We'll see how this goes. Just my luck there'll be a week of cloudy, windless days.
I finally have my solar panels mounted on the roof. I'm not going to bother with tracking and all that just yet. My house faces south, and so they are tilted at whatever angle my roof is. I'd call it "standard." Pictures to come when I get a chance.
Also, I finally did it! I finally have regular loads on my batteries! First, I installed one of 5 night lights that I got for Christmas TWO YEARS AGO. It's on in one of our smaller hallways. I don't think my wife cares for the LED-type lights that much. I tend to agree. They're best for accent lighting. I think better would be some T8 or smaller fluorescents on some kind of motion sensor, or some 6v flashlight bulbs. (I work for the railroad, and can get the bulbs for free). But those kinds of things will have to wait. Anyhow, it supposedly draws a whopping 15 mA! I have it on 24/7 and will put in a photo sensor one of these days. Not too worried about 15mA ya know?
I ran some 16 GA wire into my computer room. My DSL Router and LAN Router are both hooked up to the batteries now. The DSL Router draws about 1A and the LAN Router says 12vdc 1.25A. I think that's a little power hungry myself, but at least they're running straight off of the (nominal) 12VDC bus instead of having to use some kind of voltage conversion. I measured one of the AC Adapters, and it was putting out about 17 volts! At least I know THAT device won't blow up when my batteries get upwards of 14.5 volts.
Recently we'd switched to a little-known (and not advertised) phone & internet service from Windstream called "Greenstreak." You get free incoming calls and outgoing toll-free calls. All other calls are 10c / minute. Plus 3mb DSL service, all for $29.99 / month. That's a good deal for us since we never call anyone except on our cell phones.
Anyway! Now we have GREEN Greenstreak. Aren't we a bunch of hoity-toities. :-)
Hopefully the wind will blow and the sun will shine. 60Ah / day with those 2 loads can add up. I think another wind genny (or using the "off" button) is in my future!