>> We had a big storm and the power went out for just over 24 hours. Like you
>> said one time, I was the only one on my block who had lights were still on
>> and the emergency power was working great. But after about 23 hours a
>> breaker tripped on the DC input coming down from the roof. We were
>> asleep so did not see the battery voltage going down. Like you say when
>> you go off-grid the voltage becomes like your gas guage. We awoke and
>> the system was down, batteries at 19v. Can't get it to power back on.
>> Now what? And are my batteries gone or damaged?
Your batteries will be OK, they are really solid stuff and I doubt you have hurt them yet.
Golf carts run till dead almost every day and they are made for abuse, that's why i like these batteries.
It takes 24v to start the inverter, so you may have to use the solar and wind to charge them up. Check all DC breakers and be sure all are set to ON. Turn off both disconnects and loads to and from inverter and wait till batteriues get up to 24v or above.
It takes 24v to start the inverter. When it comes up to 24v, then turn on Battery switch, inverter will start up.
When it starts back up, start turning on all AC disconnects and breakers to start carrying your loads. BE very conservative on what you run until you get that battery level up to 26v or so. The system will shut down if you ever drop to 20v or below. So, your voltage is your gas guage. You have to live within the generation production until utility comes back up. If voltage is going down too much you have to lighten your loads and let it recover. At night with no wind you have to watch it most carefully. So, going into night time you want to have your battery levels up pretty good.
The system will run your home off-grid as long as it takes. When the grid power comes back, it will automatically start selling power and running the meter backwards again, no need to do anything, it's all automatic. Let me know how it goes. THANKS