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  • New Shed Installed Looking at Solar Panel Kits

    Hello all.

    Good to see a forum that centralizes a lot of the questions and concerns people have.

    I am getting a 12 x 8 shed built in mid-September.

    I am looking to setup a Solar Panel kit

    At a high level I am looking at:

    * 100 Watt Renogy Solar Panel with MPPT charge controller
    * Cobra 600-800 watt power inverter
    * Looking at getting a couple of lights installed... there is this kit on Amazon I was just going to use the lights from MicroSolar - Lithium Battery - 5W Panel Solar Home System Kit - including Cell Phone Charger - 2 LED Lights
    * I am looking at getting possibly one or two interstate deep cycle marine batteries

    I have dealt with car audio installation in the past, but new to solar panels

    I believe with the above I should enough wattage/amperage to tackle what I need which isn't much.

    Is there a centralized doc somewhere that goes over the main points you need to cover?

    I assume when running power from charge controller to batter, you need to put a fuse holder in line with battery to be safe etc...

    Thanks again for any help/pointers.

  • #2
    Originally posted by PumpkinEater View Post
    Hello all. Good to see a forum that centralizes a lot of the questions and concerns people have. I am getting a 12 x 8 shed built in mid-September. I am looking to setup a Solar Panel kit At a high level I am looking at: * 100 Watt Renogy Solar Panel with MPPT charge controller * Cobra 600-800 watt power inverter * Looking at getting a couple of lights installed... there is this kit on Amazon I was just going to use the lights from MicroSolar - Lithium Battery - 5W Panel Solar Home System Kit - including Cell Phone Charger - 2 LED Lights * I am looking at getting possibly one or two interstate deep cycle marine batteries I have dealt with car audio installation in the past, but new to solar panels I believe with the above I should enough wattage/amperage to tackle what I need which isn't much. Is there a centralized doc somewhere that goes over the main points you need to cover? I assume when running power from charge controller to batter, you need to put a fuse holder in line with battery to be safe etc... Thanks again for any help/pointers.
    Hello PumpkinEator and welcome to Solar Panel Talk. Before you purchase anything you really need to read some of the sticky posts in the off grid section on battery and system sizing. Most Solar Kits usually do not match up with the persons needs and you end up paying too much or throwing away what you can't use. It is better to build it bay getting panels, charger, batteries and inverter separately. I can tel you without even knowing your loads that a single 100 watt panel will not get you much and a 600 to 800 watt inverter will drain a small battery system very quickly. The first step is to determine what your daily watt hour load will be. That requires either measuring those loads with a Kill a watt meter or finding the load watt rating and estimating how many hours a day it will be running. Once you have all the loads identified you can calculate your battery size. Then knowing where you live and what type of sun insolation you get will help size the solar panel wattage and charge controller. Find the wattage of those LED lights and anything else you want to power from the battery system. Then get back with your info and questions.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by PumpkinEater View Post
      Hello all.

      Good to see a forum that centralizes a lot of the questions and concerns people have.

      I am getting a 12 x 8 shed built in mid-September.

      I am looking to setup a Solar Panel kit

      At a high level I am looking at:

      * 100 Watt Renogy Solar Panel with MPPT charge controller
      * Cobra 600-800 watt power inverter
      * Looking at getting a couple of lights installed... there is this kit on Amazon I was just going to use the lights from MicroSolar - Lithium Battery - 5W Panel Solar Home System Kit - including Cell Phone Charger - 2 LED Lights
      * I am looking at getting possibly one or two interstate deep cycle marine batteries

      I have dealt with car audio installation in the past, but new to solar panels

      I believe with the above I should enough wattage/amperage to tackle what I need which isn't much.

      Is there a centralized doc somewhere that goes over the main points you need to cover?

      I assume when running power from charge controller to batter, you need to put a fuse holder in line with battery to be safe etc...

      Thanks again for any help/pointers.
      I presume that you have utility power to the residence on this property? If so, have you considered powering the shed conventionally? Not trying to discourage you from solar, I understand the interest in the technology and share the desire to participate in solar as well.

      However, you should be aware that financial savings cannot justify solar if utility power is available, in fact the electricity will cost you much, much more with solar.

      My interest in solar is rooted in emergency backup. For this, a generator is the biggest bang for the buck and also many times is necessary to keep batteries healthy in a system that does not have utility power. If you leverage your solar shed to also be used as emergency power for your residence, then you get something additional for your investment.

      Of course, if you can get the power from your shed to your house, then you can equally get power from your house to your shed.

      But what fun is that?

      Comment


      • #4
        Thank you both for the comments back.

        I could run conventional electric to it, but my town seems to always want to increase taxes with anything.

        As it stands the shed i got is a 12 x 8, anything over 99 sq feet the town taxes as an additional dwelling

        Right now the shed was mainly going to be used for storage and its going to be installed in mid-September.

        I will keep looking around the stickies and other posts to hopefully get a better idea of what exactly I would need.


        Appreciate the feedback so far.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by PumpkinEater View Post
          Thank you both for the comments back.

          I could run conventional electric to it, but my town seems to always want to increase taxes with anything.

          As it stands the shed i got is a 12 x 8, anything over 99 sq feet the town taxes as an additional dwelling

          Right now the shed was mainly going to be used for storage and its going to be installed in mid-September.

          I will keep looking around the stickies and other posts to hopefully get a better idea of what exactly I would need.


          Appreciate the feedback so far.

          I have a neighbor who ran low voltage dc from his house to his shed so he did not need a permit, but we are in county, not city. Would you need a permit for 24 or 48 dc? You are putting that in yourself as it is anyway, correct?

          Comment

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