Installing Solar Power

To begin the installation of our solar power system I bought new house batteries to replace the 5 year old original house batteries. The new batteries are Trojan lead acid RE series batteries. The RE series are renewable energy batteries better suited to charging by a PV solar panel system than the original T-105 batteries. They are also warranted for 84 months versus only 60 months for the T-105s and the cost difference was less than $20 each. Although I considered sealed maintenance free batteries, dollar per amp hour, lead acid batteries are still the best buy available today in my opinion. Although they will require scheduled watering, I like to be able to take individual hydrometer readings on each cell.

I've started the solar panel installation but have stopped work on this until I resolve some fastener and sealant issues. Although it's hard to tell, I am on the RV roof in this photo. More on this to come.........