Basic cabin power: generator + batteries + inverter?

We are just finishing up a no-permit, off grid, water access only cabin.



It is wired for power, and so far we have a Honda eu2000 generator giving us power when we need it.

At some point I'd like to do solar, but as a first step I'd like to set up a battery pack system and pure sine wave inverter that I could charge with my generator when required - so that I wouldn't have to run the generator each time we have simple tasks that require power.

I'd also like the system to be as maintenance free as possible, and OK to leave in place in very cold winters (when it would not be used).

Is this doable? What equipment would I need to make this work, and what should I budget in terms of cost?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Thanks for your reply, I appreciate the perspective.

Regarding your first point, is it your feeling then that any power system in a weekend use cabin like ours is pointless, and likely to go missing unless well hidden when not in use? Would solar panels act as a "come steal me" sign, or an advertisement to come looking around?

In light of this, maybe I could dig/build a small hidden cellar some distance away from the cabin to store the batteries and inverter when we aren't there in a waterproof Pelican case or something buried. Based on your comment about not recommending leaving them there through the winter, I could take them out in the fall and being them back in the spring.

 

Depends on your use of the cabin.

I'm going to assume that this is a summer cabin only.
That you are going to use it a couple of weekends a month and possibly once for about a week to 10 days. each season.

If that is the case, you already have your power supply. The genny.
All you will have to do is plan your activities around when you want to run the generator. No additional costs required.

That way, you can spend more of your dollars on other camp requirements.

Of course, if you plan on spending more time than that at the cabin and want more city comforts .. we need to know that to provide you advice.

 

I think the message here is that I need to finish the cabin and spend some time there with the family, to get a better idea of what our power generation needs will be.

Thanks guys.

 

I also run off a solar/battery arrangement. The short answer is yes. It's very doable. But there are some caveats:

Get a charge controller with a temperature compensator. It costs a little more, but it will adjust the charge up or down according to the temperature.

I'm not sure how large a system you are looking to set up, but anything over a few hundred watts starts getting more complex, especially if you bring inverters and gas generators into the picture. Such a project is not for first-timers. Solar is simple in principle and complicated in practice. You know your own abilities; keep in mind you're depending on this system. It's not a hobby.

You can leave the system all winter and the solar will keep the charge up. The problem is that if something goes wrong you will not know until the spring when you return and find a bank of dead batteries. I suggest if you expect to be gone for a long time, take the batteries with you and keep them charged at home. Lugging batteries back and forth is a pain but its the only way to assure they don't crap out when you need them the most.

Unfortunately, solar with batteries is not a "set it and forget it" arrangement. You will have to commit to some level of upkeep and attention.

 

Just looking at the posted pix I SEE Trees = SHADE .
Where is this Cabin Cap Canuk ? Mine is on Vancouver Island , solar & airtight Power & heat . No cell , TV maybe if it's clear but we don't waste power to hear bubble heads , Radio but the cabin is for if the weather changes & a storm hits. There is a sign in the cabin , replace the food you ate and stay safe . A few know it & have used it. My coldest might be -10c MAX for a few days , & if the battery's are charged , they don't freeze but power output is low.So they are under the cabins floor buried in the dirt for cool Solar panels are in the skylights facing south . Power is for led light, to read ! Lots of books up there & if you take one you owe two in return ! Out house also has an LED with outside lighting to it. Basic storm shelter . Bears & wolves have been there , but if the place is keep food in cans sealed & MT cans removed when you leave seems they can't read. 12 volt system , all for just leds & to charge the GPS , radios using a buck converter if i need higher voltage . Main switch shuts all power off But Solar to battery is always charging daylight.
Sloth

 

A bud and I are talking about building a "BO trailer". Dual axles only about six feet wide with sealed bottom for storage and batteries/controller. Above the boxes will be solar panels that can be turned toward the sun(unfolded) for max exposure. The 4 wheeler can pull it most anywhere or a vehicle. That way it can be used at home and a remote location.

