If you are thinking of going off grid for your shed, then you will want to install a solar system to charge batteries or run AC items for free. But you could buy one of those battery things, but that’s going to limit your options and some don’t last very long.
I just have a quick look at the portable power systems, and the alternative solar…
Here’s a breakdown of your options for powering your off-grid shed:
Solar Power:
- Pros: Free, renewable energy, environmentally friendly, long-term cost savings.
- Cons: Initial setup cost, weather-dependent, requires maintenance.
Portable Power Stations:
- Pros: Convenient, portable, can be used for various applications.
- Cons: Limited capacity, shorter battery life, higher long-term cost due to battery replacements.
Comparing the two:
| Feature | Solar Power | Portable Power Station |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Source | Sunlight | Battery |
| Cost | High initial cost, low long-term cost | Lower initial cost, higher long-term cost |
| Capacity | Virtually unlimited | Limited by battery capacity |
| Portability | Not portable | Portable |
| Environmental Impact | Minimal | Moderate (battery disposal) |
Which one is right for you?
Consider the following factors:
- Power needs: How much power do you need? How often will you use it?
- Budget: How much are you willing to spend upfront and long-term?
- Maintenance: Are you willing to maintain solar panels and batteries?
- Portability: Do you need a portable power source?
The solar at the same cost.
Having solar is apparently costly but it is not from RenewSolar. We are one of the UK importers and a charity business so our prices are low. The battery box portable power systems prey on alarmist, or “fun factor” of having a light and phone charger, or that they are portable. But solar can be portable too, just not so much. But the battery option may not work for you depending on what you are using them for, such as running a bench saw. that being said some cheaper inverters will always have some issues.
BUDGET £590
– 1800w and 1.15kWh battery. This portable power system costs £999 when you add a 350w solar panel to it.
RenewSolar solution….£670
3000W and 2.42kWh Battery – 420w Solar
There are some other costs here, fuses and cables to step up the system, but you would have almost twice the power from the inverter, twice the run time from the battery and a slightly bigger solar panel.
Another advantage is that you could add a lot more solar, where as on a power stations you can be limited.
What did we pick?
We went for a All in one (AIO) it has a mains charger built in, so you can always plug in to charge, this is typically around 20 amp grid charging – the solar charging is 50 amps so around two hours to charge that battery.
We picked a 24v system, this means that the cable size is reduced, this lowers current to 125amps, so 25mm battery cables would be needed for the system.
The solar panel is a standard big panel, which makes the portability issue some what a problem, as you have to have space for a 1.74 by 1.2 meters to be able to fit the panel in a van/car or otherwise placed on the roof or ground to give your system a boost.
The older design AIO has a voltage limit of 80v, meaning that you would run a 2S ( two panels connected together) which would give you around 74v. so that you could run the panels in parallel; but it would not be worth the cost as with two panels you are near the output limit of the solar charger in any event.
How easy is it to install?
installing solar off grid is easier than you would think. You are using voltages that are a risk to life when your installing the solar panels, but everything else is pretty safe. But dont let that scare you. DC from solar panels flows only where there is a circuit, (A loop). So we avoid making loops when working on the system.
Take inverter from the box and screw to the wall.
Remove cover plate on the bottom.
Add a small consumer unit to the wall near the inverter.
Put a wire from the mains breaker of the consumer unit to the output of the inverter. ( alternatively wire a multi plug extension to the output of the inverter).
Image of Victron inverter showing typical connections.
Fit a DC isolator on the wall near to the SOLAR input.
Wire from the solar input to the isolator. ( see our video on how to do this and check it)
Fit the solar panels, Connect the positive of one panel to the negative of the other panel. You will have two connections not connected, one is positive the other negative. Wire these to the Isolator. ( check they are the right way around)
Place your battery near the inverter. Connect the cables to the fuse/ breaker.
Connect the ends to the battery, and then connect from the breaker to the inverter.
Cables should match, 1 and 2 positive, 3 and 4 negative.
Turn on the breaker for the battery.
Inverter will beep so don’t poop or wee.
Turn on the DC isolator for the solar panels.
Turn on the switch on the side of the inverter to make AC power.
YOUR SOLAR PROJECT
When it comes to general projects at home, the main thing is charging batteries on tools, most do not go to running the mains powered lawn mower, but those tend to want to run a washing machine, tumble drier or a freezer.
When it comes to this type of power use, the basis starts with the power used and needed for the system to work for you. for example a freezer may use 2.6kwh a day; a washing machine 1.5kwh a cycle, so we know that we need a battery which can deliver 4.7kwh and we need to charge that battery, which is the solar element, but we also need to know our peak power so that we can select the correct inverter to power everything. in the above example it would be around 5kw.
Try our solar forum for solar projects
You can sign up and have a chat there, or drop us a email.
Advice:
if you are starting out on solar, don’t go cheap and small, as you cannot upgrade and they can be too small to be of “good use”. its likely that you will want to upgrade or power the home to lower your bill as you are likely to get too much power than you will use. Keep this in mind with your solar project.
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