Starting the solar set up.

[SternWake]

In general the solenoids with 2 smaller terminals, need a ground and a hot. You can switch the hot or the ground. A switched ground is safer if run through the firewall.

Most people switch the hot from an ignition source and put the ground under a mounting bolt on the firewall, if that is where the Solenoid is to be mounted. It does not matter which smaller terminal is (+) or (-)

Giving these small terminals 12 volts activates the electromagnets inside and brings the two larger internal contacts together parallelling the batteries.

There are also latching solenoids which require a momentary burst of 12v to close the contacts, and another 12v burst to separate them. These 2 different solenoids can appear identical.

This is why I recommended you hook 12v to the small terminals and test for continuity on the bigger terminals because what you order is not always what you receive.

If you remove the 12v, yet continuity still exists between the bigger terminals, then it is a latching solenoid.

You do not want to feed a latching solenoid with a constant 12v source. It will heat up to such a degree that it will weld the contacts together inside and make the solenoid useless.

So just make sure it is Not a latching solenoid, or if it is, then you need to install a momentary toggle switch and an indicator light to make it work, or send it back.

Latching solenoids do not require electricity be consumed to hold the contacts together, only a quick blast to trigger it.

Non latching solenoids consume ~0.6 amps minimum to keep the electromagnet energized and the contacts together.

 

[loess]

I don't mean to hijack your thread, GotSmart, but I do have a related question that fits in with the topic so I hope that is OK. I've read up a lot on this stuff and I'm still unclear as to what advantages a charging relay such as the Blue Sea 7622 has over a continuous duty solenoid? The Blue Sea is significantly more expensive and they seem to basically perform the same function, no? Or are there things that the Blue Sea can do that a generic continuous duty solenoid cannot?

 

[GotSmart]

I don't mean to hijack your thread, GotSmart, but I do have a related question that fits in with the topic so I hope that is OK. I've read up a lot on this stuff and I'm still unclear as to what advantages a charging relay such as the Blue Sea 7622 has over a continuous duty solenoid? The Blue Sea is significantly more expensive and they seem to basically perform the same function, no? Or are there things that the Blue Sea can do that a generic continuous duty solenoid cannot?

Good question and on topic! Any and all information helps.

 

[SternWake]

The Blue seas ACR is rated to pass higher amperages. The contacts are hermetically sealed. I believe is is waterproof to some degree or another

The Solenoid must be triggered. The BlueSeas senses charging voltages, or lack thereof, and automatically parallels or separates the batteries.

A solenoid will automatically parallel both batteries when it is triggered by 12v. Depending on how it is triggered, the house battery might be contributing to starter current. Any devices hooked directly to the house battery might have delicate electronics damaged by induced voltage spikes of feedback from the starter. Also, passing starter current from house battery to Starter through solenoid will age the contacts in the solenoid much faster. At some point it can fuse the contacts together, making the soleniod useless.

For this reason I recommend dumb solenoids be triggered by a circuit which is not live during engine cranking. In many vehicles, the HVAC blower motor is not live during engine cranking and makes for a good trigger circuit.

The ACR basically gives the starter battery the full current of the alternators output until the starter battery passes a certain voltage threshold. If the starter battery is full, this occurs nearly instantly. If the starter battery is low, this can take several minutes.

A Blue seas ACR is much easier to wire. No need to look for a trigger circuit.

There are other products similar in function to the Blueseas ACR.

Yandina, Surepower 1314 or 1315, National Luna, all make Smart solenoids or solid state devices similar to the Blue seas. For a Panga load menos dinero.

Some are single sense, meaning they combine batteries when one battery is fed charging voltages. others are dual sense that will combine the batteries whenever either battery is fed charging voltages.

For this reason I recommend people with Solar go for single sense. Solar is generally too low and too slow for any single battery. Sharing that solar current between 2 batteries is even worse.

Also some of the smarter solenoids still consume current to hold the contacts together, so a dual sense smart solenoid will be consuming a possibly very significant percentage of solar output, just to parallel the batteries.

The Blueseas is Just Super Heavy duty, for large battery banks and big alternators on Blue water sailboats where absolute dependability can be a lifesaver. The Blue seas ACR is kind of overkill for a camper Van, but at the same time it is something that will never have to be worried about and which can automatically and easily insure that one can always have enough battery power to crank the engine.

