Cheap 480 watt PV system

[bennelson]

I am slowly chipping away on designing and building my own 48V photovoltaic system.

By having solar panels on the roof of my garage, I will be able to recharge a 48V battery pack. That will connect to a 48V UPS which will output 120V AC (at TRUE SINEWAVE!)

I will also be able to connect the PV directly to either the Citicar or motorcycle, as they both have 48V battery packs. This increases efficiency by eliminating DC to AC to DC conversion losses.

Here's what I did today, testing just ONE of my eight PV panels connected to the solar charge controller and batteries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FTYnlKiG20

[Clev]

A UPS is okay, but you may find that a "real" inverter has higher efficiency. On the other hand, you can leave the load connected to the UPS and simply unplug it from the wall when you want to switch the load to battery.

[bennelson]

Well, the big deal is that I got the UPS for free.
It's true sine wave.

Decent-sized true sine wave inverters usually cost about $2000 on up, so I think I will stick with this one!

[Thidj LeVert]

You have just given me the living proof that aside having a girlfriend, we, boys, really need our independance. I didn't think that you could get so many outlet on a solar panel. Whatever the price cost, I think I will soon invest into a PV for the house and set it up just like yours. But without the true sinewave 2000$ thing