Solar Panels Query

[Binnie]

(22 August 2013, 17:57)BeardyMan Wrote:

(21 August 2013, 21:29)Highlander Wrote: Although leisure batterys are ok, they dont recommend them [ in a perfect world] leisure batterys are designed for starting things there are deep cycle batterys designed for this job that do the job better, if you have the time and money to spend in preperation

I have just bought a bank of 6 batteries at just under £800....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/27TMH-Trojan-B...4174804279

A leisure battery is a deep cycle battery? They're used in narrowboats/caravans etc

Someone told me that the best ones you can pick up for the price are used golf cart batteries.


To hook your panels into a battery bank instead of the mains you need to drop back to a basic PV - Charge Controller - Battery set up. So into the loft, where the connectors from the PV panels terminates in the inverter you have in the roof, swap this with your charge controller, then feed that into the batteries.

Of you could be really fancy and stick a switch/relay in there (before the inverter / charge controller) and divert the flow of electrickery wherever your heart desired.

Deep cycle batteries are batteries that tolerate long discharge periods, automotive batteries don't like being discharged that much, and fail quite quickly.

Traction batteries (golf carts, forklifts etc) and leisure batteries (boat/caravan) are both "deep cycle" batteries, designed to be discharged for long periods.

HTH