CD Solenoids can and do fail, often without the driver knowing. Often this is more than an inconvenience as depleting a starting battery to the No start level, might Kill it depending on its health at the time of depletion

Separate voltmeters for each battery on the dash will foil the not knowing part.

There is no one right way to combine/separate batteries. Everything is a compromise. I use manual switches, 3 of them, the key word being manual. But they are Blue seas Quality, and allow me incredible freedoms as to where my power comes from, and goes to.

But Someone unfamiliar with my System could turn the wrong switch off with the engine running, and fry my alternator.

Do Note that Blue Seas also makes a Dumb CD Solenoid, and it costs many times what the standard ones do, because it is the mack daddy of all continuous duty Dumb simple solenoids.

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Syst...1402293724&sr=1-7&keywords=blue+seas+solenoid.

So a simple cheaper Solenoid will wear out at some point, and before it wears out it will start causing voltage drop and reduced battery charging. When it fails it might not be noticed causing the very situation it was installed to avoid.

The Blueseas ACR was designed for people whose lives might be put in danger if the device fails

 

[Donedirtcheap]

The CD solenoid that you have will last a long time. You are not going to hammer it the way it would be hammered if it was used in the motor control circuit of an electric personnel carrier of fork lift.
I couldn't find a cut away pic but I will describe how it works so you have a better understanding of it. The 2 small terminals are connected to a coil of wire that forms an electromagnet. When a pos and a neg are applied to the small terminals the electromagnet pulls a plunger rod into the center of the electromagnet. On the end of the plunger or rod is a disc. When the plunger and disc are pulled down into the electromagnet the disc comes in contact with the tips of the 2 large side studs. A circuit is then completed between the 2 large studs only.
The 2 small terminals only feed the electromagnetic coil and do not touch the large terminals at any time. The coil is encapsulated in plastic and has a center hole that the plunger rod and disc move in and out of. Being plastic or other material it lets the plunger move in and out yet be isolated electrically from all the other parts. If you can ever find an old one grind or cut the round end cover off and look inside. Its a very simple device but VERY useful.
A good way to think of solenoids is as a way for a "little guy" to tell a "big guy" what to do. Small wires and low amperage are applied to the small terminals. When the disc/plunger are pulled into the magnet HEAVY current can flow from one large terminal to the other. A computer with very small wiring could pull a solenoid in and crank over a huge diesel engine requiring hundreds of amps.
The only draw back is that solenoids uses energy to to complete the circuit. The electromagnet is a small but constant draw. I assume that's why Stern is using manual switches.
So with knowing how your solenoid works you could also ponder how you might use those 2 small terminals to control the solenoid. I your case and being in a vehicle with a grounded chassis you will just run a wire from one of the terminals to ground and as Stern explained the other terminal will use a positive from where you choose to close the solenoid. Its not relevant to you but you could also use a negative to control the solenoid.

If you were to connect a wire from one of the small terminals to the large terminal that is hot (hot as in its wire goes to the battery) you could then run the other small terminal to a source that would provide a negative. It can be controlled either way. That solenoid is not POLARITY sensitive so the pos and and neg control wires can go to either terminal. The electromagnet doesn't care which way the current is flowing through it. The hot wire could go on either terminal as its just a connector and is not polarity sensitive either.

I said the last part just so you better understand solenoids. You are grounding one small terminal and providing your hot/control wire to the other terminal. Its good to understand how that device works as I have worked with mechanics who think that a solenoid can change 12 volts to 6 volts and other stupid stuff. If you had one cut open in your hands right now you would be saying DUUUUHHH.

 

[GotSmart]

So it is in fact a switch controlled by a small switch.

We will call the large terminals A and B

The small terminals 1 and 2.

Power comes off the generator to A. There is a wire going to house battery system from B.

12V Power comes off of Source X (house or start battery) to a switch, and then to 1 with a ground off of 2.

Power will only flow when the switch is turned on.

Could it be wired as a simple switch with power going from the generator to A and 1? That way the power will only flow when the generator is running at full capacity. That would eliminate a switch and the possibility of draining the power source if it is the start battery.

I can build systems but have not had formal training.

 

[Donedirtcheap]

You got it. If you wanted it to do it automatically you would need to design/engineer a card to senses what you are looking for and creat an output. Far to complex for what you are doing and I think an isolator would do that. Keep it simple and go with what Stern has explained. Relays are also like solenoids but come in many variations. Have you ever dealt with the Bosch cube style relays? They do what solenoids do but often on a smaller scale. Do you understand how a cube relay works? Normally open/normally closed?

