This is an earlier picture of the Solar Shed holding the smaller system that carried me through several years. Six Kyocera 51-watt PV's served quite well for running the RV, my old 386 computer, the cement mixer and power tools.
The RV at that time had a propane refrigerator which died 3 times in two years and cost a bundle to have repaired. Most of my solar friends had problems with their propane fridges, so find high-efficiency electric and enough solar PV to run it. It'll pay off in the long run.
PV made life bearable from the beginning, and we're glad to have more now.
At first, our old well was dirty and we used the water for plants & construction. When the well pump died, I moved the 2 Photocom 48-watt amorphous PV's from the well to the solar shed roof.
While some of the pro's don't like amorphous, I found them to be good performers. I later sold them to a friend for use on her sailboat, and they're still in use!
In the fall of 2000, our battery bank was in trouble and on the brink of failure. After considering generators and etc, we decided to invest the $$$ in more PV. We added Photowatt modules - 6 50's and 2 40's to fill the Solar Shed roof, and soon afterward added 4 120-watt Solarex modules on a poletop mount . 'Twas a good choice - the old batteries are still alive and we have enough power now with 1066 watts!!
That's my sister and brother-in-law from Wisconsin shading the PV's!
At the moment the PV is charging 6 golf-cart batteries plus one L-16. They were 5 years old in April 2001, and due for replacement, as they can store only about 1/2 their capacity and won't take much more equalizing!
pic coming
Our first inverter was a little ProWatt 200, which ran the TV and other little things in the RV. It worked, but was soon sold & replaced ...
... This is our Trace DR1512 inverter, which has performed flawlessly for over 5 years now. Once recently, while running the computer, TV and washing machine, it shut down when the fridge came on. Nothing harmed - it restarts by itself when the load is removed. Next time I'd choose the more powerful Trace DR2012. Or better still (if the budget didn't matter so!), a Trace sinewave inverter.
... I 'spose you can tell, I like Trace!
Added by Ron KZ, August 2001
copyright 1998 - 07 July 2006 by Ron Klotz-Zellhoefer, SolarSense Designs, Arizona & New Mexico
Permission is granted and welcomed for personal application only.
