diy solar

diy solar

My Solar Shed Construction Starts in a Week

:ROFLMAO:
Well, Will is about to see why Aluminium & Pressure Treated wood DO NOT GO TOGETHER. I used PT for my rack frame but with rubber isolators to prevent any contact and stainless bolts which are PT safe.
They're not. They will be fine

Let me kick off the upcoming nitpicking.

Are those UL approved 2 by 4's ? :cool:
Also safety certified, fire resistant, blessed by five elders and we sacrificed a goat for extra protection.
 
Is this shed actively cooled yet? Only saw mention of insulation so far. Any concerns about storing the batteries at elevated temps in the Vegas summer?
 
Well, I just came home from purchasing 4 x 260 watt used polycrystalline panels. My original plan was to just figure out some simple ground mount system in my back yard. Batteries, solar charge controller, and inverter would go into my attached garage. However, the more I think about it the more I really want a solar shed for safety so I don't have to store all this in my attached garage. I'm not all that handy when it comes to construction, but rather than buy a pre-fab shed with non-optimal roof that can only have panels on one side, what if I build or have a handyman build a lean-to type shed, except instead of shingles, felt, CDX, etc. the solar panels *are* the roof? I estimate my shed would then be about 11' x 5', would be facing due south. Fewer materials to buy. Are there problems with this idea? Will sealing the seams between the panels with silicone be sufficient, or will they leak with settling and time? We need to approach the manufacturers of pre-fab sheds and have them make a line of solar-friendly sheds.
 
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Well, I just came home from purchasing 4 x 260 watt used polycrystalline panels. My original plan was to just figure out some simple ground mount system in my back yard. Batteries, solar charge controller, and inverter would go into my attached garage. However, the more I think about it the more I really want a solar shed for safety so I don't have to store all this in my attached garage. I'm not all that handy when it comes to construction, but rather than buy a pre-fab shed with non-optimal roof that can only have panels on one side, what if I build or have a handyman build a lean-to type shed, except instead of shingles, felt, CDX, etc. the solar panels *are* the roof? I estimate my shed would then be about 11' x 5', would be facing due south. Fewer materials to buy. Are there problems with this idea? Will sealing the seams between the panels with silicone be sufficient, or will they leak with settling and time? We need to approach the manufacturers of pre-fab sheds and have them make a line of solar-friendly sheds.
Welcome to DIY solar, where "cheap" panels leads to a lot of time and a big total bill in the end. But it's fun. An adventure.

The best thing to do is just play small, and built out as you go. You'll learn and improve. I nearly completed documenting my first ground mount using parts from Home Depot (HD). The process was to build it then document it because there was a lot of trial and error and many trips back to HD.

I've thought a lot about what you're thinking. Do I need a shed? Do I want a shed? I'd like some sort of structure over my patio. The panels can become a roof. But, in the end, I went with a simpler ground mount based on Superstruts attached to a corner fence post to start. Just needed to be realistic about how much I could learn without doing. Better to learn and do, and learn and do, and learn and do. I love iterative development.

For my micro farm, I just built a wood structure in a day using 2x4s. I'll be playing with how I can attach solar to it.

What frustrates me about DIY videos building things with wood and metal is they always use tools I don't have, like a table saw, and throw in some professional edge I don't want to learn right now. I just want simple, easy, fast, cheap and all parts locally sourced with the tools I have, a drill and a circular saw. I'm thinking about creating a YouTube channel just for people like me who want to know how to build anything with basic common tools and parts.
 
It is a 6x10 Tuff Shed. Total cost was 2,500 bucks. It will have air conditioning to keep my LiFePO4 battery collection nice and happy. I will install a MASSIVE 48v 5kw system in it (this one). It will serve as a backup system for my house if the grid were to fail for prolonged duration. And as a super cool man cave:

View attachment 66
This is how I designed it to fit into my back yard and to match the color scheme of my house:
View attachment 65
I will have the front door facing north, and the south facing roof covered in solar panels. This MPP unit has 2x mppt's, so I will have 2x separate arrays on my property. Will talk about the solar panel array in another post.

The hardest part of this system is temperature regulation. It will be 110 degrees plus here in vegas. Luckily, we have lots of sunshine to run air conditioners off of solar power. If I can regulate the temperature of this shed with a couple of small ground mounted arrays, I will consider it a success.

What I love about sheds is that you can store/charge dangerous chemistries of batteries inside of them without the stress of having your house burned down. I do not use combustible batteries for solar (as many of you know haha) but I have some long range fpv drones I will be building in the following months. I have caught those batteries on fire too many times! And I am scared of them. I will charge them only in this shed.

I will also add lights, security cameras and so much more. I can't wait!

Let me know what you think or if I should add something :)
LiFePo4's are the best if you're worried about fires. I'm running them in the house, in my basement. I've tested them with a short to dead. Not only do they not explode they can be charged to full again. I didn't believe it until I had a 36V DeWalt pack fail to charge. I had left it in it's packaging for a year or two and a couple of the batteries were registering less than 0.5 volts. I charged the batteries individually then put the pack on the DeWalt charger and the batteries charged fully. I'm still testing the pack but so far so good. I swear by LiFePo4's!

What's the area the batteries take up? Did you think about digging a hole on the shed floor to keep the batteries cool? I just don't like air conditioning especially if this is a grid fail system. Think about what happens if you ruin out of power, now you have low batteries and no way to keep them cool.
 
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