Good day, I was recently given 8 used solar panels from a farm down the road. These panels were only in service for 4 years. Each panel is 230W. I really didnt plan on jumping into solar so quick but since i have them, i want to make use of the potential energy. I was thinking about adding power to my shed. I have watched a lot of videos and i am really tossed between 12v and 24V. I dont have any 24V items that i would be plugging in, but i suppose the 24v can be stepped down to 12v. Is there any benefit to turning these 4 panels into a 12v vs a 24v system? And if there is a benefit to going 24v on such a small system, is there a way to get the best of both worlds where i can use them in 2 separate arrays giving me the higher voltage in one array and higher amps in another? Then combining both arrays together? Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated.
Brand new to solar
- Thread starter terrango
- Start date
Yes, the benefit of having 24v from the panels is you can use smaller wire (less copper) and this could be a cost saving, depending on the length of your runs.
Don't worry about 24v items; your controller will automatically accept either 12 or 24v in and convert to 12v out for your 12v batteries.
Batteries will be the most expensive part of your setup so think about how many you need and what kind - lead/acid or lithium.
Don't worry about 24v items; your controller will automatically accept either 12 or 24v in and convert to 12v out for your 12v batteries.
Batteries will be the most expensive part of your setup so think about how many you need and what kind - lead/acid or lithium.
I was thinking about going with 3-150 amp batteries. I dont really need much storage. Mostly just lights in the shed, 2 outdoor camera and a spot light. The spot light pulls 4a but its on motion sensor so its not on all the time. Does anyone have any good recommendations for a charge controller and inverter unit?
MisterSandals
Participation Medalist
Your use scenario seems very straight forward and easy to solve with those panels.
My thought is that you could implement a super cheap and simple solution using 1 or 2 panels, a cheap PWM SCC and a single 150AH battery to get your feet wet. In reality, this will easily meet your listed needs.
Then when you get the bug like the rest of us, you will probably have wider aspirations of powering more courtesy of the sun and your 8 free panels. Then you can figure out how many AH of battery you need for storage, how big the SCC needs to be to replenish it and how many panels (and where to mount) to harvest the sun.
My thought is that you could implement a super cheap and simple solution using 1 or 2 panels, a cheap PWM SCC and a single 150AH battery to get your feet wet. In reality, this will easily meet your listed needs.
Then when you get the bug like the rest of us, you will probably have wider aspirations of powering more courtesy of the sun and your 8 free panels. Then you can figure out how many AH of battery you need for storage, how big the SCC needs to be to replenish it and how many panels (and where to mount) to harvest the sun.
