Basic Solar How To

This will be a short guide to basic solar use. I have lived off the grid entirely on solar for about 15 years, and have installed all my own.

#1. You need a good solar panel. By that I mean a monocristiline type of panel. The best panels come from Japan and there are several to choose from. Kyrocera, Sharp, Mitisibushie are but to name a few. Avoid the cheap ones from China which Harbor freight and northern tools sell. Also be very wary on the ones on ebay. I would also recomend that you stick with the 12 volt size and around 75 - 125 watts. I have not found any bigger still in 12 volt.

#2. Batteries to charge with the panel. I would strongly urge that you buy the deep cycle 6 volt golf cart style as they have the best track record, and hold a heck of a lot more charge the any of the 12 volt marine type batteries. Trojen T-105's are the best.

#3 Charge controllers. The Xantrax are the best for the buck which used to be called Trace for years. They make three versions, however if you inted to grow your system , I would recomend the C-60 which will allow you to grow your system to about 8-10 panels depending on their size.

#4 Invertors. You can get a reasonabbly priced xantrax 1512 new for around $700.00 but by shopping you may do even better. This will invert your 12 volt dc to 120 volt ac which will run most all of your regular house hold appliances as normlal. Will do more in Pt. 2