Bought a board to mount my solar panel controller. Read that the hardware should be mounted on a fireproof substrate. Wood isn’t fireproof so I bought a 1/16″ aluminum plate to put over the wood. Realized my new inverter isn’t pure sine wave, but I suppose that is ok for my little set up. I also bought the recommended switch which is beefer than I expected. I suppose switching high current solar panels requires such a switch.
Used the wire that came with the inverter to make some connections. Ordered a battery but it’s going to take a week to get here. Will probably use some old incandescent lights for a test load. Still figuring out how and where I’m going to mount the panels. Here’s the hardware:
- Walnut Hollow 1829 Basswood Vintage Plaque, 9 x 13 x 0.75
- Aluminum Sheet Metal 8″ x 12″ x 1/16″(0.06”) Thin Aluminum Plate Flat Stock
- 400W Power Inverter DC 12V to 110V AC
- Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT 75V 15 amp 12/24-Volt Solar Charge Controller (Bluetooth)
- DC Miniature Circuit Breaker, 2 Pole 1000V 32 Amp Isolator for Solar PV System, Thermal Magnetic Trip, DIN Rail Mount

Haha, bring out the candles 🙂 Great job on setting up your solar panel controller! It’s smart to have a fireproof substrate and to use an aluminum plate for added protection. Don’t worry about your inverter not being pure sine wave, it should still work fine for your setup. And using a beefy switch for high current solar panels is definitely a good call.
Appreciated.
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All this is just my little hands-on experiment with solar. I plan on doing a full solar / battery in my next house and want to make sure I understand the real-world issues. Going to share what I learn here for anyone else going down this road.
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