Solar System

[Chief5130]

I moved to Va and had a metal garage built to store my PF in.  I want to have power in the building for charging the boat and a LED few lights.  I have been thinking about having a solar system instead of running power out from the house, but know nothing about doing this.  I have read a few articles online and see that most of the "Systems" you can get are either designed for a home, or a 12 volt system for a camper.  

 

Has anyone done this for a small scale application?  I want to keep it less than $1000 because I can run power from the house for just a little more than that.

[Capt. Troy]

I would run power out to your shed. Those 3 or 4 days of gloomy weather and no sun are gonna be the days your wanting to work on the boat or in the shed.

 

Nice he shed!

[triplec]

Yes sir as Troy said. With the new LEDs and LED high bay stuff you can light that place up super bring for very little annual cost after your initial investment to get it powered. Plus for tools to work on it or battery chargers etc you will be glad to have some energy.

 

I would love to have that shed out back! 

 

[fin-addict]

X2 on running the power. Will find well worth it. Will use more often than you think. Detailing and working on sled alone. JMO 

[DonV]

X3 on the power.

One of the guys down the street put up solar panels about six months ago, stopped by last week to ask him how they were working out. He said it was too early to tell because he's not had a year to judge them, however he has seen a $20 - $25 drop in his electric bill, $200+ to about $180. Then I had to ask, how much they cost? "A little bit over $30k, but I did get some rebates from the government". It was then that my poker face did not work, "$30k, I blurted out?????" Let me think about that for a little bit with my handy dandy Casio calculator on long term savings!!

[Chief5130]

Thanks for the reply.  I have another shop with full power for projects.  Any work I would do would be in that shop.  I was just looking to charge some batteries and run a few lights when I am in there.

[JPizzle]

I have a metal building about twice that size which also has my pathfinder among other items in it.  I know you have a second shop for most of your work, but think of items you might want to put next to the boat that would need power.  Refrigerator or freezer for drinks and ice, chargers, air compressors for tires, pressure washer for cleaning, shop vac to clean hatches and livewell sand...  Even just a shop fan to move air when working in there.

I dont have them in mine, but a buddy had a similar building that had some clear panels in the roof as skylights.  It was amazing how much light they let in that during the day. Didnt even need to turn on the lights.  Could be an idea to mitigate some costs, but provide electric for the couple items you need.  

Really the decision is do you add power now, or do the solar and add power later anyways$$$. 

[johnd]

I have major system for my home (10KW plus), feeds to grid.  Well worth the significant investment. I save between $1500-$2000 annually on my FPL bill.   But that's another topic.  Basically a small solar that feeds 12V battery will run your LED lighting, however to run a charger, etc will need invertor etc.  Similar system to an RV.  For a lot of reasons if it's only $1K to run real power to your garage, do that!  You might find the need to polish your boat and want real power (for example).  

[Chief5130]

Thanks for all of the advice.  Leaning towards real power as the solar thing is looking more complicated and I know how to do the real thing.