Hi folks,
I am planning to locate at 9x12 shed / Garden Office on my property.
The bulding will have one sloped wall facing SW, this face has unobstructed sunlight year-round with a "greenhouse" exterior (glass).
You mean the whole roof will be glass? Do you have pics or website reference to what you're getting? It might help it make more sense on where you'd put stuff (if you can) on the structure.
Based on my usage requirements, I need 650 watt hrs per-day and 20Kwh per month.
How did you come to this conclusion? What kinds of loads will you have? It might be a good idea to set up the building and run an extension cord out to it (if it's feasable) and use a KWH meter to get some hard numbers on your actual daily and monthly usage. Once you have that, you'll have a much clearer idea of your power requirements.
Ideally, I would want to use solar but i'm unsure of what configurations are available. Avaliable space allows me to pole mount panels to an extent, but I would like to avoid this if possible.
I just took my garage off the grid this past week. It previously had its own meter running to it, so I was able to plug in my own kill-a-watt type device and measure my work loads to determine the size of the inverter I'd need, and how much power I'd need to generate.
I'm interested in the electronics and battery options, as well as panel dimensions...any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
As far as batteries go, I highly recommend Trojans. You can get ahold of them and find a local supplier. This is the preferred method because they're so expensive to ship.
My current setup includes:
2x Mitsubishi 12v 125w PV modules (Alt-E Store)
1x Air-X 24v 400w wind generator (Alt-E Store)
misc attaching hardware (combiner box, etc. Some from here, some from McMaster/Carr, some from local hardware store)
1x Tripp-Lite APS2424 2400w 24vdc inverter / charger (ProVantage)
1x small gas generator w/ pull start (a just-in-case backup for power outages and such)
2x Trojan 12v deep cycle batteries (from local supplier)
The combo of wind and light work very well in Mid-Missouri, where I live. The Air-X is mounted about 4.5' above the rooftop with a through-roof mount from here. It does very well despite being only level with treetops less than 50' away on one side. The PV modules are mounted in-line with metal roof (non-optimal angle). This setup was tested while I could still plug the inverter/charger into the grid to charge my battery bank. My typical on-grid use was between 20 and 40kwh per month. Conservation and common sense took it down a bit. I plan to add two more Mitsu 125w modules for a little extra buffer zone to make up for cloudy, low-wind days.
Current potential loads include:
deep freezer, drill press, typical garage power tools, high-mount fluorescent lighting, low-mounted work lighting, etc.
All the stuff you find where someone builds parts for race cars.
I'll be getting some pictures of my setup in the next few days (probably this weekend), and I'll post 'em up.
Future loads will include charging my electric truck that's still under construction. At that time, many more PV modules will be added, along with another Air-X or Breeze, and more batteries.
