Planning az Solar system

[Douglas V]

I am planning out a system for my house. I first want to do my 10x12 shack/shop to gain experience.

My shack uses 3kw at most. The biggest single draw are my table and circular saws. The shack has 3600 240v running to it currently.

To run my radios, I have a renogy 200 watt kit with 2 100 watt panels and charge controller, which is paired to 200 ah of lifepo batteries.

The 12v system is fine for my radios, i want to power the rest.

What panels should i use? Are there panels that produce more than 18-21 watts per square foot. I plan on putting the panels up on the 6x12 portion of the roof that faces south.

I am planning to build a shop on my 8k sf city plot, but that will take time and money.

 

[MichaelK]

Big saws have lot of starting surge, so you want to go with a quality low-frequency transformer-based inverter. Take a look at Schneider's 6848 XW-Pro. You'll need a 48V battery for that. Close out pricing on an excellent quality inverter. The 6848 is NOT an AiO, so you'll need a separate charge controller to mate to your batteries. I did not buy Schneider's charge controller because of the cost. I went with Midnight 200s instead.

But, a 6X12' roof is not much space. You are likely to fit no more than six 300 or so Watt panels. What about ground mounts? Here a pic of a ground mount I built that can hold six 250-300W residential panels. It's adjustable for both declination and azimuth. Go online to Craigslist, and look for local seller's with cash and carry sales. There's an excellent market for panels right now, and you should expect to get something in the 3-5W/$ range. Don't order online with delivery. You'll only get 1W/$ that way.

 

[Douglas V]

I will be building a shop. The saws are the peak amount and not running at the same time. The shack ac is 1200 watts and the rest is 300 to 500.

I will be using ground mounted on a system in texas.

Are there any panels that produce more wattage per square foot than approximately 20 watts.

 

[MichaelK]

I will be using ground mounted on a system in texas.

Are there any panels that produce more wattage per square foot than approximately 20 watts.

Is that really of any importance if you are planning on a ground mount? Realisticly, two of the ground-mounts I pictured above will supply all of your needs. Three of them if you want a large 48V system.