---

This guy does a good job.
You now see that your solenoid only does one job and that is that it lets a remote switch close a contact and connect a heavier load.
Notice in the video that the cube relay has a normally closed side and a normally open side. He explains how the relay is used to control a horn when the horn switch causes an electromagnet to pull the contact arm closing the contacts. Its closing the contacts that send power to the horn. At the same time it is doing that it is opening the normally closed contact tips. So what you say....well the normally closed side could be doing something else while the relay is in a static state. I cant imagine what you might want to "un power" when blowing the horn but his relay has the ability to do it. The point is that depending on what you are trying to accomplish a no/nc relay can do 2 things with one switch. Your solenoid can do 1 thing. Depending on the relay type it can do even more than 2 things with one switch. Then you can also have a relay controlling a relay to interlock items. Often used in safety start switch circuits etc. An example is that you would need to be on the seat of a crane, apply the parking brake, push the brake pedal down and fasten the seat belt before the key switch would let the starter solenoid close. Yet now days many systems that I just described will use a computer card to look for those inputs before allowing the starter to engage. Very low amperage circuits can feed a computer so you have reduced wire costs and weight yet you can tell the big guy to go crank over that diesel. Did you actually want to hear all this?

 

[SternWake]

The only draw back is that solenoids uses energy to to complete the circuit. The electromagnet is a small but constant draw. I assume that's why Stern is using manual switches.

13 years ago my Old man helped me wire in a manual boat battery switch, because he had an extra one.

The draw of the electromagnet is not really a concern to me as it is a small portion of what the alternator is making at any single point, but if the solenoid were a smarter version than sensed charging voltages from the solar then split the current between the two batteries as well as consuming a portion of that Solar current just to do so, well I'd find that intolerable.

My current system has one AGM battery and one Flooded and I only cycle one battery at a time. My manual switches allow me to choose either battery for either duty, house or engine. A solenoid would not allow me that control. Like my Flooded battery needs 16 volts once a week to return the Specific gravity to the maximum. But 16v is too high for most 12 volt devices, so I turn my "Load" switch to transfer all loads to the AGM battery, and turn my solar controller acceptance and float voltages upto 16v, and it takes ~ 6 amps to raise the voltage upto 16v, but possible only after it had slowly taken them to 14.8v and held them there for ~2 hours and the amps required to hold 14.8 tapered to less than one amp.

If I did not have a manual switch, I would not be able to easily perform this Equalizing maintenance that this specific Flooded battery requires to perform properly. I would have to move a bunch of cables around each and every week just to accommodate this petulant battery, and that would not happen, and this petulant battery would have died from sulfation months ago, and I've only had it since November. Now with the turn of a switch and pressing a few buttons when the sun is high makes performing an EQ cycle on this battery simple, and the battery is performing well cycling nightly 30 to 55 amp hours each night.



There are many reports all over the web of Solenoids failing. Their quality, the quality of the main contacts within varies greatly. If the solenoid is passing starter current from the house battery, it will wear out quicker. In general this is going to take a while and each setup is going to be different as to how many amps it will actually be passing at any given time, and how fast it wears.

The solenoid is a tried and true and the easiest and least expensive way of achieving automatic paralleling/isolation, but it is not a forever solution. When Aged, one should note to see if their solenoid is heating up greatly when the house batteries are low.

Even though they will claim a 50,000 cycle lifespan, the contacts within could start deteriorating at a tiny fraction of that number, again depending on how much current it is being asked to pass and the quality of the contact materials. As you can imagine the quality can vary greatly, and the ratings, well hard to believe any claims these days as maximum profit and acceptable risk to the manufacturer rule the day, and the manufacturers know that a majority will choose products based on price alone. Cut the corners and let Marketing and the lawyers deal with any fallout of corner cutting. So sad.

Being vigilant with an aging solenoid is wise. It is not as if they are difficult or expensive to replace, but if one does not know it has failed, then they are likely cycling two batteries, one of which was not designed to be cycled, and it will not be noticed until the dreaded starter 'click', and Murphy was an optimist, so this 'click' will happen not only at the worst possible time and place, but it will also set in motion a series of events which will extinguish the human race!!!

Or not.

