Well, I started up the inverter today — it was uneventful; everything worked. We have AC power. The solar array charged the battery bank. It was the good kind of uneventful.

I threw the breaker labeled “Inverter Disconnect,” which connected the battery bank to the inverter. The inverter flashed for a second and then lit up showing the battery full. The System Control Panel turned on and showed a warning/fault. I looked at the warning, and it just let me know that new devices were added to the system.

I set the date and time and nothing else really.

Then I turned on the breaker adding the Solar Charge Controller (SCC) into the system. I immediately got another warning – Yes, a new device was added into the system. I did need to configure a couple of of things: battery type and the amp hours of the battery bank. It already knew the voltage of the battery bank.

Then I threw the last breaker to allow power from the solar array to the SCC. Almost immediately I saw voltage from the solar array displayed on the SCC. Soon the batteries were charging. The battery bank was about 50 volts when I began and about 54 volts by the time I left for the day.

And that’s it.

I think Xantrex (now called Schneider Electric or so I hear…) built a great system. Their manuals were great. The wiring diagrams were the best. I read all the manuals and studied the wiring diagrams and as far as I can tell everything worked. I am very happy.

We bought all our solar equipment from Northern Arizona Wind and Sun. I have to say that they were very helpful. They did several quotes for me as I tried to understand what it was I wanted. They did a wonderful job of making sure I bought all the things I needed and nothing I didn’t need. We got a big pile of stuff and it’s all somewhere doing something. While I was doing the installation, I frequently emailed them questions or requests for advice — again, they were very helpful and cheerful about helping. And, their prices were good… very good.

Here are some pictures:

-fin-