My small solar set up

[Magyars]

This is in the lower field a few hundred yards from the house. Took these this morning. Overcast day and still pulling plenty of volts. Set up to run some tools and a fan for the goats when they are in the stall....

 

[tetter]

Awesome! What system is that and how many watts can it get you?

 

[Magyars]

The inverter is 600 watts continuous.
The panels and charge controller were given to me. I believe they are the Harbor freight panels.
The batteries are 100 Amp hrs each.

It's used for the pregnant goats when the weather is bad.
I have a Mr Buddy heater connected to the large propane tank.
To keep condensation down, I run the fan....

 

[bwframe]

Very interesting!

I'd like to get into hobby level solar. A little at a time.

 

[Magyars]

Very interesting!

I'd like to get into hobby level solar. A little at a time.

I've got another. Similar set up on the house... For power outages....but that one has a 2000 watt inverter.

 

[snorko]

My garage (detached, storage use) does not have electricity run to it and I have always wanted to do a similar small solar setup. Ideally this would have a couple batteries for storage, wired chargers for lawn equipment, and feed to some LED lights and maybe a vent fan.

Do this, convert to battery powered mower and trimmer, and my lawn will look awesome during a grid down/TEOTWAWKI scenario!

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

I run a 200 watt Renogy system on my cabin in Alaska. Plan on adding two more panels and a larger battery next year. Provides enough power for some outlets and LED ceiling lights in the cabin. Also have a series of outlets on a seperate generator feed.

 

[avboiler11]

This is a dated picture of my system on my barn...1.2kW of panels (six 200w panels, two parallel strings of three panels in series) the Renogy Rover 40A MPPT charge controller, into four 6V Duracell GC2 flooded lead acid golf cart batteries in series for 24V, to an AIMS 24V 2000w inverter charger then to a load center. I've got 8 outlets around the barn, two 72" ceiling fans, five 48" LED shop lights and a buried line to my dock to run the pond aerator.

I've since installed a pull-out air conditioning disconnect on the wires between the solar panels and charge controller. My batteries are 3 years old and have been discharged a few times (including last week due to snow/ice) so I need to replace them this year. Might go lithium, I dunno yet.

I also installed five 160w Newpowa panels on my parents' barn in Washington Co, KY in December...also used a Renogy Rover 40A and those go to four 12V 27DC batteries in 2S/2P configuration, powering a 24V 800w Amazon special inverter. All that system does right now is power trickle chargers for ATVS/tractors/etc but its scalable going forward.

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

Most systems in Alaska are 48 volt. I kept mine very simple since we are only there 4-6 weeks every other year. My BIL and SIL live in Alaska year round and have a cabin near ours. They too have solar and run a simple 200 watt panel/12 volt storage system. It is enough for charging phones and lithium batteries for tools.