On Mon, 6 Nov 2017 22:23:11 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 6 Nov 2017 13:18:06 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

...
One solar array catches an opening between the trees
before noon, the other after it. I used an extra freestanding HF
panel
to find a convenient area for the new panels where I can get power
from 8AM to 2PM though it's not a good spot for a permanent mount.

Just hope you don't have a branch come down and poke through them.
Impermanent placement sucks. Moving things twice daily is a PITA.
What are your future plans mounting and expansion?


It's still a backup for outages, until I set up outdoor battery
storage and can let them charge more quickly to the equalization and
gassing voltage. Limiting the battery voltage to non-gassing 13.6V as
the APC1400 SmartUPS does extends the recharge time past one day. I
think I can get away with a partial recharge for a week or so by using
a generator and my 24V 20A welding transformer charger to make up
solar shortages.

Yes, charging outdoors does allow your hydrogen producers to avoid the
lebenty seben different sparky things inside the home. I'll surround
my batteries with batts of fiberglass, vent the box with a screened 2"
hole top and bottom, and allow charging and discharging to keep them
from freezing. It's easier here than there, as we have a nicer
(non-Global Warming, kumbaya) climate. I'll be running in (mostly) DC
mode until I put up a second+ kW, expand my battery bank, and get a
real inverter. The 2kW HF inverter is 120v only and is semi-sine. :-/
I'll call Carrier today and ask if the Infinity will run on it.


Speaking of falling branches, last Sunday's storm brought down two
full grown oaks and the top of a third among my sheds out back without
doing more than dent the edges of the corrugated roofs as the trees
landed right beside and between them.

Congrats, you got lucky and dodged yet another bullet, and now have
enough additional firewood for 3-6 more years. After you put in the
week to process it and a year to age.

--
In reality, serendipity accounts for one percent of the blessings
we receive in life, work and love. The other 99 percent is due to
our efforts.
-- Peter McWilliams