Solar Powered Audio

Hello from Down under,Australia...
I have been running a Solar set up now for 6 years and recently upgraded my 20 Solar Panels and also added a Wind Generator...that's for running a KR Audio Kronzilla and all the other goodies in the past...Power was too costly to bring up to my isolated bush property,so I really had no choice...I am now running two seperate systems,with different batteries and different 24VDC to 240VAC Converters,both being pure sine wave converters...to share some experiences gained over the years!!!!...one set of batteries is lead acid,the other one is Ni-Cad...they both sound different...to my ears ,the Ni-Cad is a bit smoother...the same goes for the sine wave voltage converters... both sine waves look the same and are very clean,BUT,they sound different...the output rating is about the same...I will be completing my wiring with better cables to the dedicated power points soon,fuses to my ears also sound better than circuit breakers...our Australian ones are different than yours...I recently also went to a battery S/S amplifier and was suprised by the result...In summary...oversize your battery supply and try different once,preferably sealed ,if using a voltage converter,make sure it is a good pure sine wave ...
the result will be clean,dynamic music "pure"...hope this is of some help !!!! Helmut

Hey - You have gotta post some pics and include wiring and stuff, unless you are going into business. Like instantly; we all want to see.

Maybe a dumb question, but doesn't most audio gear ('cept the stuff with motors) have internal transformers and run mostly DC anyway? You don't really need 115VAC, and wouldn't you lose a lot in the various DC-AC-DC conversions? Why not stay in the DC domain and just get a plug installed on your gear that bypasses the internal power supply?

I fully agree that on a smaller installation you do loose a lot in the conversion from AC to DC...as I mentioned I just did purchase a German made small DC amplifier for efficient speakers....puts out about 10 watt...and so far I am very impressed,but I am on the other side of the world ,in Germany at the moment and will have some discussion with the manufacturer,to bring it ,if possible, to a higher level...but,I also found that the bigger Inverter appears to have a better control on the bass and the soundstage...in any case,if you stay with a pure DC supply,which is better ,you do need a battery ,as big as possible,that's my experience...in my case,I sometimes do have to supply some power to the house and washing machine too,ha,ha...if someone is interested in some pictures,shoot me a e-mail...one day I will post my system,but at the moment I am down grading and selling most of the gear...hope this helps....Enjoy the music...Helmut

You nailed it Edesilva! That's exactly what most of us are doing with the SLA's etc., bypassing the transformer/diode stage and feeding 12/24/48v dc directly to the supply caps... beautious!