Supplementing solar /charge controller question

[terracore]

"no amount of money would buy electricity in the aftermath of a hurricane if HELCO is down"

You hit the nail on the head. The reason why I wanted off-grid refrigeration- it was the only reason I was spending ~$30/day on gas to keep the generator running after Iselle. Unless my panels blow off, if there is another incident like that I can probably get by on very little generator usage. The power went out for several hours about a week ago and we barely even noticed because all our primary electronics were running off the solar. As luck would have it, grid power was restored just as evening came. I'm typing this now on a computer juiced by solar.

[terracore]

My system has two charge controllers. Lots of info out there about that. But what about 3 (identical) charge controllers from 3 arrays feeding one battery bank?

[kalakoa]

what about 3 (identical) charge controllers

Charge controllers "back off" as the batteries reach float voltage; this remains true even when there are 2 or 3 or more charge controllers "ganged together", it just works.

For "elegance", maybe adjust the float threshold so that the controllers back off gracefully, leaving one of them as the "last charger standing".

The other thing you're looking for is a "voltage controlled switch", Solar Converters has gone out of business but there are plenty of cheap Chinese versions on eBay. Get a few; use one to drive an automatic transfer switch (smarter than a timer), one to trigger the battery charger, and maybe one turned up to near float voltage so the "extra" power does something silly (fountain, ice maker, silly decorative lights, etc) when the batteries are full.

(Giving post 10K back to the community, because reasons.)

[Kapoho Joe]

Helpful & classy - way to go! Congratulations on the milestone.

[terracore]

"(Giving post 10K back to the community, because reasons.)"

Much appreciation.