Alan Legath

Yes, instead of letting the excess power go to waste the goal is to provide some "free" heat to the hot water heater by replacing the lower element with the 24VDC element.

Lighter and easier for me to work with. I usually work alone and will be putting them on a south facing carport roof.
the 100 watt panels are 109 with free shipping

the 300 watt are 277 + shipping  there won't be much difference after I pay the shipping, but I need to order panels today to get the price & free shipping. I have been doing some research and I think I have the correct setup but I was hoping to hear from some who knows a lot more than I do about the diversion load.

I am looking at 6 100 watt mono panes with a morningstar TS- 60 diversion load control. I want to wire the panels with 3 groups of 2 panels wired in series and the the 3 groups in parallel for 24v at 300 watts to start.
If I add a 24 volt water heater diversion element that draws 900 watts will it try to pull from the batteries or will it just take the full available panel power just working at a lower efficiency.?
eventually plan to add enough batteries to run my well pump off grid with an inverter (10A at 240 VAC), but for now I will just be running the Iron filter and softer + some 12VDC yard lights.
Am I heading in the right direction?  

Thanks Steve that is good information (and a great idea).

I also found out from a game warden I know that the bears they have been trapping in the Orlando area are being released in the nearby state forest.

Mr. Rufus is correct, the existing wire fence would become the additional ground, and it is FL. I am about 2/10 mile from a good size lake and about 1/10 from 2 large ponds and about 1 mile from a large state forest. The property is fenced on the perimeter and the fence i want to charge is an inner fence so a person would have to cross one fence before getting to the charged fence. When the larger of the two dogs chased out the gator he climbed over the inner fence and then went under the outer fence through a swale dug by a gopher tortoise. He was just a little guy about 4', a larger one would have just killed the dog. I also planned on plenty of signs and flags to mark the hot wires. Any water you dump on the ground is gone almost immediately and I and my  neighbors on both sides have wells about 300' deep to hit water.

I currently have a 4' no climb horse fence surrounding my property with an inner fenced area of about 1/2 acre right behind the house. I have had problems with a bear and a gator climbing over the inner fence so I want to put a few strands of electric wire on the outside of the inner fence. The soil is very dry and sandy and to make sure I get good contact I was thinking of attaching the ground to both the recommended three (3) ground rods, and also to the existing fence wire. I can't find any information regarding using the existing fence as a ground and I am wondering if this is acceptable. As the bottom wire of the fence is already against the ground and even slightly underground in some places I don't think it would be a problem but as I have no experience with electric fences i am looking for advice. My fear is it could be too good of a ground and the fence could become dangerous.  Thanks.