Here's the final chapter (for now) of this long-running saga.

Alan's comments about chickens perched on batteries pecking at the crocodile clips wasn't all that far off the mark! [Linked Image]

The main feed to the inverter, for example, was two rusty old clips with the wires just wrapped around one side with some tape. It seems that the inverter itself, along with the regulator and load resistors for the wind turbine were perched on whatever junk happened to be there at the time they were "installed" and all wired up with whatever offcuts of wire were laying around in the barn, held up with sticky tape and bits of string. [Linked Image]

Anyway. the whole sorry mess of assorted old car and tractor batteries is gone and we fitted a large plywood sheet on the wall to take the equipment.

The system is now running with four 100Ah deep-cycle batteries in parallel, the existing wind turbine which has been hoisted another 8 or 9 feet into the air, plus an 80W PV panel installed on the shed roof temporarily. That panel plus another two or three will go on to the roof of the new mobile home when it arrives (probably next spring).

I've installed a 60-amp bulk charger (Mastervolt) to give a boost when the genset is running. It was darned expensive, but with temperature sensing and voltage sensing at the battery terminals it's going to be just slightly better than the horrible battered old trickle chargers he'd been trying to use until now. [Linked Image]

Of course, everything is now wired with decent-size cable and proper protective devices too. (I really don't need to tell you that there wasn't a fuse in sight before, do I? [Linked Image] ).
I was going to try and take before and after pictures to post, but forgot to pick up my camera.

Anyway, there is still some "interesting" wiring in the barn where the genset is located about 200 feet away which drastically needs work. He's going to "let me know" about that one, but let's say that until it's done I've told him it would not be a good idea to run the dryer which is sitting in the shed!

Sometimes you get jobs you wish you'd never seen!