Newbie needs small project help

System
System Posts: 2,511 admin
in General Solar Power Topics #1
I'm quite interested in solar power generally and I have a situation that may lend itself to a simple first project. I have a need to maintain battery charge on 2 motorcycles and a jeep that see infrequent use. Storage of those three vehicles is next to a shed that is away from my house and not wired to the grid. The shed has no lighting of any kind right now and has one side of the roof facing South. I'm in the DFW area so I have lots of sun year round.

Besides maintaining the 3 vehicle batteries, I'd like to provide interior and exterior lighting (to shoot hoops at night) to the shed along with minimal A/C outlet(s) for running various hand tools.

I know that sizing components would be impossible based on this limited outline of my idea, but I need help on the components themselves. I already have a 1500W inverter that I bought a while back and never put into use in a project. What other pieces of hardware will I need? Specifically, will I need a charge controller for each battery that I need to maintain?

Thanks in advance for any help I can get.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    #2
    Re: Newbie needs small project help

    For the vehicles, I would suggest the small dedicated 12volt trickle chargers...

    Apparently, VW ships one with each car they sell--and there are quite a few with reasonable prices on Ebay (go to ebay and search for "vw solar panel").

    I am not sure they are weather proof (for the motorcycles), but put it under the windshield for the jeep.

    Or just get a small weatherproof panels (6 watt +/- for a car sized battery) with blocking diode. Not enough power to kill the battery (you should check the water a few times per year though).

    For power in the shed--Solar panels are best paid for with day in and day out use... Panels (and batteries) that are rarely used are not always the best investment...

    If you need a little random light--go to a Home Depot or local hardware store and get a solar power LED fixture with motion detector for less than $50. (probably will only last a few years--may need cleaning or a new battery to fix).

    If you need more power for tools and such--you will have to really define how much power that is. 1,000 watts for 6 minutes, 100 watts for 60 minutes, 10 watts for 10 hours (600 minutes) is all the same amount of power per day, per week or whatnot...

    I would also suggest that you look at a nice quite portable generator (Honda eu2000i for $900, or the Yamaha or other similar brands). Can supply 1,600 watts for ~4 hours on 1.1 gallons of gasoline. Pretty quiet too. Much more portable for emergency use too. A solar system of similar capacity is pretty much fixed use (large panels and battery bank).

    If you are using the shed and power near daily (or a lot on the weekends), an off-grid solar system would not be bad.

    But, even then, a buried 120/240vac cable from the house might be cheaper and more useful. And use the money saved for a Grid Tied system for your home (spin your utility meter backwards) or a hybrid on-grid/off-grid system that has the advantages of Grid Tied power (utility is your main battery bank) and off-grid for power during power failures.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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