Solar panel power to the yurt

[wjdzl]

Our system is nearly up and running, we've been doing it in stages for our 24' yurt.

Stage 1: Honda EU2000i generator, used this to run power tools to build, and once it was finished (extension cord into yurt)

Stage 2: 8 Centennial GC-2 6v 225ah golf cart batteries in series/parallel for 24v 450ah battery bank, 1000w pure sine inverter with automatic transfer switch, and 1000w power-factor corrected 24v charger, started running romex and installing outlets in the yurt at this point

Stage 2.5: Victron BMV-600S battery monitor, this thing is awesome. Shows realtime flow in/out of battery bank, state of charge, time-to-go, etc...

Stage 3: 3 250w AstroEnergy panels, Midnite Classic Lite 150 charge controller - Installing tomorrow.

I designed the system to provide 2kwh for 2 days, with a discharge to 50% and derating for lower temperatures - so far everything has been working as intended, pretty excited to get the panels mounted up so we can stop using the generator to charge though.

[Jafo]

I just got back from snowshoeing up to my yurt. You can tell it is Spring. The panels are pumping out way more power than they were a couple months ago. I charged up some power tool batteries, lanterns, etc., while I was there and it didn't even touch the battery. Fully charged when I left. Beautiful day up here in the North Country!

[Jafo]

I finally brought a multi-meter up to the camp last weekend and checked how many amps the 2 sets of panels (6 panels) were sending in: between 5.5 and 6.5 amps. Not bad. I just bought another set, and probably my last, for $139 (see HF catalog). Will be hooking that up soon. That should bring it up to between 9-10 amps on a sunny day.