Newbie advise

[norwestie]

I've read through many of the posts in this section but much is above my head. My need is for a simple system to power a light in my storage shed. The light is an LED, which draws about 0.3 amp, as best I can tell. It will be used infrequently and for periods of no more than 20 minutes at a time. What would be a reasonable choice for panel and battery? I won't be charging my phone or running power tools, just the LED.

[Ampster]

I've read through many of the posts in this section but much is above my head. My need is for a simple system to power a light in my storage shed. The light is an LED, which draws about 0.3 amp, as best I can tell. It will be used infrequently and for periods of no more than 20 minutes at a time. What would be a reasonable choice for panel and battery? I won't be charging my phone or running power tools, just the LED.

Unless you want the experience with batteries and solar panels, the simplest and least expensive solution would be a rechargeable battery to power the light in your shed.

How many 20 minute visits in a week to you anticipate making? What is the voltage of the light? That will give you a way to calculate Watthours of capacity you would need. (Amps times volts equals Watts) multiply that result by the number of hours and fractional hours to get Watthours.

[norwestie]

I neglected to mention that the light is 120VAC.

[Ampster]

I neglected to mention that the light is 120VAC.

Then you would need an inverter also. The size of the inverter would be about 400 Watts (120 volt times 0.3 Amps is 360 Watts). Once you do the calculations in my earlier post you can go online and price components.

I have several portable power tools so I bought a light that is powered by one of the battery packs for those tools. I leave that in my shed when so when I need light it is ready.

[norwestie]

Wouldn't that be 36 watts?

[Ampster]

Wouldn't that be 36 watts?

Yes, and that would be about right for an LED lighting up a shed. 300 Watts is even a lot of light for an incandescent. I was in my car the last hour and was going to revisit my calculation. Some LEDs have a surge current on startup and that might complicate the inverter selection.

[SunEagle]

I've read through many of the posts in this section but much is above my head. My need is for a simple system to power a light in my storage shed. The light is an LED, which draws about 0.3 amp, as best I can tell. It will be used infrequently and for periods of no more than 20 minutes at a time. What would be a reasonable choice for panel and battery? I won't be charging my phone or running power tools, just the LED.

Unless you really want to spend the money to power a single 36watt light using a solar / battery system, I would just get a battery operated light that can be turned on when I need it and either recharge the battery or replace it. In the end it will be a lot cheaper.

[Greta Gremlin]

I would search for rechargeable LED lights, may try looking for the work light types or camping lanterns.
You might be able to find one that has a fairly long battery life.
Some claim around 10 hours, so that might be somewhere close to 30x 20 min. storage shed sessions.

Something you might also consider is utilizing natural light.
This will be the simplest and likely the easiest method for lighting by day.
If you can get by with just this during daytime, then that will help extend the battery before it needs recharging.
You could also maximize your available light
by painting the walls/ceiling of your storage shed white/light color
or by using white bedsheets or plastic sheeting.