NEW looking for a solution and knowledge

Talonaz · February 2014

Ok to start I'm in the research and planing stage and this is what I'm looking for at this point.

Probley will go with a 1890 watts off grid system or something like it and the application will be a off grid remote BOL.

1. a system or mounting set up that the panels can be taken down and stored so they don't get damaged of pilfered. (may only get to location every other month)

2. how to keep the battery maintained/charged when the primary panels are stored willing to sacrifice a independent panel for this

3. I have a 8x2 space set aside for this is that enough space?

Thanks for your time and input and suggestions

Talonaz

Cariboocoot · February 2014

Re: NEW looking for a solution and knowledge

Welcome to the forum.

Talonaz wrote: »

Ok to start I'm in the research and planing stage and this is what I'm looking for at this point.

Probley will go with a 1890 watts off grid system or something like it and the application will be a off grid remote BOL.

1. a system or mounting set up that the panels can be taken down and stored so they don't get damaged of pilfered. (may only get to location every other month)

2. how to keep the battery maintained/charged when the primary panels are stored willing to sacrifice a independent panel for this

3. I have a 8x2 space set aside for this is that enough space?

Thanks for your time and input and suggestions

Talonaz

Moving nearly 2000 Watts of panel is not going to be easy. I can well understand your desire, though, as mine sit on their own and could be stolen if someone were ambitious/foolish enough to trudge 30 miles through snow up to their knees and climb a 37 degree roof slope to get at them. I think you should consider ways to make them 'less accessible' while leaving them where they are. Roof mounting is good for this as height and slope are a deterrent.

If you do take them down and store them you would need enough panel to keep about 1-2% charge on the batteries while they are not in use. Working backwards from your 1890 Watts figure that would be right for 600 Amp hours of battery, meaning the maintenance panel would need to be about 40 Watts (and should have a PWM controller on it). If that's not the size battery bank then the panel size needs to be adjusted accordingly. This may include the size of the main array.

Is that 8 by 2 feet of storage space? A single panel is about 3 x 5 feet (depending on the actual ones used) and only about 2" deep. They should be stored on edge, not flat, and with protecting Styrofoam or t least cardboard on faces and between to protect them: they basically big sheets of glass and one sharp knock can be the end.

I think so more details about your proposed system/location may help with suggestions from forum members.

ramloui · February 2014

Re: NEW looking for a solution and knowledge

I took 4 of 6 panels of the shed roof this fall for fear of theft. Better to buy 2 new if they are gone when I open the cabin in the spring than 6, right?

Here is what my setup looks like during summer, and then during winter:
Attachment not found.Attachment not found.

It was a lot of work to haul them down

. So I don't plan to do this next year. Instead, I bought tamper proof fasteners that require a special tool to assemble and disassemble (hex cap screw with a pin in the middle). Hopefully that will be sufficient to discourage would be thieves.

SkiDoo55 · February 2014

Re: NEW looking for a solution and knowledge

Great idea but being a mechanic those are really easy to defeat. Can either take a pin punch and hammer and break the center pin off or just buy the tool bits that are designed for them. They would deter the wanna be thief, as do locks on doors. Haven't really found a foolproof method. Ones that have the heads break off when torqued would take a little longer to defeat.

ramloui · February 2014

Re: NEW looking for a solution and knowledge

You are absolutely right. However, since I'm very far off the beaten path, I'm hoping that the thief would not have a fully furnished tool set and that he would continue on to an easier target. Mind you, with those battery operated grinders, nothing is really theft proof. I'm just trying to not make it easy.

jcheil · February 2014

Re: NEW looking for a solution and knowledge

I would just leave them up.

It would be harder and more of a pain for a thief to climb a roof and take them off then simply break into a "shed" and walk away with them. Thieves are generally lazy - but determined.

BB. · February 2014

Re: NEW looking for a solution and knowledge

If somebody wants something, they will get it: There was the "classic stolen house" from 2003:

The troubles of the world, however, caught up with him. Sometime in the past two months, somebody stole everything inside Miller's house -- and then stole the house.
Investigators and neighbors say it could have taken a day or more for thieves to deconstruct his 10-by-20-foot prefabricated home south of Placerville, yank a well pump from 625 feet below ground, rip off his 600- pound generator and haul away his 2,600-gallon water tank.
All that's left on the property are pads where the house and a tool shed once stood. Thieves made off with everything from Miller's wife's toothpaste to a rope sitting in the bed of a 1976 Ford pickup that doesn't run -- which Miller guesses is why they left the truck but stripped its four balding tires.

-Bill

Talonaz · February 2014

Re: NEW looking for a solution and knowledge

Sorry after reading it again the 8x2 is the area I have set aside for the battery's, and all the controllers inside the living unit. I would love to have a 8x10 or 8x20 shipping container to put it all in but it comes down to the cost of the units. I was looking at the 1890 watts off grid system they have on here and I see it dose not have the PWM controller in the package. And thanks for the reply and info and the location in going to be in the Heber-Overgarad Arizona area.

Talonaz

Cariboocoot wrote: »

Welcome to the forum.

Moving nearly 2000 Watts of panel is not going to be easy. I can well understand your desire, though, as mine sit on their own and could be stolen if someone were ambitious/foolish enough to trudge 30 miles through snow up to their knees and climb a 37 degree roof slope to get at them. I think you should consider ways to make them 'less accessible' while leaving them where they are. Roof mounting is good for this as height and slope are a deterrent.

If you do take them down and store them you would need enough panel to keep about 1-2% charge on the batteries while they are not in use. Working backwards from your 1890 Watts figure that would be right for 600 Amp hours of battery, meaning the maintenance panel would need to be about 40 Watts (and should have a PWM controller on it). If that's not the size battery bank then the panel size needs to be adjusted accordingly. This may include the size of the main array.

Is that 8 by 2 feet of storage space? A single panel is about 3 x 5 feet (depending on the actual ones used) and only about 2" deep. They should be stored on edge, not flat, and with protecting Styrofoam or t least cardboard on faces and between to protect them: they basically big sheets of glass and one sharp knock can be the end.

I think so more details about your proposed system/location may help with suggestions from forum members.

NEW looking for a solution and knowledge

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