tldr; "Permanently temporary, lean-to awning, roofed with solar, is it wise? Any guides, useful references?"
Last year I built my first DIY off-grid system and it has generated close to 0.5MWh of off grid power to my single office circuit.
Garage roof: 3x330W panels. 3xMPPT controllers, 1xVictron Multiplus, ~4.8kWh of 24V lithium (AliExpress) storage.
While mulling over getting funding for the £11k roof installation with a registered installer, I came up with an alternative in the mean time.
The office circuit consumes more than 0.5MWh per year. Probably 2 to 3 times that in fact. So there is demand that can be satisfied by the current setup, if it were expanded.
Summer the current setup will run the "day job office" load 9-5 on all but the dullest days. It usually doesn't have enough for more than 30 minutes "gaming" on highload in the evenings though. In winter, there was at least a week long period where the batteries just didn't get charged enough to re-enable the inverter.
The epiphany moment was when I noticed the broken "pop up" awning in the garage and considered replacing it.... when I realised these two things were combinable into the same implementation.
I could build a study 50mm square section aluminium "lean to" frame. Bolt it to the house wall, garden wall and sink two posts to 2-3ft depth with concrete. I can then roof it with a perspex sheet, a gap and 4 or 6 solar panels, all with air gaps to allow wind pressure to flow through.
I believe ... as long as it can be unbolted and taken down it will pass building control / planning permission as a "Temporary awning".
I have about a 3.5m x 3.5m area, which can practically be sloped up to a max of 20-30* (normal roof, slope, but enough room to stand up under the lower-side, without breaking the "site lines" of the neighbours fence... which could bring the wrath of the building control people. The garden wall is about 8ft at that point, so I only have about 2 feet over 3.5m to slope.
The only annoying thing, is how far I need to run the panel DC cables. About 12 meters. That should be fine, right? With single series 39V panels. More investigation on what I can upgrade to in terms of paralell/series with 3 MPPTs without blowing their W/A or V limits.
Where would I look to get basic plans for a box-section, lean-to style, awning frame?
Asides from the longevity, are there any real advantages of building it from aluminum (or steal) box section, versus using treated 4x4 and 2x4 wood?
Last year I built my first DIY off-grid system and it has generated close to 0.5MWh of off grid power to my single office circuit.
Garage roof: 3x330W panels. 3xMPPT controllers, 1xVictron Multiplus, ~4.8kWh of 24V lithium (AliExpress) storage.
While mulling over getting funding for the £11k roof installation with a registered installer, I came up with an alternative in the mean time.
The office circuit consumes more than 0.5MWh per year. Probably 2 to 3 times that in fact. So there is demand that can be satisfied by the current setup, if it were expanded.
Summer the current setup will run the "day job office" load 9-5 on all but the dullest days. It usually doesn't have enough for more than 30 minutes "gaming" on highload in the evenings though. In winter, there was at least a week long period where the batteries just didn't get charged enough to re-enable the inverter.
The epiphany moment was when I noticed the broken "pop up" awning in the garage and considered replacing it.... when I realised these two things were combinable into the same implementation.
I could build a study 50mm square section aluminium "lean to" frame. Bolt it to the house wall, garden wall and sink two posts to 2-3ft depth with concrete. I can then roof it with a perspex sheet, a gap and 4 or 6 solar panels, all with air gaps to allow wind pressure to flow through.
I believe ... as long as it can be unbolted and taken down it will pass building control / planning permission as a "Temporary awning".
I have about a 3.5m x 3.5m area, which can practically be sloped up to a max of 20-30* (normal roof, slope, but enough room to stand up under the lower-side, without breaking the "site lines" of the neighbours fence... which could bring the wrath of the building control people. The garden wall is about 8ft at that point, so I only have about 2 feet over 3.5m to slope.
The only annoying thing, is how far I need to run the panel DC cables. About 12 meters. That should be fine, right? With single series 39V panels. More investigation on what I can upgrade to in terms of paralell/series with 3 MPPTs without blowing their W/A or V limits.
Where would I look to get basic plans for a box-section, lean-to style, awning frame?
Asides from the longevity, are there any real advantages of building it from aluminum (or steal) box section, versus using treated 4x4 and 2x4 wood?