 

@Capt.Canuck - @Cruisin Sloth beat me to it but the very first thing I thought when I saw that cabin was "Where are you going to put those solar panels because there ain't no sun around that cabin and dapples of sunlight obviously won't cut it?" Are you planning on doing some/a lot of pruning/thinning?

Again, not to rain on any parades but without more info that corrects my initial gut reaction, I would say I didn't see how it would work. Could it, conceivably, in theory? Yeah but I don't see how "as it sits".

 

Lots of useful information in this thread, thanks guys.

It is heavily treed near the cabin, but my thought was that I could run a heavy gauge cable about 75 feet and be in a very bright clearing near the waterfront.

 

West Coast
And a come see my stuff DOCK !!
Heavy cable cost heavy wallet . Do a higher voltage system & run thinner wires , Or have a 214B Helio do a tree manicure .
Got to know the basics of where are YOU ? Summer only , cuz mine is NOT for summer , only wet winter storm months , so low sun & power for 3 nights , but will recoup in weeks of no use . The Out house & horse bedding area are the first who will drop power if you abuse. Yes theres a stock of feed for the horses in Steel Galvanized garbage cans , restocked with an ATV in better days. Trappers / Natives and many more we know have used it . Not much stuff has found legs . Many a box of stuff has been left at the farm/ranch . Neigh-bores who are grid dependent asked if we need the food bank when they see the boxes left at the driveway gate house ..
Sloth

 

Man YOU have LOSS /LOSS/LOSS every change !! plus 48 volt's and under is no permit (Gray of Grey Area ) . 480 $*) !! volts Dang , .
Lets see those curly's !!!!!!

 

@BTPost ...dude, you know I respect you. But oh holy tap-dancing Jesus! Are you serious? If I'm following you correctly, you're converting the power five times before it hits the batteries, then one more time if you want 120 VAC in the place. When it gets to the end of this Rube Goldberg maze, you'll be lucky to have 25% of the energy put into it, not to mention all the points of failure.

And good luck finding a 480 volt transformer that will handle any reasonable power that isn't three phase and doesn't require a forklift to install.

My solution: A 75 foot run is a reach, but not out of the question. Buy a long roll of 6 gauge or even 4 if you think you can work with it and set your system up for as high a DC voltage as your equipment will allow. Example: If you have four, 12 volts panels, send 48 volts down the wire to the charge controller. A good MPPT controller will very efficiently do the conversion back to 12 volts for your batteries. Bury the wire in the ground and take the solar panels down and store them out of sight when you are gone for a long time. This will eliminate security concerns.

There are tons of on line calculators that will tell you what your voltage drop will be. For 48 volts DC run through 75 feet of wire, the loss runs between 1%-6% depending on the current and type of wire. That's got to be better than a mess of transformers and inverters.

Voltage Drop Calculator

The whole deal will cost less, be less complex, and be waayyy more efficient.

And BT, I still think you're ok!

 

Once the Panels have been seen , there a target ! Roof mount them and buy way more Watts than required . Settle on power from shade & weather. Summer camp right ?Do some tree pruning so it gets southern exposure sun from 10-2 . What are you trying to power .
Im with Tevin with MPPT & higher voltage to have less line loss, but 24 volts , if 12 is needed for lighting in LED's use a buck transformer ,

 

In your hydro and wind turbine examples, the power source is creating AC from the get-go and located quite far from where the power will be used. And of course, an AC power source will need to be rectified to DC at some point if you are going to charge batteries. There is no way around it.

That is worlds different than converting native DC to AC for the sole purpose of shipping it 75 feet (which itself is nowhere near as much of an engineering challenge as "a couple of hundred yards"), then converting it back to DC, which it was in the first place before you ran it through two transformers, two inverters, a rectifier, and a charge controller...every one of which nibbles off some juice. And I'm supposed to believe all of that hardware and complexity and inefficiency is a net-plus over the a 1%-6% loss from sending raw DC through 75 feet of straight wire? Oh my.

You are 100% right that sending electric across large distances requires AC and by default transformers. I guess we simply disagree on what is considered a "large distance".

But I still think you're cool, BT.

 

Technical advisory: Transformers do not work on DC power.