Solar Power
The plan is to design and install a system that will allow me to have enough solar panels and battery bank to operate the refrigerator/freezers, lights, computers, and ham radio gear as needed in the event of a grid failure. Also to provide enough power to run tools and equipment for short periods to do projects as required.
The current design plan includes a solar panel installation of around 1200 watts, a 600 AH lead acid battery bank, and an integrated charge controller, battery charger, inverter and load switch component. The final design will provide automatic switchover between grid and/or solar to the battery bank and inverter. It will need to be able to balance loads but allow enough flexibility to supply many types of loads without excessive manual intervention. It will also have to provide some kind of smart monitoring and control via bluetooth or wifi.
Vendors-
Solar panels and supporting equipment – Renogy at http://www.renogy.com