 

[Donedirtcheap]

Stern, you do know sum mo stuff dude. I always look forward to reading your posts and even more so now that I plan on having solar in the future. Yes there are big differences in electrical components
I cant imagine how many batteries live a short life because of improper charging. Some how or the other I ended up with a WFCO converter that is junk so I'm waiting on a progressive dynamics 4 stage to take care of my 4 sams club GC2's. It's easy to take energy for granted when you walk in the door and flip the switch then pay the bill every month but its a whole different thing when you have to have your own power plant.
I dont really like the idea of even having my tow vehicle interact with my rig. Its like connecting a space ship to a turd. You van guys are different in that you dont have the extra storage compartments and room for generators and gas cans and 6 solar panels. Its just my opinion but I'm building so that the rig can function with out having to run the tow vehicle. Nothing wrong with capturing that energy but it cant do the whole job so why go there. I have seen some tricky problems in computer controlled cars even when it comes to tail lights screwing up the tow veh. OK back to GotSmarts solar.

 

[loess]

SternWake, muchos gracias for the crash course in ACRs and solenoid-ology. I have a tendency to get Google-crazy on things and then I ultimately end up more cross-eyed and cornfused than I was in the first place. All better now.

The draw of the electromagnet is not really a concern to me as it is a small portion of what the alternator is making at any single point, but if the solenoid were a smarter version than sensed charging voltages from the solar then split the current between the two batteries as well as consuming a portion of that Solar current just to do so, well I'd find that intolerable.

I was hoping to find a solution to this in one of the less expensive brands you mentioned. It looks like the Yandina does in fact have a simple option to wire in a control switch that will bypass it completely until you decide you want to flip it back on again. Which would be nice any time you want to direct 100% of the current coming in from the solar panels to the house battery and not worry about the thing automatically kicking in and sharing juice with the starter battery.

 

[SternWake]

My personal take on the starter battery, is that it needs No solar input. The goal of having a secondary battery system is so that the engine starting battery is never touched by house/ Aux draws/load, So one should not require sharing solar current with the starter battery.

The Surepower 1314a is a good single sense/uni directional smart solenoid meaning it will combine the batteries only after the engine battery is above 13.2v. Solar applied to just the house battery will not cause this solenoid to combine the batteries.

The surepower 1315 is a dual sense bi directional smart solenoid which will combine both batteries when either battery is up above 13.2v.

http://www.allbatterysalesandservice.com/browse.cfm/2,1140.html

The 200 amp versions are double the price of the 100 amp versions though.

Some might think the dual sense/ bi directional solenoid is a no brainer as it is the same price, but with Solar, you do not want to share the solar wattage between Starter and house, and you do not want a portion of the solar wattage to be used by the electromagnet just to do so. I say you do not want to share the current between both batteries, as most solar systems are underpowered to properly recharge just the one AUX battery. Even if the engine battery is fully charged and most current will be taken by the depleted house/Aux battery, a portion of the solar current is going to go into the engine battery just to hold it at 14.xx volts, and a portion is going to go to holding the solenoid contacts together. Current that would be better used to charge only the AUX/house battery which needs it the most.

You want all the solar wattage going into the house battery, and if you do want to share some solar wattage with the engine battery, many ways to do so exist. One could just put a temporary Jumper between the big terminals on the solenoid, or jumper cables between the batteries themselves. Having a dual sense solenoid just for the rare times when this scenario is needed/wanted, is unwise, in my opinion.

I am not familiar with the Yandina combiner/ separator function.

I personally do not like these smart solenoids, or ACR's. here is why.

First, the engine battery is in a properly wired/ designed dual battery system should not be discharged at all. Start the engine, and the alternator will nearly instantly have the engine battery over 13.2v or 13.8v and the batteries will be combined. If the house battery is super low it might drag the combined voltage down below the 12.8v threshold and the solenoid separates the batteries, and then, freed from the depleted house battery load the voltage quickly rises back up above 13.2, combining the batteries again. I think there is some sort of delay programmed into these smart solenoids to prevent this possible rapid cycling on and off, but perhaps not.

Many years ago the Surefire 1314 was responsible for a few vehicle fires and they had a recall and a large batch of serial numbers. Beware of used units being sold.

