An electric 1100 sounds like a great idea! You could even cover the roof
with solar cells.
I have been trying to restrain myself on this battery thread, but
it finally got to the point where I just had to stick my oar in the
water. I have a solar-electric 12V system in my house in Vermont. My
(deep-cycle) batteries are sitting on a wooden platform a foot above the
concrete floor - I have always heard the concrete story, with no
explanations that made sense, but why take chances. To get the best
estimate of the state of charge of a battery by measuring voltage, the
measurement should be carried out at some known level of load, or current
draw. "Home Power" magazine published a graph of state of charge vs.
voltage at various rates of discharge, and I have the graph in Vermont,
but unfortunately I am spending a sabbatical year in Illinois, and my VT
house is rented! I think with no load connected to the battery, the
voltage doesn't start to drop much until it is pretty well drained, but
under a reasonable load, the voltage is a decent indication of the level
of charge. Even a "dead" battery will show a voltage above 11 volts at no
load, though. Wish I had the graph handy so I could be more specific.
Len Bugel
'50 TD (newly acquired, and stored for now)
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