Solar shed

[Bluedog225]

I’m rethinking my plan for rooftop solar. Instead, I’m exploring the idea of a little carport, maybe 12’x16’ with a flat (ish) metal roof covered with panels. I’m in central Texas so plenty of sun, no snow, etc. I can easily adjust the size of this roof to meet my expected need prior to starting construction. No shade.

The shed will be about 30’ from the cabin measured from the base of the shed to the main electrical panel.

I’m not too worried about transmission loss. My biggest concern is fire safety with a secondary goal of keeping any noisy or buzzing transformer type noise out of the cabin. With that in mind, I was thinking of housing the batteries, inverter, and charge controller in the shed and running an underground service line to the cabin. This will provide some level of protection against problems if I lean more towards the diy side or try cheaper, less reliable components.

For some reason, I’ve gotten the impression that people were running DC to the main structures and hosting the other electronics inside. At this distance, does it matter? And are there other considerations that would lead me to doing this differently?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

 

[ghostwriter66]

I’m rethinking my plan for rooftop solar. Instead, I’m exploring the idea of a little carport, maybe 12’x16’ with a flat (ish) metal roof covered with panels. I’m in central Texas so plenty of sun, no snow, etc. I can easily adjust the size of this roof to meet my expected need prior to starting construction. No shade.

The shed will be about 30’ from the cabin measured from the base of the shed to the main electrical panel.

I’m not too worried about transmission loss. My biggest concern is fire safety with a secondary goal of keeping any noisy or buzzing transformer type noise out of the cabin. With that in mind, I was thinking of housing the batteries, inverter, and charge controller in the shed and running an underground service line to the cabin. This will provide some level of protection against problems if I lean more towards the diy side or try cheaper, less reliable components.

For some reason, I’ve gotten the impression that people were running DC to the main structures and hosting the other electronics inside. At this distance, does it matter? And are there other considerations that would lead me to doing this differently?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

Going to say that unless something is going REALLY bad -- humming is normally not an issue ... I have though seen that different manufacturers have different fan types .. some are quiet .. some sound like a F22 taking off ... but normally they are all pretty quiet ... The carport is a great idea .. never been a ffan of the roof thing -- especially if you have ground room ....

We put everything in a "rubbermaid" type shed at the panels and then run either 120 or 240 to the equipment .. saves allot of money that way ...