Solar power for shed help

Looking at running a solar power setup at my farm shed and need some advice.

I was wanting to run around 10 × 100w lights.

The only power I will have will be solar and a little genset to run some power tools, my engel is fine to run off of the car that has solar.

I need help with what sort of setup can i have to run lights ? I was thinking a few house solar panels, some sort of controller, inverter and solar batteries ? Or can I use deep cycle car batteries ?

Sorry in advance for the incorrect terminology as I am going to google or youtube a few ideas and gain a bit of knowledge.

But it would be handy to know if any of you guys have done the same and have some good ideas.

Or even if you just understand what equipment will be needed and what can and cant work.

But also be a safe system that I can leave charging and then use on weekends.

I didnt want to go brand new, just stuff I can pickup 2nd hand and be a little project.

Cheers Scotty


ranmar850's picture

Posts: 2702

Date Joined: 12/08/12

I'd be looking at reducing that lighting load

Fri, 2018-03-16 06:50

 Before I tried to do any solar. if they are 10 x 100w, that means 1000W, which at 240 volts, equals 4.5 amps. Doesn't sound like much, but , if you run them off an inverter, you are pulling x 20. So, at least 90 amps from those batteries. You'l need a lot of solar and batteries to run that. You are far better off finding some LED lights to repace them--a 25w LED flood puts out far more light than the old 120w Parafloods. , and uses only one fifth of the power. 10w LED floods are bright, too. LED Highbays aren't cheap, but far more efficient. I have no idea how big your farm shed is, but 10 x 25w LED floods would light the place up like the new stadium, for a total current draw  @ 240v of 1 amp. 

 

For your solar, if you intend to use it to charge batteries, you need to balance it out. Putting a number of batteries in with a small solar supply means you just won't recharge unless you get a long period of no-load. Normal house panels are 220w, meaning they will output 10 amps or so in ideal conditions. ideal being with zero shading and sun at a very straight-on angle, they drop dramatically if the sun is low in the sky. Other types of panel you may see will range in power. I picked up some 10 yo BP solar panels from a decommissioned trial solar plant, 80w nominal rating, and they were still outputting over 4 amps each, more than 90% of their new rating. I put 4 of these in parallel and get up to 20 amps charge into my camping batteries. If you buy a solar controller that can handle the voltage, you can put them in series, and your charge current will be better. Cheapie solar controllers are unlikely to be able to handle more than 48 v. They will also have a current rating. I bought a cheap ($90) one off ebay years ago, still going. I also have a Plasmatroncis PL20, expensive, many more bells and whistles , also still going. I also have 2 x 85 w panels paralleled, which can hit 10 amps at best, and a 120w single panel which does 7.5 amps. 

For batteries, any deep cycle battery will do, hell, any old car battery of sufficient size will do really, for what you are proposing.  if you can get your 12v load down to about 5 amps, 2 x 105a/hr will do fine, particualry as you are saying your load is mostly lighting , and assuming won't be on all day? To keep these charged, look at about 400w of panels, so, 2 x 220 w second hand house panels or equivilant. You could also run your fridge off this.

OK, a bit long winded, so I'll summarise

  1. get your lighting load down, 1000w @ 240v will be a huge current draw through an inverter. look at LED lights, max of 25w ea, heaps of light.
  2. 2 x 105a/hr batteries or similar N70Z size car batteries would also work, or anything bigger, big old truck/machinery  batteries can last a very long time if you are not dragging start current through them.
  3. Solar controller capable of handling the voltage and current your panels can put out. If you parallel your panels( and they must be identical) you just have the voltage of one ( likely around 20-22v)and the current of all. if you series them, you add the voltages up ( ie, 40 x 22v panels will be near 90v)
  4. Go for about a total of 400w of panel. make them all the same type, don't try to mix and match. 
  5. Try and stay away from inverters ( except for small loads like the lighting i have recommended)for small setups like this, they are battery killers.

EDIT --and remember, 240v through an inverter will kill just as surely as 240v from mains, people forget this

DTrain's picture

Posts: 486

Date Joined: 10/02/12

If you want to use house

Fri, 2018-03-16 09:10

If you want to use house panels, you can probably get some second hand ones off gumtree pretty cheap. I doubt you can claim the STC rebate on brand new panels unless you do a proper install, so new panels would be pretty expensive.

 

Also remember if you join multiple panels in series the voltage goes up very quickly. 90V DC is still enough to kill you, so be careful.

Dale's picture

Posts: 7930

Date Joined: 13/09/05

Fri, 2018-03-16 07:22

 Have a read through some of this guys articles, it’s mainly RV related, but for what you want to do, it’s still quite relevant, and as Ranmar said, 10x100 lights will kill whatever system you put in.

 

https://caravanandmotorhomebooks.com/articles-index/

____________________________________________________________________________

"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."

Mr Wolf

 

 

NORUN NOFUN's picture

Posts: 1019

Date Joined: 15/08/11

Cheers guys and thanks for

Fri, 2018-03-16 13:17

Cheers guys and thanks for the comments. Getting a lot more informed now.

timboon's picture

Posts: 2924

Date Joined: 14/11/10

 Also what aspect do you

Fri, 2018-03-16 20:01

 Also what aspect do you have? Assmuing the panels will be fixed mounted...

 

If you want solar performance in winter you need around 30deg pitch and mostly north facing...

 

How big ( m2 ) is ya shed mate?

 

As Ralph said get rid of those old fluros and get the new LED batten style, My shed floor is approx 100m2 and with 6 of them its almost over kill if you can have such a thing in a shed....

 

 

 

Vinesh87's picture

Posts: 2751

Date Joined: 02/04/11

 Go wind turbines if its just

Sat, 2018-03-17 08:58

 Go wind turbines if its just for lights. Solar doesnt work at night hahaha. Would still need batteries but not as many as it will produce at night.

 

Def change lighting to led. If trying ro use 12v batteries install 12v lights means there is no need for a inverter. 

 

 

Doc's picture

Posts: 691

Date Joined: 29/05/16

 We run 1050w of panels on

Sat, 2018-03-17 11:29

 We run 1050w of panels on the roof charging 1200a/h 12 & 24 volt system, batteries are all AGM. Only big consumer on the batteries is the fridges and air con. All lights are LED, we run our main 280 litre fridge at 24v and the 95l waeco down in the hatch, that’s for my beers and pre freezing stuff before putting it in the main fridge. My batteries never go under 75% before they’re charged again, either by solar, the high output alternator or the smart charger that runs when the genny is running or I’m hooked up to 240v. Start draining your batteries more than 70% each day and you will kill them prematurely. I’ve got 5 years out of my current batteries and I fully expect another 2 or 3 years before I feel they may need renewing.