So I am planning on having this cabin be totally off grid. I have a plan (link on the right) and have purchased a Xentrex 1500 watt inverter, a 12 slot Square-D main panel and two 220 AH deep cell batteries run in series. I have wired and tested this… so far so good and more to come

The Solar Power Plan page contains my current system and details about it. I also setup a Solar resources page with info I used in building this system.

It was also recommended that I read the Solar Electric Independent home Book by Fowler Solar Electric inc. The book was a couple of years old but still contained much useful information. That and the manuals for the charge controller and inverter were invaluable.

Some people have asked me about where I got my information and venders used so I figured I would create a page Dedicated to that. I will update this page with other links to sites I find useful.

My Solar Power Plan page

Details about my system are contained on 7-3-2008

Forums :

http://www.outbackpower.com/forum/

http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/index.php

http://www.otherpower.com/ (this one is more geared towards wind but the discussion section is very nice)
http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/yabb/forum.pl (good place to ask questions but less active)
http://www.solarpowerforum.net/forumVB/

here is a site I found about building a frame ( I did not use it but still nice)

http://www.alpharubicon.com/altenergy/spbracketsblizz.htm

Good basics site :

http://www.freesunpower.com/index.php

retail sites :

http://www.backwoodssolar.com/
http://sunelec.com (the one I used)

solar panel prices site

http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/solar_panels.htm

OUR SOLAR POWER SYSTEM

Panels on mount

Charge controller, Breakers and Ground and Negative bus bar

Inverter, 200 amp fuse, breaker and two 200 amp 6v batteries

Here was this initial plan : 

Here is the plan. It is still a work in progress. I need to find out more about wiring requirements, fusing and breakers. So far I have my inverter which I got from Craigslist.

Here is the DC wiring diagram

Here is my AC diagram