Minimal Shed Power set up.

[Rich585]

A couple of months ago I posted an idea of a small system to keep my lawn tractor charged. The goal was to re-use / re purpose what I had and just buy minimum. This is my first step into solar world.

I installed a couple of 12V RV lights and a small 200 W inverter.

I may not have kept that rule about keeping price to min (got to have a little fun) but here is what I have built so far. The system so far is doing what I need it to do.

The intent was to learn basics, and if I make any mistakes learning, it is not on a big system.

The lawn tractor connects to the load output of the SCC.

I have automotive blade fuses on the power to the lights, inverter (direct to battery 15A), Batt+ to SOC (15A), Load to Lights (3A) and to Lawn tractor (15A).

In the breaker box I do have a 10A fuse from the solar panel. (12 AWG solar cable wire).

The battery is a 65A AGM marine that is 8 years old (took out of my boat). The battery is worn. Even having the 2 lights on (12 W) pulls the battery voltage down to 12.4 V after 5 minutes, but it is a storage shed, not a work shop so I will see how long it lasts.

I am going to install a ground from the solar panel and the lightning protection things in the panel. I need to order some grounding wire (green) and a grounding rod to stick in ground behind the shed.

Let me know what you think and any advice is appreciated!



Solar Panel - Started with a 50W



Fuse / breaker panel



Light in Shed

 

[chrisski]

Nice. I did not know that a SCC Load output could be used to charge a battery. Usually there's a Bulk, Absorb and float profile.

What is the 32 Amp breaker for?

 

[Rich585]

The load voltage follows what ever the controller is doing to the main battery so it does follow the Bulk, absorb, float but I believe it isolates the second battery from the main battery. I could be wrong but it looks to be working that way. If the battery is being charged at 14.4V, the load voltage is 14.4V.

The second battery is just a small 300 CA lawn tractor battery that I am just interested mostly in float charge to maintain it when I don't cut the grass for 2-4 weeks during our draught period in summer. I use the X60 connector hanging on the left side to plug the tractor battery in.

The 32 A breaker is just an on/off switch for the solar panel since I do have a 10A fuse right before it. Why 32 A? On Amazon, 32A breaker was CDN$16 whereas the more appropriate 16A breaker was CDN$30 at the time. I can cut the power from the solar panel by either pulling the fuse or flipping the breaker. For this set up don't really need it, but I was using it as a test bed (bread board) to sort things out before I put together a larger system with multiple panels, etc.

In future, when I expand with a larger solar system, I might move some of these parts to the bigger system.

I trying to learn and see what does what. Its nice to come home, step on the back deck, from 50 ft away see that the batteries are in float without having to go the shed to look. This way I know the tractor will start when I need to go cut the grass. (Not always the case last few years).

 

[45North]

Very nice!
I think more people should start small like this on a learner system before spending the big bucks.
How about a complete parts list?
I will be interested in following your future posts as you document this journey you're on, especially what you learn along the way and what you'd do different.