Want a decent looking system. Will this work and be safe?

[dcampbell999]

I am novice grandma DIYer. I would like my solar system to be tidy, mostly out of sight and safe. Can I put my 2 Valence Lithium 12v batteries in bottom of manufactured wood cabinet? I will wire my tiny cabin to an AC panel and add a transfer switch which will always be on. (Reliance 6 circuit a good choice?) So my outlets and lights are live on my solar system. According to code panels cannot be hid. I have a MMPT 1000 watt all in one inverter / controller on the way. I will want to be able to charge system with my small generator when sun doesn't shine in Montana. I would like to put inverter inside a manufactured wood cabinet out of site on the same wall that generator will be located on outside. I will have a recepticle outside for generator to plug into that is then wired to inverter inside. Does this make sense and is it safe. I will have an electrician do the hook up but want to have clear safe plan so he doesn't talk me out of something that I want. Also will I be losing a lot of my solar power by converting it all to AC? I don't see any way to wire anything for 12V. Most important use of power is my Aspenora AC/DC refrigerator/freezer. Rest is just charging phone and computer and a few led lights. Thanks for your help. Any pix of neat set ups you have done would be great.

 

[Supervstech]

If you have an Ac/DC fridge, and that is the largest load, you can feed it directly to the battery making the losses lower from inverter efficiency.

 

[dcampbell999]

Wire directly to battery? Soooooo would I use the 12V cord and take off plug and attach pos and neg connectors to attach directly to battery bank?

 

[Supervstech]

Wire directly to battery? Soooooo would I use the 12V cord and take off plug and attach pos and neg connectors to attach directly to battery bank?

I would install a fuse block, and attach the cord to a fused port.

 

[dcampbell999]

Thank you. Yes, I see. A fuse a fuse would be needed. Thanks for keeping me safe!

 

[Zil]

What devices do you require for your cabin? There are many 12 volt fans, lights, and computer, and phone chargers. I have a small 12 volt compressor fridge that sips watts. If you have a propane fridge do not plan to operate it on electric. It will eat the power. Electric heating and cooling is expensive off grid. So is cooking, but I do use my microwave a lot. That is the only use I have for my inverter.

 

[dcampbell999]

What devices do you require for your cabin? There are many 12 volt fans, lights, and computer, and phone chargers. I have a small 12 volt compressor fridge that sips watts. If you have a propane fridge do not plan to operate it on electric. It will eat the power. Electric heating and cooling is expensive off grid. So is cooking, but I do use my microwave a lot. That is the only use I have for my inverter.

I have a good little DC fridge that takes only minimal amps. I plan to have a DC fan, some recessed lights, and outlets for charging phone, ipad and hot spot. I am cooking and heating with propane. If I could run a c

What devices do you require for your cabin? There are many 12 volt fans, lights, and computer, and phone chargers. I have asmall 12 volt compressor fridge that sips watts. If you have a propane fridge do not plan to operate it on electric. It will eat the power. Electric heating and cooling is expensive off grid. So is cooking, but I do use my microwave a lot. That is the only use I have for my inver

I plan to have a DC fan, 6 recorde

 

[dcampbell999]

I have a good little DC fridge that takes only minimal amps. I plan to have a DC fan, some recessed lights, and outlets for charging phone, ipad and hot spot. I am cooking and heating with propane. If I could run a c

I plan to have a DC fan, 6 recorde

I posted that before I was finished. A coffee pot would be nice but I am ok with hot water drip system I use while camping. > I have a DC fridge that takes only a few amps. And will need to use computer. That is about it. I do not need AC in Montana. I am wondering if you could answer another question. I have wire my two Valence 12V batteries together positive to positive neg to neg and hooked up the communicating cables. I hooked up the inverter to one of the batteries. Should I instead take a positive from one battery and a neg from the other? I will be hooking up three more solar panels today for a total of four 100 watt panels.

 

[dcampbell999]

Here is my system. I am waiting for the 1000w MPPT inverter to come but this is my temp hook up. Do you see any glaring errors? Panels and inverter are hooked up to one battery and two batteries are wired together. Charge controller reads 13.2 volts of charge, 1.5 incoming amps, (11:30 am) currently 0 amps out as fridge compressor is not running and no devices are being charged. Did I hook things up right?

 

[Zil]

Smart Gauge published a good instruction on connecting battery in parallel. http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html
As I set up for a microwave and sized battery/inverter to that, I can have a Mr Coffee and a pop-up toaster as well as steam in bag veggies.