Mounting the powerboard

Our friend, who is a master electrician, helped my husband mount the powerboard pictured here. This was designed and put together by Sunfind Solar Products. It consists of: (from right to left) a Whisper Wind controller (from Southwest Wind), a solar controller (from Outback), a DC panel (from Outback), an inverter (from Outback), and an AC panel (from Outback). The controllers take the electricity produced by the wind and solar, respectively, and fill the batteries. The DC panel takes the electricity from the batteries and and feeds the inverter. The inverter converts 48 VDC to 120 VAC. A standard service panel is used to provide electricity to the house. The AC panel contains a transformer which converts 120VAC to 240 VAC, which we need to run our well pumps.


After the power center was mounted and wired, the battery racks were put in place. Next, the batteries were placed on the rack and connected (Safety note - remove any metal jewelry and insulate tools with electrical tape when working with the batteries).

The wind controller takes the power produced by the wind turbine and fills the batteries. it also monitors the state of the batteries. There is a light that indicates when the wind generator is charging the batteries and a display to indicate the voltage of the batteries.
The solar controller takes the power produced by the solar panels ( added in December 2006) and fills the batteries. It also monitors the state of the batteries. It has a display which indicates how many watts the solar panels are currently producing. Iit also indicates the voltage of the batteries.