Pictured – the power control center of the house. The long white rectangle with the green strip is the power inverter – it takes the DC power stored in our batteries behind the wall, and coverts it to AC power for most of our appliances. Next is the small black square to the left of the inverter, this is a Trimetric battery monitor, kind of not necessary for us at this point, as all the info we need is in the charge controller. The big white square is the charge controller for the 1000w windmill. Finally, the black rectangle is our Outback solar power charge controller. The toggle switch below the inverter adjusts our 1200w solar array. Vertical for winter months, and nearly horizontal for summer months. And adjusted as needed between seasons.
In an off-Grid solar/wind power house the battery bank is the heart of the operation. They require monitoring for daily voltage levels, and in our case, the water in the batteries needs to be checked and filled as necessary.
For the past several months I had been noticing that our battery bank wasn’t holding the charge it once had. I was needing to run our backup generator more often, mainly on little or no sun days.
As I have mentioned, we have been in our off-Grid home for 21 years. This past Monday we had our third set of 8 6v deep cycle batteries installed. We are averaging about 10 years with each set of batteries – about their expected life for this application.
We have always used Trojan T105 6v deep cycle batteries. But this time our go to solar guy recommended Crown CR 235 deep cycle batteries. I took his advise. Time will tell, but he has had good results in other systems, so I am not expecting any issues.
The CR 235’s cost about $160 per-battery. Although I know how to do the install, time, once again, is a factor for me – so installation adds to the overall cost.
Solar and wind systems are not the cheap alternative to life on the grid. It’s a lifestyle choice and you do pay for it. The nice aspect of it is that it’s modular – you can add to a basic system as need and money allow – and that’s exactly what we have always done.
Planning is always good. And setting aside a little bit of money each month will help tremendously when you need to update part of your system or have something repaired. You know your budget, but think of a small amount per-month: $50 – $100.
What do we power? I’ll write more on this in the weeks ahead, but: lights, TV’s, computers, cellphones, other USB devices, well-pump, and a refrigerator. We are all so used to this lifestyle that it’s second nature, but we are still attentive about usage.
A change in habit and lifestyle is key to off-Grid, solar powered success – Turn off the lights when not using them! Don’t leave things running! Become familiar with the power requirements for every day items. Plan to charge devices when the sun is shining if possible! You get the picture. Comment below if you have specific questions.
New battery day is part of this lifestyle, and it is a welcomed day when the low voltage alarm has been going off at 6:00am as of late!
the mountain mensch 
“A change in habit and lifestyle is key to off-Grid, solar powered success – Turn off the lights when not using them! Don’t leave things running! Become familiar with the power requirements for every day items. Plan to charge devices when the sun is shining if possible!”
I just had a 5kw system installed (no batteries – so no power when the sun goes down).
I can’t get my family to turn the lights off when not using them! ***sigh
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Changing habits takes time. I posted notes at one point. Is it a grid tie in, or stand alone system?
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Right now it is “grid tied”, but with a little time I plan to change that.
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You are off to a great start. A 5k array is excellent. You will be able to have a nice size battery bank when you get to that point.
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