Morgan Nunan

Thanks for the replies, this has all been very helpful. I will circle back once I've had a chance to try some of these solutions.

Thanks for the reply. I saw some units like this on ebay, but I didn't think they would work because I'm using big cables with alligator clips to connect the battery to the inverters. However, maybe I could cut the ends off an extension cord and use those wire instead, which might fit into the relay.

I'm not sure what wattage one of the inverters is, but the other is 400w and it connects to a 12v deep cycle battery. I use them to charge my phone, batteries, cordless drills and similar items. So I'm never drawing a lot of power from them.

I have a few solar panels that connect to a deep-cycle battery, and some inverters that come off of that. When the battery gets drained, and the voltage gets too low, the inverters emit a steady alarm — and keep drawing power. So if I'm outside, or have my headphones in, or am asleep, they'll just keep running down the battery until it needs to be resuscitated.

I'm surprised they make inverters like this. Why not just shut them  off when you have a low battery? Can someone recommend a decent, cheap inverter that automatically shuts offf? Or, is there a device I can put between the battery and the inverter that will do this?

Thanks for all the replies. I think I'm going to try connecting the inverter to a power strip, then running cords back out of the house and back into adjacent rooms. This way, there are alternative 'wall outlets' in multiple rooms, and I think it would be easier to do this on an exterior wall and have it still look tidy.

I'll let you know the results. Thank you for all the thoughtful responses!

Thanks for the replies. I can see how one would run a bus off of solar panels. For those of you who live in a house, how do / did you get solar panel around the house? Do you connect it to your breaker somehow? How do you spread the solar power around the home?

Hi there,

thomas rubino wrote:
You mention 2 inverters?  Why two?

The main inverter only has usb and simple wire outlets. So one pair of clamps connect to this, and the panel. Then I have a second pair of clamps running to an older inverter I already had. This one has 3-prong outlets, so I can run normal appliances on it.

thomas rubino wrote:
Do you have any charge control hooked up to protect the battery?

I recently bought a new solar inverter with a regulator that will shut itself off when the charge gets too low. My old one didn't do this, and it eventually ruined the battery. My second inverter just sounds an alarm when the battery is too low, but I don't usually leave this one running passively. I know the new inverter also has some kind of surge protection. This is the unit.

thomas rubino wrote:
What type and size battery are you using? How are you monitoring it? Just a voltage reading? Do you check the battery itself? Water level, specific gravity of the cells?  

This is the battery. I monitor it using the solar inverter. It has an LED voltage reading. It's a pretty new battery and I've never checked the water levels.

thomas rubino wrote:

To use what you have, turn on more things when the sun shines.  
Lights, stereo, fans, TV ...

Yeah, and I think there are only four options here, that I can think of:

Figure out a way to get solar power into some of the wall outlets. This seems difficult.

Figure out a strategic way to run extension cords to different parts of the house.

Get more mobile power sources, charge those off the panel, then move them to different parts of the house and run things off of them.

Maybe there are other solutions. Surely, those of you who are totally off-grid had some point when you were inbetween solar and conventional power. I'm having a hard time committing to more solar when I can't seem to make it work with the solar I have.

Thanks for the reply. I thought about doing this, but then I just have that much more stored energy that I'm not using. I do have a friend who's an electrician, so maybe I need to talk to him about getting the solar power into the wall somehow. Maybe I mark some wall outlets in green, and somehow run power from the panel to just those outlets. I'm not sure how feasible that is, though.

Hi there,

I've had a solar panel for a number of years. It's very similar to this 100-watt solar panel system from Harbor Freight, with a second inverter attached to the battery so I can plug in a normal, 3-prong plug. Right now, it's reading 14.4 volts, and nothing is plugged into it.

I can run a bread maker on it, or a food processor. I can run a crock pot on 'low' for a while, though it kicks the fan on in the inverter and runs down the battery after a couple hours. And we charge our phones on it, and other battey-powered devices.

The problem is that the panels are always trapping more energy than we're using from them, and I have never figured out a way to use the energy. I don't think I want to run extension cords all over the house --- though I could run one from the kitchen down to the laundry room. But even then, I don't know what I would run down there.

It seems like I need a way to passively consume solar energy when it's available, and standard power company power when it's not. I'm curious to know how you consume solar power the most effectively.