Power Board
This photo is of the power board that is mounted in our garage. It is the brains of the system. The DC electricity comes from the solar arrays through a circuit breaker to a charge controller (on the right of the photo). Here it is sent to our battery bank through the DC disconnect (tall white box) to keep it charged to a constant 26 volts. All of the excess electricity goes to the inverter (the largest white box) where it is converted from 26 volts DC to 120 volts AC. It is then sent around the house to the meter and service entrance, where the electricity enters the house. In the case of a power outage during the day, our solar panels will directly power the parts of the house that we have decided are most necessary for us to be comfortable. If we should have a power outage when it is dark, the battery bank will provide the necessary electricity. When the sun comes up, the solar arrays will charge up the battery bank and then power the house again. (Our 4, 6 volt batteries are not in the photo. They are underneath and to the right of the power board and are golf cart deep cycle batteries.)
Electricity Page