My weekend Project | Page 2 | Alternative Energy | Forums

so yesterday I had to hook up the solar panels, only thing I didn't like about these panels was there wasn't a lot of options for mounting them together except for the 2 sets of holes

So I went and picked up some bolts, a hinge and some screw plates. I also bought a switch

I used the screw plates to mount the panels together

I stood them up to see how well the angle was with them leaned up against the handle

I needed to mount the hinge so I drilled out the frame for mounting

and bolted down the hinge

I decided to mount the 12 volt plug in the side to make it more professional looking, so I drilled out a hole

and popped in the outlet

much better looking and water tight

I bought a switch to kill the radio from the battery when not in use. Like all of today's electronics, the radio will still drain the battery even when shut off

I drilled out a hole and mounted the switch

and ran the wires down below

I grabbed the current wiring set up, the bundle on the right with the red, yellow and blue is the power feed

ran the red and power side of the switch together and tied the negative side in with the yellow and blue bundle

already to rock and roll

I decided to hard wire the 12 volt terminal to the battery since the inverter already clamps to the posts, so I cut off the clamps

and wired everything up, at this point we were live except for the panels going to the charge controller

I mounted the panels to the bracket built into the handle

the handle collapses allowing the panels to lay flat

and standing

I decided I didn't like it mounted there because the bracket was kind of flimsy and I could just see it breaking, so I drilled out the handle which was more sturdy

and remounted the panels, I also liked that they stood up higher which allowed the panels bottom to rest right on the box and not just the edge

I hooked up the panels to the charge controller and we were producing energy

it is all complete

let's rock

http://www.youtube.c.....sIG6we0u00