Moving to 24v has some advantages. First would be the wire itself. I'm using 10ga wire from the panel at 12v. This wire can support 12v at 8amps (best output of the single panel) for a length of 11.5 feet before seeing a 2% voltage drop. The wire I have connecting my panel to the charge controller is already longer than that. If we change to 24v, the length doubles. At some point I want this solar array ground based in my back yard, which is going to require a good length of wire to get the power into the garage.
Next, I have been doing some homework on inverters. It seems that the 300w inverter I have is a square wave inverter. In short - it doesn't really deliver clean power. A Pure Sign Wave inverter would be the most desirable, as it will produce 120v exactly like what is coming out of your wall receptacle in your home. A friend of mine said he has one he would part with - 600w pure sign wave inverter, and it's a good name. I'll enter more info on this when I have it. The inverter requires 24v, so I will need to reconfigure my battery pack to be 24v. There are 6 batteries. I'll pair two batteries in series to make 24v. Then take three pairs at 24v and run them in series to increase the capacity. That should support the inverter.
The charge controller is 12/24v (auto) so it should pick up that the pack is 24v right away.
Lastly, I'm going to need another solar panel to run in series with the one I already have.
These things are all in the works. Stay tuned for an update here!
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