Newbe needing some guidance

markbett

First off, I'm not an official electrician, but to date I've renovated 3 homes where I did all the electrical work (and yes inspected and approved), so I know my way around the circuit panel. But Solar has gotten me scratching my head. With power from the street, all I had to do was to get the wire to where I needed the power. With solar, I have to think about generating the power and recharging the power too and that's the confusing part. Here's what I'm doing:

I'm building a club house for my son, (but lets call it a shed) in a back field where running an electric line would be impossible, so I want to go solar.

Real simple needs (24 volt system)
4 lights (more than likely LED) - 50 watts
small refrigerator (4 to 5 cu. ft.) - 150 watts
small flat screen LED - 150 watts
X-box - 80 watts

Total = 430 watts/hrs.
5 hours/day

2150 watts/ day
x 1.5 (safety factor)
= 3225 watts/ day peak (3.3 Kw/ day)

3300 / 24 volts = 137.5 Amp hours
X 1.25 (safety factor)
= 172 Amp hours

I'm thinking 5 hours usage/ day, and mostly on the weekends. Since this stuff won't be used all the time (even the fridge will be un-plugged for several days) I'm thinking that recharge can be less than if used every day?

I'm thinking of using 4) 6 volt 220 Amp/hr golf cart batteries from Trojan in series.

I have a line on 320 watt solar panels (not sure how many to buy, or is 320 overkill?)

Not sure what Charge controller I need and not sure what inverter I need.

Can I run the lights just on DC? While the other stuff is put through the inverter? (I don't see why not)

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Mark

Alaska Man

Re: Newbe needing some guidance

Your son's "club house" is using the same amount of power as my off-grid home. You will need an MPPT Charge Controller and you may as-well wire for all AC since you will need a small inverter anyway. How far away is this club house and why can't you run a chord? WAY, WAY CHEAPER!!