3 more just under the top. A fan can be added and controlled by the charge controller if its needed.
The batteries have their own box. The lid has a 1 inch gap for air to circulate and allow hydrogen to escape. These are Eveready GC2 6 volt golf cart batteries.
The solar panels are propped up on one side with 8x8x16 concrete blocks. This allows water to run off and is about the correct angle for optimum summer usage. Wind doesn't have nearly the effect when they are this low. Shading is a problem in the late afternoon. I installed diodes in the wiring to help eliminate any issues with panel heating.
It's a crude setup, but it works well.
I've connected 2 panels in series to get ~80 VDC, then paralleled 4 sets to get 32 amps. 2280 Watts of PV solar is sure handy!
