Questions about Beginner Shed Build

[solartomboy]

I have a shed that could hold 400w of panels.

I want to "slowly" gather energy into a server rack battery.

I want to use something like a "beginner friendly" all in one box like the MPP Solar PIP2724 shown on Will's channel

.

I live in the near Seattle, where its not sunny all the time like California or Las Vegas.

So if I have 400w of panels (probably creating 300W actual), approx 4 hours a day, does that mean it would take approx 3 days to charge up a 5.12kWh server rack battery? How would 400W of panels fare in the winter time?

Is this a good system to have? I just want to "slowly" gather backup charge to have available to use. Also, is this enough to power the inverter 24/7?. I should mention this shed also has AC power, so I could charge up the server rack battery via the grid if needed.

 

[Firewalker30091985]

It depends on your load, you have to calculate how much KW you need per day, ideally you make your plant 30% bigger than you need per day. The optimal orientation for you should be south with about 25-30 degrees elevation to recharge the necessary KW in winter.

The battery you can choose at least twice as large as your daily required amount, so you take load from the battery and increase the life tremendously ... Currently I have 22KWH with a daily demand of about 8kwh (of which are at night maximum 3 kwh).

Batteries you get currently cheap from China LifePO4 230AH are good for such a project.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

 

[Supervstech]

You got it.
But keep in mind 400W of panels in Seattle likely won't produce anywhere 300kW average.
More likely, around 100W and often under that.

 

[Firewalker30091985]

Go to PVgis you can calculate what a power you became with this cell

 

[solartomboy]

Go to PVgis you can calculate what a power you became with this cell

Super useful, thanks!

 

[MurphyGuy]

You got it.
But keep in mind 400W of panels in Seattle likely won't produce anywhere 300kW average.
More likely, around 100W and often under that.

If he plugs his information into PV Watts, it will tell him almost exactly what his panels will produce within about 2% accuracy.

 

[solartomboy]

If he plugs his information into PV Watts, it will tell him almost exactly what his panels will produce within about 2% accuracy.

I didn't know about that website. Super cool!

 

[Firewalker30091985]

I think PVgis is better in configuration and Results but not easy to understand :-D