Battery, panels and controller.


The battery arrived by airfreight from Battery Bill's on Oʻahu and we were suddenly back in business. What were we doing in the meantime? Farming! It turns out the farm doesn't stop needing attention just because we got new equipment to install...



We chose to use prefabbed panel mounts bolted to our level and stable base, and tweaked the angle to a bit over 22 degrees for maximum exposure. 

We also found we needed to turn them just a bit West to catch the sun better, so they sit at a slight angle on the base structure, and luckily still fit. 





The controller is a 100 amp Renogy Rover series. Not the latest but decent price and it shipped via Amazon Prime.  The controller will handle up to 100 amps of input and either 12 (about 9 amps per panel at 12 volts) or 24 volts (still 9 amps but now at 24 volts). That means you have the flexibility to use, as we did, 8 panels in series running 12 volts and 72 amps, or pairing panels in parallel (using a splitter) and then running four pairs of panels at 24 volts and 36 amps. That way one can run more panels without exceeding the 100 amp limit of the controller.


The controller feeds into the battery, and the battery powers a 300 watt inverter, making the DC power in AC power that we can use to run battery chargers, lights, aerators, water pump, and UV filtration for clean water. 
Here is the system in the shed, ready to operate.




Next: Water.







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