Small scale off-grid system

[Modeler]

I have a build thread here:

Shed build 10'x16' - The Garage Journal Board

 

[Dunerunner]

Nice!! Should have plenty of room. if you decide to go solar with a battery system, build a vented battery box along side the shed instead of placing them in the shed itself. It is safer and you will be glad you did it.

 

[Dunerunner]

I want something that won't grow moss under the panels, but I guess that is what moss killer is for, right?

 

[Modeler]

Cool Thank you I was guessing about 3K Seems I am not too far off .

Yeah, that's about right. And it'll be a better shed than the one you can get at Lowe's for $4,000!

 

[Kruel J]

I have 160 watts of Monocrystalline panels, four 6 volt deep cycle GC batteries and a 1000 watt pure sine wave inverter at my house. All installed and wired by me. Feel free to PM me with questions regarding the install or amp draw. I have tested my system extensively. 170 watts of AC power from my inverter (40" flat screen LCD and my Apple TV box) converts to about 45 amps DC. So with my four 6 volt batteries I figure run time of approx 6-8 hours before the low-volt cutoff kicks in. On a good sunny day in the summer (sun angle DOES matter) I can get about 9 amps of charge. In the winter time, maybe 0.5 amps. Solar is great, but inverter technology is not very efficient. If you are just going to run LED lights, you're good to go with maybe a 60 watt panel. But please consider at least two 12 volt batteries.

 

[Provincial]

I can see having an inverter for a drill or something, but for a computer I would use a laptop and a cigarette lighter DC adapter rated for the laptop's input power. Much less current draw.

The 12V cigarette lighter sockets can be used for other 12V accessories, many of which replace the normal AC items. Things like coffee pots, beverage warmers, and hot plates are available at reasonable prices.

If you decide to bury a water line to the shed, consider throwing a compressed air line in the ditch. One-half inch ID pipe would be large enough.

Consider using 3" or 4" light-duty drain line for a "conduit" to run your non-electrical lines through. That way you can add another wire or line like a burglar alarm or security camera without having to dig things up again. If you leave one end aligned to where you have an unobstructed straight shot , you can slide another small conduit through the tube and only have to expose the other end to bring the wire out or add a elbow when you add a circuit.

 

[Modeler]

I really don't know that I would need a 110v outlet out there, the only reason I could think of needing one would be to keep something charged. In that case I could rig something up to run off the DC power source, most chargers convert 120 AC to 3-12V DC so it wouldn't be a hard to wire into a DC system. Really I'm only interested in lighting.

Another question: is there any reason I couldn't use standard light switches to control DC lights? I'm thinking a regular light switch for the inside lights and a timer switch for the light over the front door (set the timer for 5 minutes so you have light when you lock up and leave but it goes off by itself a few minutes later).

 

[Modeler]

I'm really looking at wind mills again.We're supposed to be the sunny spot of the NW but with that we get a constant breeze and some hellasious winds.
Seems perfect for wind mills
I went with 2 6v batteries cause they are supposed to have more capacity? I just need to buy a few more
But all this would make my landlord happy and maybe he won't raise my rent any more,since he pays the power bill.
Any more links???

I'm considering a windmill as well. The main reason is wintertime sun exposure. There are trees to the south and southeast of the shed, yesterday the direct sunlight didn't start to hit the roof until noon, and we still have a little over 2 months of lowering sun angle to go. The wind, OTOH, generally blows from the south-to-southwest, so a wind generator might work.

Or I could do both

 

[mjbskwim]

Note : Anyone plugging and inverter into your cigarette light that in most newer cars have a 20 or 30 amp fuse.
And could easily max out. I have seen people buy 1200 watt converters and plug them in their lighters and try and
run big stuff even some coffee makers and blue the inverters fuse and the trucks.

Some guy at the park/camp ground I walk the dog at said he had to wait till later to start his generator for coffee and you say people risk their car's electrical system for coffee. A guy I worked with bought a suit case genset for coffee and failed.

Have any of these folks ever heard of boiling water over some type of fire and making drip coffee or maybe peculating it?
I wonder how the ole cow pokes made it with out that thar 'lectricity