Barn solar system (I'm very new to this)

[Coffeecow]

Thank you for the replies. I was exploring options, and apparently tieing on to the grid seems to be the way to go.

Another question since I have everyones attention =)

What about a grid tie system? My garage is about 30' long, and the barn is about 50'. Both have southern facing slopes on the roof. Would it be in my interest to cover them with panels and tie to the grid? Would their be a return in my investment there?

I know I have a lot of questions here. but I am trying to figure out a balance of green energy vs. coal power.

[SunEagle]

I haven't installed anything yet. The heat lamps would only be used during cold winter nights when we have kids (Goat) So maybe 5 nights a year. The lighting can be anything, I just need a little light to see while feeding in the evenings.

I can run grid power out there with a little difficulty, but I was thinking that I have southern facing roofs on the garage and the barn, and it would be nice to get a little clean power out there. I figure that wiring the buildings to tie to the grid would cost me about $500 - $600 doing it myself. If I could set up a solar system that would suit my needs out there for around the same price, I would rather do that.
Please let me know if I am way off target here =)

Thanks again,
Mac

Even a small off grid system will cost more than $600. I built one to run a piece of medical equipment in case we lost power from a hurricane. It would only be used at night when a generator would make too much noise.

It consists of about 400 watts of panels, a 30 amp charge controller, a 200 Ah battery bank and 600 watt pure sine wave inverter. Along with wiring and fusing this set up cost me over $1500 and will truly only run the 100 watt unit for about 6 hours. I could have spent less getting a better charge controller which would allow me to use less panel watts but that may have saved me about $200. Also I will probably have to replace the batteries within 3 to 4 years which would be another $300 to $400.

Building an off grid system that will only be used every once and a while on cold nights is not very cost efficient. Better to have a small quiet generator which you start when you need it or run the power from your house.

[PositiveDude2000]

I figure that wiring the buildings to tie to the grid would cost me about $500 - $600 doing it myself.

Do this, you will be so much happier.

[Coffeecow]

Welcome to Solar Panel Talk.

To properly size your off grid system you really need to know how many watts hours you will be using per day & night. You have a good start knowing the wattage of the lamps but you haven't stated how many and for how long those heat lamps will be on.

Go read this sticky post on battery sizing for off grid systems. It will get you started on understanding what equipment and how big it needs to be.

http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showthread.php?5334-Solar-Off-Grid-Battery-Design

The next thing you will need to know is that off grid systems are very expensive and can cost 10 times more than using power from the electric company. Unless you are paying a whole lot for grid tie electrical it will be much cheaper to run a power line from the house to these buildings.

I haven't installed anything yet. The heat lamps would only be used during cold winter nights when we have kids (Goat) So maybe 5 nights a year. The lighting can be anything, I just need a little light to see while feeding in the evenings.

I can run grid power out there with a little difficulty, but I was thinking that I have southern facing roofs on the garage and the barn, and it would be nice to get a little clean power out there. I figure that wiring the buildings to tie to the grid would cost me about $500 - $600 doing it myself. If I could set up a solar system that would suit my needs out there for around the same price, I would rather do that.
Please let me know if I am way off target here =)

Thanks again,
Mac

[SunEagle]

Hi there,
We live in southern Colorado. We have a barn / shop that is detached from the house, I would like to see about what it would take to run everything with an off grid solar system.

there are technically 3 buildings that need power. We would need lights and a heat lamp (winter) in the barn, lights and some occasional power tools in the garage, and a light and heat lamp in the chicken coop.

All of the buildings are very close together, I have a large south facing roof on the garage, so plenty of room for panels.

I am just beginning this journey, so I apologize in advance for stupid questions. I was hoping to get a rough guesstimate as to what all equipment I would need. I have no problems installing everything, I just want to make sure that I get enough but not too much power for what I need.

I will use the lights in the barn nightly for short periods of time (while feeding or checking on livestock) The heat lamps will be used only when we have baby animals in the winter, and occasionally when we have an animal that is sick. (The heat lamps are just 75w lightbulbs in a reflector) The garage out there is seldom used at night. and during the day, there are skylights that provide more than adequate lighting.

I am not sure what other information you would need in order to give me some suggestions, but I will happily give any other info that would be needed.
Thanks for reading,
Mac

Welcome to Solar Panel Talk.

To properly size your off grid system you really need to know how many watts hours you will be using per day & night. You have a good start knowing the wattage of the lamps but you haven't stated how many and for how long those heat lamps will be on.

Go read this sticky post on battery sizing for off grid systems. It will get you started on understanding what equipment and how big it needs to be.

http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showthread.php?5334-Solar-Off-Grid-Battery-Design

The next thing you will need to know is that off grid systems are very expensive and can cost 10 times more than using power from the electric company. Unless you are paying a whole lot for grid tie electrical it will be much cheaper to run a power line from the house to these buildings.

[Coffeecow]

Hi there,
We live in southern Colorado. We have a barn / shop that is detached from the house, I would like to see about what it would take to run everything with an off grid solar system.

there are technically 3 buildings that need power. We would need lights and a heat lamp (winter) in the barn, lights and some occasional power tools in the garage, and a light and heat lamp in the chicken coop.

All of the buildings are very close together, I have a large south facing roof on the garage, so plenty of room for panels.

I am just beginning this journey, so I apologize in advance for stupid questions. I was hoping to get a rough guesstimate as to what all equipment I would need. I have no problems installing everything, I just want to make sure that I get enough but not too much power for what I need.

I will use the lights in the barn nightly for short periods of time (while feeding or checking on livestock) The heat lamps will be used only when we have baby animals in the winter, and occasionally when we have an animal that is sick. (The heat lamps are just 75w lightbulbs in a reflector) The garage out there is seldom used at night. and during the day, there are skylights that provide more than adequate lighting.

I am not sure what other information you would need in order to give me some suggestions, but I will happily give any other info that would be needed.
Thanks for reading,
Mac