Fully off-grid homestead with 400watts of solar, the mission is to add another 400 watts.
800Watt Solar
The panels are heart of the whole system. In this setup we used 800 watts of 12vdc, wired underground to the nearby homestead. These panels are wired in parallel to keep the voltage at 12vdc rather than 24-48.
80Amp Charge Controller
From the solar panels we wire into our 80 Amp PWM charge controller where the electricity gets split to keep a constant voltage, from our unstable solar voltage. If you were to wire the panels directly to batteries, they would blowup the batteries shortly after due to overvoltage. We used a 80 amp charge controller because 800/12=66. So theoretically, the panels could put out 66 amps at full capacity. around 60 amps is the largest size you would ever use in real life at 12 volts, because more amperage becomes deadly and a massive fire hazard, also much more expensive due to wire size.
400AH Battery
After the charge controller we have the batteries. In this system, we have four 12vdc 100Ah deep cycle lead-acid batteries wired in parallel (hot to hot neg to neg.) Wiring in parallel increases amp hours, while wiring in series increases voltage. Batteries Store all the power in the solar system.
2000Watt Inverter
The inverter connects to batteries to invert 12vdc to 120vac, the strain of electricity most appliances in America run on. Without this, you would need to buy 12vdc appliances for your off-grid application. Larger Inverters draw more power when idle, though obviously can power larger equipment
Full Solar System Schematic
a place to connect 