Solar Power

 Solar Panel 

I have a small solar system that provides power to the radios in my shack. I run my 200 watt Kenwood TS-480 completely off my solar system. The main panel in the center is a Kyocera KD135GX 135 watt panel that powers the system. The small 15 watt panels on the sides of the mail panel only there to charge small 12v batteries.

The panels are mounted to a homemade aluminum stand. An aluminum weather prof box is attached to the stand to house the charge controller and any small SLA batteries that are charged by the small panels.

The main panel and charge controller maintain two 12 volt banks of golf cart batteries. The golf cart batteries are housed in the white plastic box also shown in the picture. This system provides two separate 12 volt 210 amp hour lines into the shack.

 
Batteries
Here are the golf cart batteries next to the charge controler box. Each battery is 6 volts with 210 amp hours. They were purchased at Costco.


Charge Controller
Here's the Morning Star Sun Saver Duo charge controller located in the weather prof aluminum box This charge controller can charge two independet banks of batteries..



Solar Meter

Here's the charge controlor's display panel that's inside the shack. It displays the voltage and amps for both battery banks.



Updated 11/11/2012