Flux,
I understand your concerns, and what you're saying is not falling on deaf ears. However, my buddy being an Electronics Engineer for over 30 years now, and also being a very capable electrician, I have been bouncing some ideas at him, and he has been replying back with what he knows(which may be more in some respects, but less in other areas compared to someone who knows this sort of thing). I hope at least with as many questions that I am posing on these forums, that you, and others know I am not the type that is just going to take an arbitrary statement, out of context, or otherwise jump head first into things. I am just bouncing ideas around, and I do realize that I may not have been the first to ask(but I am searching these forums the best I can).
What I had though about a lot since my first post is that we(here) could save a lot of money on cabling if we could use standard 110v/220v ac cabling(maybe even higher voltage cabling if needed some day). Then somewhere around the storage room we step down via a transformer, after which perhaps a MPPT/buck controller before rectifying. Maybe this will work, maybe it will not, but my hopes are that this will work to our advantage. If it does not work, well then I have no other choice. Maybe even the number of coils, and poles(magnets) at some point over 48v cost wise will just not make sense.
Right now, we already have a working PV system, and my buddy is working on his 2nd controller(which is something that we may go commercial with; me being the hobbyist programmer), but after learning about MPPTs, I may yet convince him into designing yet another(3rd) controller. This is for solar only so far. Now, since we are in an area that can have good winds, especially when it is cloudy(like right now as I type with winds roughly 15-20mph), we are getting zero charge from our array. With only ~1200ah of storage right now(yes, we bought a couple of batteries recently), and a possible couple more days of no sun , I have become very motivated to harvest some wind power. Eventually, if it makes sense to have a wind farm here of some sort, that is where the savings in cabling is really going to come in.
Eventually, we hope to have enough power storage, and generation through 3 or more means(hydrogen anyone ?!) Being completely off grid may not be fun all the time, but with time and patience we hope to at least lessen the effects, if not completely do away with them. Running a 30Kw generator that sucks down 2 gals of diesel every hour can get pretty expencive . . . at least with solar/wind/ maybe hydrogen, we get to pay these costs up front, learn a thing or two, and have fun in the process.