But I'm not sure what is the best way to go.
I have about 200W of solar panels now. And with my $600 from the Feds I plan on getting maybe another 150W?
My energy needs are small. Already I have 4 deep cycles 12V 75Ahr marine batteries that I cycle and carry around the house like big rechargeables to power my TV and computer, etc.
But I'm sick of carrying them around and want something more permanent and also a little safer.
The only problem is, my panels are on the roof, 2 stories above the basement, where I want the batteries to be located so I can vent them and not be around them if they dare explode on me.
So that's like 8ftX3=24ft from roof to basement floor. And then back another 16ft again to power anything upstairs from the batteries.
So here are some of my ideas.
- go with batteries in attic? now there are some issues with that, mainly the attic is jammed with insulation and it may not be plausible.
- go with batteries on 2nd floor, in closet. but that means a hole in the upstairs wall to vent them and closet space totally wasted
- cables 24ft down into the basement, then use 24v or 48v power back up to inverters to reduce losses.
And how do you typically distribute power? Do you buy a mega inverter that sends AC throughout the house to outlets? Or should I distribute the DC 24v-48v to some type of DC outlet and have smaller 1000-2000W inverters to connect to them? It seems like a full time inverter to AC would be a waste?
Any cool ideas would help. My budget is really small so I'm not looking to get a 20KW system going here. I just want a modest distribution that may power 80% of what I use: PC, lights, TV, microwave, maybe fridge (only about 100W).
Already I can get 50% of my power from panels that I throw out on sunny days and bring back in when it's snowing/raining. Just by dragging batteries around the house.
So yeah. Am I clueless? I know it's do-able, I just don't want a giant cluster-F with cables going in and out of walls. LOL.