Installing New Panels

[Toepopper]

Good quality solar panels have dropped in price because of the downturn in sales so I picked up 2- 140 watt 12 volt panels for the price of one. This is enough power to keep a small 12 volt battery bank topped off and ready to power some 12 volt SW radios and CD players I have accumulated over the years to be used as emergency communications when the power is out. I had to mount these new panels up in my garden because that is the only area that receives sunlight all day long. I built a rack out of aluminum angle iron to support the panels with hinges on the back attached to legs that run to the ground at a 45 degree angle. When I went to wire the panels together I discovered that the junction box on the back of the panels would only accept one wire. After messing around trying to push 2 wires into the terminals for an hour I got on the web and looked up how to connect the panels together. These new panels now come with a single wire junction box and you must buy a set of MC4 style connectors to hook 2 panels together. The connectors cost another $20 per unit and you need 4 of them. Also, the national electric code has been ammended so if you have more than 2 panels you must now run the wires into a collector box with circuit breakers in it to act as a disconnect to turn off the panels. Thats another $85. So the old way of wiring your panels together and then directly to the charge controller are gone. New laws and codes have been enacted so the inspectors can get a piece of the action and moneys flow into the county building department. Right now I am operating on one solar panel but that produces enough power to top off my small battery bank but I will be forced to buy a collector box to wire up the second panel because thats the cheapest way out.

[308gun]

Why not get a good solar battery charger for just a radio etc... and a good supply of rechargeable batteries ..??? just asking ?

[Toepopper]

Yes, that would work fine but I want a complete solar backup system eventually and this is just the first phase. I have the panels and the 40 amp charge controller hooked up with an amp meter to monitor the solar panel input and a volt meter to determine the charge condition of the batteries. Next phase will be a 12 volt sine wave inverter to power standard AC equipment and then I want to get one of those small, low power consuming refrigerators designed to run off of solar systems. They don't require much power and are super insulated to help keep things cold. Can't afford to purchase all this stuff at once so I am doing it one step at a time.