So it can be a simple as you like for just lights or shed and some home lights or both like I have done with possible add ons in the future,
So this is or shed in picture and although the 100 watt solar panels are angled they are not as efficient as on roof facing south BUT they collect all the energy facing south as we need .
and with my generator in the shed collecting power there is no power loss as close to panels, but I do lose 2 volts going to house , but that is ok.
Now I recommend if getting bigger panels (over50watt) getting German
or GOOD quality panels that will charge even on dull days from light alone even if it s much slower but that depends where you live.
Now these 3 panels I have connected together and there to a safety cut out switch
that should there be an overload , cant see it happening but its safer will automatically cut out and is also safer when doing maintenance or moving generator or connecting other items , you can turn off the power from panels by click of the switch these also avail le on e-bay.
from that switch power goes to the Controller, these can be very cheap for a simple set up to an expensive one depending on what you need.
from controller i also added another cut or just in case to save battery in a storm type over charge in case controller cant deal with it.
then power goes into batter terminals, from the terminals to another power cut out in case I need to shut off the power from battery which I do anyway when not in use.
from the cut out I have wired using separate fuses depending on what I am putting the power too, like my USB phone sockets which I have 2
or the cigarette lighter socket that can power the 12 volt Kettle and any other device 12 volt, I also have a separate power wire from battery with a cut out switch to the Inverter, now the inverter is a small or larger box that converts 12 volt DC to mains AC, you do NOT HAVE to have one unless you want mains lights or microwave or POWER tools.
IF its just for lights you can just for shed light have some very bright 12 volt LED lights in normal look and strip lights too, so no need for an inverter, I have both in our house 12 volt LED and 25Watt led AC light
in the house as I ran 2 cables through a pipe underground 1x 12 volt DC cable and an 1xAC cable to house and made a control panel with safety cut outs for these lights in our lounge and with fuses.
A friend of mine purchased a TV that is 12 volts as his sick wife
bless her watches tv in bed all day and to cut expenses he thought it would be good to have solar panels and 2 batteries for that and some lights , so there is many ways of using solar panels, for me it saved me going mains on the shed and for emergency power , which for me is more important, as we never know what s round the corner.
I power my power tools in the shed but for that i needed 1 x4500 watt inverter,so have 2 set up so i can use either my 300 watt inverter for our house lights or the bigger one for microwave or power tools.
If you need electricity AC for up to 5 hours for light s as an example purchase a GOOD quality inverter , you can purchase cheap Chinese ones for £30, which for occasional use that's OK, but for more serious use you need to purchase one in the£ 70 to £200 range depending on size.power requirements.
You can add bells and whistle , power meter which I have on the control panel in our house so I do not over use the power in the battery in one hit .
You can also have outside security lights etc. wired up via shed control panel, above all If you do not feel necessity for a solar generator and back up power , then do not bother as can cost a bit , my system cost me £1000 , but that's me, and depends what you want for ashed only lighting set up probably cost less than £100.
Hope you enjoyed this
Best wishes
Voiceman
Johnic
As found on Youtube
