BTW, For people who will say the rating is a rip-off, the Gov't mandated this system.

You have way too much PV for the battery.  See the other new post.
The controller will kick in fast. You are not going to get the ah's into the battery that it sounds like.

Save some money. Get the 7ah batteries.  I don't see any gain by parralling 4@4.5ah over 1@18 ah.  1@18 will be lighter and smaller, probably cheaper.

   Now im kinda confused Ghurd. I should go for 7AH or 18AH? Also is it safe to do so for future expansion purposes? I thought if im not carefull, when i get more panels i will need to change my battery math and therefore need a differant batt.

  The reason i thought several batteries instead of one was to avoid depleting them to far. Maybe my thinking is still wrong on this?

   When i built this thing, i didnt realised the reality of losses and etc. I basically made it to be able to store about 12x standard sized car batteries. So now i feel like i have all this open, unused space. The giant battery bank was also an extended security feature, as i anticipated the weight to be tooo heavy to try to lift.

  My invertors all have low voltage cut-off switches so i dont see how i could have drained it too far. Man this kills my spirits ever so slightly.

  If this thing is as dead as my multimeter is showing, i think there'll be another exchange for crappy tire.

  "Solar Panel--BP 75 watt, from an internet distributor. $310 new, plus $20 for shipping. Wired to contoller and battery bank with #10 Romex.
Solar Panel Mount--Home built from 1 inch aluminum angle, adjustable for summer and winter positions. About $20 total for aluminum stock, nuts, and bolts.

Charge Controller--An industrial model from Jade Mountain, rated for 16 amps (to provide room for adding more solar panels later), and cost only $62. Ward had to buy 2 fuse holders and 20 amp fuses, mount this controller on a home-made aluminum heat sink and build a cover himself....but for the price he'll be able to add 2 or 3 more solar panels without a new controller.

Inverter--A 350-watt Wagan from Harbor Freight, only $40. Includes fuse on main power cable and overload shutdown. DanB has used one of these for a year, heaping abuse and neglect on it, and it's performed like a champ. The only drawback of this model is that the fan is on all the time, and produces a little noise. Ward plans to to turn the inverter off at night, and during the day while he's at work.

Metering--Cheap digital multimeter, only $10. Not real accurate, but enough to determine general battery state of charge. Plus, the controller has an LED to indicate full charged condition. "

 However he has: "Battery Bank--4 golf cart batteries. 6 VDC, 220 amp/hours, only $45.99 each from Sam's Club. Wired in series and parallel, these give 440 amp/hours of storage. That's more than enough for the minimal loads in the cabin, especially when you consider that the owner is away from home at work during the day, giving the system time to charge back up."

   Should i mimic his battery bank? He seems to actually be using his loads alot more than i intend to. Im running off a laptop, cant remember wattage off the top.

  As stated before, i am using booster packs for now. 1 pack has been on the charger for 2 days. its approx -30 now and i totally drained the booster trying to get my car started. Now unless i come across a mechanical problem,  im assuming the battery wasnt actualy full. Lying little LED.

  As i gathered my stuff, i realised... I have no idea how to do that and not conduct electricity through the bolts to the frame! Im assuming there are rubber grovets that can be bought.

  I thought that to keep my box neat, i should use a speaker output panel from an amp. Seems like a standard surround sound setup. 4 + 2 + sub .. ok maybe 14 terminals.

    I suppose a pic or technical drawing is in order here.

  Basically i have taken a painters rolling/folding scaffolding and cut the face off on a perhaps 70* angle.

  I found a bed frame in great condition and cut the fasteners off, measured and cut to the approx. length of 4 50w panels side by side + 1 inch.

   So now i have a frame with a 200w capacity. It has the standard bolts to resize the frame for differant beds (panels).

   I guess overnight i will be trying to draw up a design that will make it impossible to seperate the two sections without having access to a locked area behind the panels.

  Im thinking pins or perhaps even full locks... Bolts would work (except an impact wrench would be able to get them loose) as well i guess but the idea is that the genny can easily be taken down, folded and stored under a bed or closet.

    I thought about a sliding tray with a pin on each corner but i think its beyond my skill at this moment. Also, someone desperate enough might be able to figure out that by smashing a panel they could release the entire array and just rebuild the one panel after...

  No i dont have square bits yet.. ill just drill and file. (budget has been excedded recently.. lol)

   I do have pics though! Gotta love 13 year old siblings with expensive electronics.

  Now, the rails are not the actual rails i cut but they will stay on with out a tack, so there they are :p

    The blanket will be replaced, likely by a high-white metal or if i cant get a good peice; plywood. A frame holds the panels and rests, secured by the bottom hooks + a lock. There is room for 2 battery banks. The sides will have sheet metal reinforced welds (6 mm iron bar blocker). The PV frame is adjustable so far.

   A hinged box will fit between the PV lock & and frame. You will need to unlock this box to unlock the frame. The box will give access to batt bank #1 and controls. I intend on the design to be largerly held together by.. (not quite friction fit) but one lock with allow all componants to be realease in order.

        The frame fits 200w as is. An additional frame section, perhaps 100w (or more, untill its not stable...) can be added by welding a special "slide-lock" cylinder into another piece of scaffolding and drilling a hole for the 'rams' to grab on and then fitting the add-on on top of the first, in the scaffolding holes.

  This section will also be accessable through the control bay.

  The frame has room for u-locks on either side for securing in an urban or remote location. Im also thinking about armoured glass.. but its heavy, light-ineffiecant and $$$$ :(

      Now that there a pic and not a lucid dream to be talked about.. lol Lets hear it!!

    Thanks for all the support guys; hard to find a elec/tech/mech friend around here.

   Welding (especially for a new guy) is seemingly quite difficult with these mismatched pieces.

  I read/figured out a few things. Angle, speed and depth are what i need to practice over and over. Bevel my joints with the grinder, work clean... Oh ya, and i tried to square the tube but all i have is a c-clamp, no torch.

       Now. I, on my second try got a triangle from scrap L and tube. The first fell apart! lol  The second i need to beat the piss outta with a hammer, while propped against concrete.

    So its semi-strong .. i guess? Im using a stick welder, 10% cycle.

 I dont mind screwing around untill i get it right before i touch my precious frame.. :D

  I have two 7/8 rods(actually, the tubing the bars go into is 7/8 and the rods are a millimeter smaller) ill be using as ancors/locks for the solar rack but im not entirely sure how to bend them the way i want; much like a question mark ' ? '. The reason for this shape easily lodges in the tubing. So i can put a weld or two down the inside of the tube.

  The metal is rebar. It was all i could find. I could alwas wait.. for a torch and differant metal but im kinda.. impatient like that sometimes. If i can not bend that metal how i want it, i might wait because by the time i can afford a torch i should be able to find a welding shop here.