Michael Qulek

I think it would be highly recommended that you outline that what you are creating is a carbon monoxide generator, and you must take the precautions required for working with a poisonous gas.  It's very important to understand that CO is an accumulative poison.

Sounds like your panels might be adequate.  What are their specs, and the specs of your panels?  Which Vitron charge controller did you get?

I myself am an proponent of rotating ground mounts, and I've constructed four different versions of them now for my various array frames.  Here are some pics.  The bulk of the materials are schedule 40 steel pipe, and half and full channel unistruts.

You don't mention anything about the solar resources used to charge this system.  That is going to be very important.  What's going to happen when winter storms blow in and you can't get sufficient charge for weeks at a time?  Will there be a backup generator?  I could envision your batteries being totally drained by day 7 of an extended storm?  Will there be periods of time you are away from the cabin, or will you be there 24/7 to tend to the system?

For my own 48V system,I started with 4500W of panels, in five arrays, all facing South.  I later upgraded the system with another 3000W facing due West to catch the late afternoon sun.  This was done to prolong the time I could keep my well-pump, and air-conditioner running in the late afternoon without any battery depletion.  The South-facing arrays start getting shading around 4:30pm or so, and are all in complete shade after 5:00pm.  With the Western arrays, I can keep the well-pump running till 6:00pm, and the air-con running till ~7:00pm, before the battery starts draining.

What's the reasoning for keeping the battery outside?  Is it the potential for a run-away battery fire?  If that's the concern, why build the enclosure right up against the wooden wall of the cabin, made with especially flammable materials?  If in fact the battery were to catch on fire, the outside wall would light after just a minute or two, and then work it's way up to the roof.

Since my battery bank is in an unheated North-facing utility room, I went with lead-acid Rolls-Surrette batteries.  After 5 years, they are still performing like new, with all twelve 4V batteries reaching full charge by the end of the day, even in the rain.  On a sunny day, ~ 10:00am.  The key for keeping lead-acid happy is abundant charging.  The legacy of the many, many, many dead off-grid systems comes from the chronic undercharging resulting from implementing too few watts of panel charging.

Nicolas Derome wrote:
So pawpaws are okay with the stems being covered in soils? I know some plants don't like that and it causes their stems to rot (happened once when I played peppers a little deeper than the cotyledons).

Since you have several deformed seedlings, try covering one deeper, and leave another as-is.  You can then determine for yourself if it's a problem.  In my personal experience though deeper stimulates roots.

I'm sorry, but why is this considered to be a solar myth?  Why does it need disproving?  Everyone in the solar community today knows about raising voltage to cross long distances.  I myself have recommended this in just about every solar conversation on this board.  Why is this guy acting like "he" discovered the secret?

Nobody has actually posted any kind of voltage drop calculator.  I use this one.

https://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html

For my own system, I'm running about 8A a total distance of 130 feet at 120VDC, with no measurable voltage drop through 10 gauge copper wire.  Just plug in your numbers into the calculator to see what you get.

I'd suggest that wiring 5-6 large 250W residential solar panels in series would give you between 150-180VDC that would cross that 200 foot distance with less than 2% voltage drop.

Of course, you need a charge controller (or AiO) that can handle voltage that high.

Remember though you are NOT measuring the working voltage making power, called the Vmp.  You need to be looking at the open-circuit voltage, which is what you measure when the array is disconnected from the controller.  That will be ~25% higher then the Vmp.  Also remember that the voltage of the panels goes up as the temperature goes down.  So, the panel Voc will be higher in below freezing winter weather then in summer.  You MUST take that into account when you are designing your system.  What are your winter lows like?

I think what you could do is to fill in the pots an inch or two deeper, and allow the curvy sections to produce roots.  Eventually, with roots forming above the curves, the curving will become irrelevent.

A modern type of solar steam generation is up and running out in the California desert.  This idea was not forgotten, though it's turning out that photoelectric panels plus battery storage is a more cost-effective method to generate electricity.

https://www.energy.ca.gov/powerplant/solar-thermal/mojave-solar-project

High-voltage residential solar panels are now dirt-cheap that anyone can build a functional off-grid solar system these days.  I'd recommend focusing your attention (and solar rays) in that direction.

I recently scored some recycled sliding glass doors from a contractor that was installing new ones in an apartment building I happened to be driving past.  I stopped and asked, and got to take twelve 72X36" glass panels for free.  I'm going to use those for the construction of a greenhouse on the side of my cabin.

I wonder if you could do something the same, building a small enclosure around your totes, with glass facing South, and the other three sides and the roof heavily insulated?  I would design the enclosure such that it could be sealed up in winter, but opened to the air come spring, so the water doesn't get too hot.

What's the ATCC # for "super ninja turbo" yeast?