Now, the unidirectional/ single sense smart solenoid keeps the batteries paralleled until the engine battery falls below 12.8v or 13.2v . Due to surface charge, this might take hours before the voltage falls below the 12.8v threshold. This whole time the smart solenoid will have the batteries combined and using 0.6 to 1 amp to do so. If this 1 amp is for an hour, well that is likely more than my 12v compressor fridge uses in an hour.

If the engine is shut off during the day, while the solar is still going, then this unidirectional/ single sense solenoid will still keep both batteries combined until sometime near or even well after sun down. That solar current would have been better off only feeding the single house battery which was cycled and needs all the recharging current the solar can make.

Now if the engine is shut off, the solar keeps the voltage above 12.8v on both batteries, the smart solenoid keeps the batteries in parallel, and say the engine is started again, both batteries will be feeding the starter motor with 100+ amps each to do so. Any delicate electronics hooked to the house battery are not separated from possible surges/spikes that the starter motor can induce when the power is removed from it. Also the starter current flowing through the solenoid will wear the contacts faster. The only positive is that the Starter battery has two batteries feeding it and it turns much faster and starts the engine faster, but in reality holding the key to start for .5 seconds vs 1 second, means little.


I enjoy having the merest blip of the starter motor start the engine with my 930 CCA AGM, but the larger, higher capacity Flooded deep cycle battery @~ 620CCA also has no issues cranking the motor on its own, it just does so slower and I have to hold the key a bit longer. Big whoop. But I do enjoy the AGM's ability in this regard, even though it means nothing, or very little, in the end. It's a personal problem

In my opinion, a high quality Dumb CD solenoid, activated by the blower motor circuit( which is usually inactive during engine cranking/starting), is superior to a smart solenoid in application and function.

One can also wire in a simple lighted toggle switch on the blower motor solenoid activation circuit. Flip a switch to activate the solenoid after the engine is already running. Forget to unflip the switch, shut off the engine and the batteries still separate and the engine battery will still be fully charged, ready to go the next engine start.

Wiring the solenoid activation circuit appears to be a main reason why people choose instead these smart solenoids or Automatic charge relays over the dumb solenoid. Pulling 12v off the Blower motor circuit is not difficult at all. One can just shove the wire into the fuse for the blower motor, and putting a lighted toggle switch inline on this wire is a cakewalk too.

A depleted house battery can ask for huge amperages from the alternator, especially if the cabling between alternator/solenoid and house battery is thick and short, as it should be for maximizing efficacy. Each 25 charging amps takes one engine HP. I feel an overnight cold motor is better off warming up a bit without the alternator asking for 3 HP just to feed the battery. Some might say it is producing huge amounts to replenish the starting battery anyway. Perhaps if the vehicle takes lots of time to start this is true. On my '89 Van, which is fuel injected and starts easily and quickly the amps just to feed the fully charged starting battery starts at about 32amps and within 15 seconds is about 12 amps and will taper to the low single digits within a minute.

I usually allow at least 30 seconds to pass before turning my battery switch and allowing alternator amps into the depleted house battery but will go longer in colder conditions or if the house battery is really super depleted or if it is damp/ raining. If the house battery is not very depleted or there is to be a lot of sun, often I choose not to allow the alternator to feed it any current.

Having the toggle switch activating the blower motor circuit and thus the solenoid allows the driver the option to allow the engine to warm up a bit before it is asked to feed a hungry house battery with 25 to 75 amps, 1 to 3 HP.

When that toggle switch is thrown, when the house battery is depleted, you will hear the engine note change, perhaps not on a Diesel, but it is very noticeable on my 5.2 liter V8. When I turn my manual switch and the amps the alternator makes goes from about 18 to 70 amps, it is very noticeable in the tone of the engine. If it is wet out my alternator belt might start slipping and squealing at higher rpms(900 and above) as the battery is sucking up 75+ amps. The toggle switch would be nice. My manual switch however cannot be reached from the driver's seat. So If I accelerate and the alternator belt starts squealing, I basically have to get off the gas to stop the squealing. The dash mounted toggle would be nice. But I have no solenoid and am not moving my switches, so will just deal with it as is.


I like my 3 manual switches to control current flow from to and fro here and there, but In another Van, I would choose the Dumb CD solenoid on the blower motor circuit with lighted toggle switch over any other automatic isolator/ combiner system, even the respectable Blue seas ACR.

Lots of opinion in this post. There are many ways to do this battery isolation combination, and I'm not saying any one way is best for every/ All system(s) vehicles.
My goal is to inform to allow others to make the best choice for themselves.

