Best Of

Most charge controllers (cheap or not) don't have load control functions. If you have to go with a cheap controller it will need to be used as a charge controller and the Morningstar as a load controller. Trace/Xantrex/Schnider Xantrex controllers are another brand that will do load control. You may find a used one fairly cheap, or buy new for something north of a hundred bux.

BB. said:

.now, LiFePO4 ("almost" the perfect battery, great for hot weather, light weight, sort of expensive, and usually use a BMS to keep battery from being damaged from under/over voltage).

Finding LiFePO4 batteries at a good price--Their longer cycle/service life can mean a lower total lifetime cost. But they are not usually the first battery bank you want to experiment with unless you need them (light weight, small volume, warm/hot weather performance/life, etc.).

-Bill

I recently switched to LiFePo4 batteries and am quite happy with them.
I built my bank from scratch with 16 230 ah cells, BMS and active balancer. This gives me 460 ah @24 volts of which over 400 ah. are usable This is somewhat comparable to 8 L-16 batteries. with the added bonus of (hopefully) 4,000 + cycles. When you factor in capacity and lifespan I think I did very well for just under $2,000 and believe this is cheaper than Lead acid.

My RV's chassis is grounded to the grid power, I've mounted the flexmax 60 directly to the rv wall which means it's also grounded to the grid, is that okay? 

I know I'm using two different emails. I can't find the first one or its password, so I created another. I think the problem has been resolved because my screen isn't filling up with those messages now.

We literally don't have much running. Small 3.1cf freezer, tablet, water heater, sump pump that rarely kicks in. I do leave my electric stove, and washer and dryer plugged in, but they don't get used very much. Microwave gets used about 5 minutes daily and is unplugged when not in use. I use my curling iron less than 5 minutes a day. We have electric heat but it's turned down to 66 or so. Several times daily I use a little aa/aaa battery charger to recharge my batteries. Once in awhile I charge my flip phone.  We have a laptop but it is only used about 5 times a year. Unplugged the rest of the time. Once in awhile, maybe 6 times yearly, we watch a dvd and use the tv. Unplugged the rest of the time. That's it.

All new windows even in the basement. 

This is just crazy and very frustrating.

Thanks for the links. I can't find any pricing on the energy detective. I already have a multimeter, and a killawatt type gadget but still can't find it. May have to buy another. We did have a "friend" that we later found had stolen from us, so he may have the killawatt as well.

Whenever I've talked to the electric company, they say things like, "this is ONLY $50 more than this time last year", etc. I just want to be free of the @#$% electric company. I've conserved in every way I possibly can but the bill just gets higher.

We may always have to be hooked up to electric because I don't understand how the sump pump works or how to run it off solar. I'd love to move to a home with an easier switch to solar.

Thanks for the advice so far, I do appreciate it. This is gonna be the year we get solar power going.

Thanks. Makes sense. OK, I'm bored... you tubing... re-searching... I was seeing that the new hotness are battery temp sensors. I wouldn't know if I had a problem. I mean my batteries seem to charge... but.... they are on the tongue in a box... I am in south Texas... should I upgrade my PWM Sunforce 30w to one with a temp sensor on it? Being an amateur ... I still can't imagine 170 watts of panels overheating 2 6volt golf cart batteries. I mean I also have a progressive dynamics 91xx charge wizard on there that runs all year mostly. It doesn't have temp sensor... I do top off the water in the batts monthy... just a little.

yawn...

Maybe I should take up knitting.