After investigating how to protect our weekend ranch house against power failures (whether caused by natural disasters or some national/regional calamity), I came across RPS' Watersecure system. I watched the explanatory videos and spoke a few times with customer service and tech support, and concluded that this system was just what my family needed. The assurance of having running water in our home during a power outage (many here in TX experienced 4 days or more with no electricity last Feb) removes a huge variable from my emergency planning.

Anyway, RPS' tech support guy, Andrew, sized us to a 6K system for our 220 volt 1 hp pump and so that is what I ordered. I didn't want to have to design a mounting system, so I ordered the 8-panel mounting kit from RPS as well.

The system arrived here in TX from RPS' Calif. facility within several days of ordering it. It basically occupied an entire pallet and weighed, I think, around 800 lbs (mostly the weight of the batteries). I had the delivery guy with a pallet jack just put it right into the back of my F150 for transport to our ranch.

Once I unpacked the system at our ranch, a family member helped me with the installation of the mounting kit. I had already located a 6 foot section of 4.5" OD steel pipe, so I augered a 9" hole next to my existing well house with my tractor, set the pipe and poured concrete around it. After letting it set for a day or two, we set up the mounting kit which went pretty well, but we got stumped for a while on two things: (1) there wasn't a good picture in the installation materials about how to arrange the 8 rectangular solar panels (2 across horizontally? 4 across vertically?) but figured it out. (2) how to keep the mounting channels (basically 8' long) equidistant at both the top and bottom. (It didn't come out as perfectly as we would have liked).

Once the solar panels were mounted near the well house, I sunk a 6' galvanized steel post purchased from Home Depot sold for chain link fences 3' in the ground with my bucket loader and attached a couple of mounting brackets and a 1" plywood 24" x 20" mounting board to that with exterior screws. At this point, we realized, as per the instructions, that the controller/inverter unit that is the brains of the system, CANNOT be exposed to weather, mice & insects. (This was not made clear in the videos). So we had to pause the installation and build a kind of doghouse to fit over the controller and mounting pole, using treated plywood (which we painted), treated 2x4s, and some galvanized roofing. We also had to put in a door and two louvered air vents because the controller generates A LOT of heat from the fan outlet on top when it is running.

Also, the controller unit is VERY heavy, maybe 80 - 100 lbs, and it is about 20+ inches tall and maybe 15 inches wide. So it needs a strong mounting setup. The mistake I made was not setting it on a taller galvanized pole. The bottom of mine is only about 12 - 14" above the ground, so I have to lie on the ground on my back to see/work on the connections at the bottom. Should have sunk an 8' mounting pole halfway and left 4' above ground.

When it came to the electrical connections, I wanted to be able plug and unplug the county power from time to time, and to switch the well plug from county power to the RPS controller (rather than leaving everything permanently wired into the controller). Plus, I wanted a 110 electrical outlet on the outside of my controller doghouse so we could have electricity for other stuff during any blackout. So I decided to hire an electrician to come out and make all of the connections (the right way).

Along the way, I had to call RPS tech support (Andrew again) a few times to ask dumb questions, and he very patiently and expertly talked me through everything to my satisfaction.

The 6K system seemed to have everything I needed except for red and black 2.0 AWG cables to allow me to reach from the controller doghouse to the opposite ends of the battery arrangement. I ordered 3' cables and this solved the problem.

I have tested my system, unplugging the county power and using the house water for showers, clothes washing, etc. and it WORKED GREAT. The LCD display allows me to see how much solar is being produced and the charge % of my bank of batteries, and all is functioning as designed. Because the controller fan runs continuously when the unit is "on," my plan is to generally keep it unplugged and just use the county power unless and until I really need it.

Anyway, I am pleased with the 6K WaterSecure system and will be relying on it completely come what may. Pictures of setup are attached. Black box is well & tank.