 

[Ballenxj]

Thanks for this informative thread (that I will have to read again and again to comprehend) and a special thanks to SternWake & GotSmart for their valuable input.

 

[GotSmart]

I have been working to pay for a place for my kids to move into. I have been too tired to post lately. I finally have a couple days off, so I can start putting in the parts I have accumulated.

I found a Fantastic Fan shell at a yard sale today. $3, could not pass that up! I will get the basic parts installed, and I will run wires when I put it in. That way I can buy the rest later, and just drop the parts in place. The cutting will be done, and if I have money troubles later, I will still have the upper vent already installed.

I have a 8X8 electrical D~Box for my solenoid and fuses. I glued in rubber (Old tractor tube) so if my fingers slip I will not fry anything. I have a bunch of 12v switches on order, so I can put one in the dash to power the batteries from the alternator while driving.

I ordered a 8 ton hydraulic wire terminal crimper. $35 and I can make my own wires to fit. After pricing everything, it is about the same cost to do it this way, and I will have the tools to do any upgrades.

I got one 12v outlet plug, and a LED reading lamp. Those will be going in this weekend with pictures to show what I did. Now I just hope I have enough for the panels and controller. (Children are expensive!) I will also put in a couple extension cords running to where the controller will be from various spots .

 

[GotSmart]

:s

Humidity is around 83% I have changed my shirt 4 times today it got up to 92, which felt like 110.

I was able to start my electrical install today.

On top of the picture is one of my house speakers.

I am using 4 gauge copper wires for my main power source. I found it for around 90 cents a foot at Home Depot. Every wire will be color coded by means of electrical tape about every foot. I have plenty of wire clamps to make sure nothing moves, and rubber and plastic grommets for where the wire passes through metal.

I am using copper fittings clamped by a 8 ton hydraulic unit. No loose wires in my system!

On the left is a 8X8 electricians box with rubber lining to hold my 200A fuse coming off of the alternator, then the solenoid and power going out to the house batteries. On the right is the 100A fuse coming off of the house batteries going to my Blue Seas power D~Box. I was glad to see it used the same fuses as my van.

All grounds will be going by means of heavy wires to the frame, where I will set up a good clean ground. Those will be hooked up tomorrow.

The solenoid will be controlled by a switch on the dash so the system is separate except when I want it on. I just need to chose the power source for the switch. I will have all the wiring hooked up except for the connection at the alternator) before I get my batteries, (Around the 7th) so then all that is needed is to go to Arizona and get the panels and the rest of the system.

I have plenty of extra switches. Buying 10 from Amazon was the same cost as getting two from Radio Shack.

 

[akrvbob]

Looks great so far! I went cheap, I just have a heavy hammer crimper but that hydraulic one looks great.
Bob

 

[GotSmart]

Looks great so far! I went cheap, I just have a heavy hammer crimper but that hydraulic one looks great.
Bob

When you are sitting in a hole and want the right size wire~~~ I went a few dollars more and git one I can use without throwing through a window.

 

[blars]

The hydrolic crimper I have (from harbor freight) works fine up to #2, for 1/0 or 2/0 I have to flatten the connectors a little with a hammer to get the crimper on. (Crimper claims to work with 1/0, but apparently only with thin-walled connectors.) For 4/0, I borrowed Bob's hammer crimper.

 

[GotSmart]

Today I bought batteries.

I went in to buy some T105's, and started asking questions. It seems that a company went under, and liquidated everything they could before the bank could repossess it. Battery Outfitters had a pallet filled with reconditioned AGM DC224's.

For $240, I was able to get four of them.

I am making the wires to put the system together now. Tomorrow this part will be done. I hope to be heading West on the 6th. I have a late appointment to get my new CPAP on the 5th, otherwise I would be gone much quicker.

With this much battery, I will function off of the charging system until the solar and controller come in. No fridge set up until I find a inverter I feel I can trust with decent reviews. (Price is also a factor.) The ice chest will have to do for now.

 

[Zil]

Reconditioned AGM's?

 

[GotSmart]

Battery Outfitters is one of the few companies that does that.

I have the batteries installed. The lights and 12v power source are wired in. All that is left to do is hook the power from the blower to the solenoid "on" switch. As soon as I take a short break. ~~~

The solar can be tied in through the control boxes.

(Pictures or it did not happen!)

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