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I have just browsed through this topic, so I may have missed some things. One thing that struck me was the thought of screwing structural support screws (for panels) into skin aluminum/styrofoam/1/4 luan. For me, this would be a no-go! I would bolt through with 1/4” stainless, with fender...

A small nuclear reactor would solve your problem. And thus the problem with all renewable systems. The sun don’t shine, or the wind blow all of the time. Add in enough storage, nuclear, tide, hydro, coal and NG, to keep the lights on all the time. We have a 6kW solar grid tied system, and...

You really need to be careful installing home brew systems of any kind! Local building departments can be really picky about having the correct permits, and making sure that everything is up to code. Insurance companies are the same.

Glued together doesn't make that much difference! I'm talking about fastener pull through. 1/4" plywood doesn't take much to pull a screw out, and styrofoam takes nothing. What are the RV manufacturers specs for mounting heavy objects on the roof?

Not being an expert, but a reasonably competent electronics person, I wanted to figure out a way to limit current when charging a LiFePO4 battery from a running vehicle. Sure, you can buy appropriate devices, but I like to build things. I went back to the old "Dim Bulb Current Limiter". This...

So you get a battery charger, and an inverter, to replace 5 light bulbs and sockets. For that price, you can just go out and buy a Renogy DC-DC charger

I did build something so that I could run my furnace (modern electronics) off of my 20 year old conventional generator. It's a "double conversion" system. First, you convert the AC to clean DC. I used a switching type power supply (12v, 60A), with a couple of big filter caps on the output. You...

The only way that you could get it to work well would be to raise the panels to angle them to the south. Could be significant structural issues with that and wind.

If you're renting it out, the last thing that you want to do is run out of electricity during a 3 day cloudy period (bad reviews would get you kicked out of AirBNB). The combustion heaters only solve part of the problem. You really want to run the burial cable the 200' to the barn for reliable power

I'm putting together a 12v, 100Ah power box. I want to install a "safety switch" that can turn everything off when not in use. My initial thought is to install a big automotive type battery disconnect switch, but would I want to leave the BMS connected to the battery for monitoring? Another...

Yes, that's pretty much it. I would have a 100A breaker and power switch where you have the power switch indicated. I was originally thinking of having the switch on the Neg lead, and the breaker on the Pos lead, but it would probably work either way.

I'm new here, and I want to go outside the box a little. The argument about solar panels not generating rated capacity because of poor orientation is very valid. What about adding into the mix a small wind generator that you could set up while at anchor? I'm thinking about something in the 500W...

I think that I have it figured out! Here's the sequence- Power connections positive/ Master Breaker 100A/ Battery+/Battery-/ BMS (negative)/ Main cut off switch/ Power connections negative. All of the outlets/accessories running between the pos., and neg., will have individual fuses. That way...

That's the beauty of this type of device. When the voltage difference is high, say trying to charge a big LiFePO4 that's at say 12.5V, and your alternator is running at 14V, you could potentially dump a hundred amps into the battery, and burn out the alternator. This device will limit that to 10...

I'll play with it a bit. This is a portable plug in to the lighter outlet, I don't think that I need a relay (an inline switch might be good), but a diode to prevent back flow from the LI might be good. I have to get it set up on my car, with a partially discharged Li, and see what the...

I especially like the ones with spark plugs!

I'm getting one of the cheapo $8 voltage based battery "capacity" monitors for the 12v pack that I'm building. For the wiring location, I'm thinking directly across the battery rather than the output of the BMS. By doing that, I would still get battery info, even if the BMS shuts down for some...

I really doubt that it could be done, even in a 50 cal. can. I looked up a 200 Ah cell size and it was about 7" x 8" x 3". You would need 8 of those. A 50 cal can is about 6" x 7" x 11". I built a 22.5 Ah 12V battery into a "30 cal" plastic box.

I thought about that, and did a quick search. It appears that on boost/buck converters, at least some, want at least a 3 volt difference between input and output. Boosting up to 18 volts with one converter, then back down to 14 volts with a second converter might be a possibility.

"Would be fine, as long as you have another way to tell if the BMS has shut down." Yes, there will actually be another volt meter on the outputs of the BMS. "Can you link to the battery monitor that you are describing? What type of BMS are you using?" The build is with the Battery Hookup 100Ah...

Sailboats don't put them very high.

Check this. https://www.sailingtoday.co.uk/gear/gear-on-test/wind-generators-buyers-guide/

"My question is, how hot can the solar panels get before it becomes a concern due to heat on the panels and it's performance." You could always air condition them, or pull a rolling shade over them. ? Seriously, they have decades of history without significant problems, and they are designed...

There are some “power supplies” , adjustable V and current, that were mentioned on the JG site, available for about $40 from Aliexpress, I think that they were 0-24v, 480W. Anyone have thoughts on these for a 100 Ah 12v LiFePO4. Keeping the charge V to under 14V.

I'm curious to see how this turns out. My first thought is "How much real estate do you have to mount the panels?" We have 6kW mounted on our roof. That's 24 panels. 12kW would be 48 panels. 15 kW would be 60 panels. The problem is that they rarely put out the full power! If you wanted to run...