We are completely off grid. Our Xantrex system comprises an inverter, a battery bank, and a solar array.

We got the Xantrex XW6048 inverter as the brains/workhorse of our solar-powered system. Part of the reason for going with this system (rather than pieces) is the same reason I wanted the guy doing our concrete slab also taking care of the plumbing in the slab–I don’t want any finger pointing. Also, Xantrex has a great reputation. I think everyone around here that I have visited (on my tour of places using solar power) had a Xantrex inverter and they all seemed quite happy.

I searched the web for “Installing a Xantrex XW” and found nothing – nothing useful. I hope this will help others as I seem on my own… as far as the internet goes anyway. P.D. has been enormously helpful and I’m developing a small group of great people to ask questions of via email.

Xantrex gives you really great documentation. There’s a big bound manual and a color fold-out diagram/layout that shows many possible configurations-grid tied, off-grid, single or multiple inverters, etc. It all seems a bit over my head, but I think I can work through it.

As for the rest of the system, we got the Control Panel, which lets you configure and monitor all the different parts of the system from one panel, the  Power Distribution Panel, the Solar Charge Controller, and the Automatic Generator Start. I’m sure we will need some additional parts to get it running, but was a ready to begin.

The first matter at hand is mounting the equipment. The inverter weighs something like a hundred-thirty pounds. You don’t want to fool around with this. They give you a really solid mounting plate for both the inverter and the Power Distribution Panel (hence forth know as the, PDP).