solar for small cabin

going to be moving to a prefab cabin soon, me and my wife want some peace and quite especially now that the kids have moved away to college, we have talked,planed and saved for this for year the cabin is 797 square feet, three room, the fridge is gas as is the stove, we only plan to use power for 4 led bulbs, a 26 inch roku tv our tablets and our sat set up from hughes net. its in the beautiful mounts of west Virginia, my issue is with the solar, where we will be it will cost our souls to get aep to run us power so we are planning on solar, how many watts? a friend told me that a 400 watt set would do it but that seems low, any suggestions?

 

NOPE & LOST
way out & Low
Say for what you posted in truth , and your area , you need 2K panels and Mppt controller , 48 Vdc system , MIN for your dream !!! as posted !!

S

 

Cruisin Sloth is right. The major limiting factor now is storage. The panels are so cheap, as long as the government doesn't figure a way to drive up the cost, and the controllers are so good, that there is no good reason not to have 2 k worth of panels. You have already made the big decision that most people ignore, cutting down use of electricity with gas stove, etc. The storage you need for 2 or 3 low sun days or a week if really want security, would cost thousands of dollars, but the storage for the bare minimum, lights, a lap top computer, can be a few hundred and with a small propane back up generator, you can cover your needs for weeks. In my garage I use solar and work most of the time on sunny days and harvest the excess production and use it as I wish. On dark and rainy days, I reload or do something that requires little power. When I weld, use compressor, use table saw, etc, I fire up the genset. Works very well for me. Best advice is to talk to people who are doing off grid as most grid tied is a political and ecological game with no real contact with reality and the advise you get is either given to enhance someones ego or pocket book. As said, go back thru threads and see what luck others have had, and look at solar as a storage device, not a solar generation device.
Given the location, what is your potential for wind power? OPSEC is bad, but wind blows at night and often is strongest when solar is at its weakest, storms, etc. A small unit can be tied to your solar batteries and enhance the system. I want to do that next at my garage rather than buy more batteries.

 

Yes. Here is one. Read THIS POST before you go spend money unnecessarily. Don't guess. Don't estimate. Calculate your actual power needs and work from there.

Power Required (watt hours) --> Necessary Storage (battery bank size) --> Charging (Panels & Controller)

 

Welcome to the monkey from another mountan dueler..

 

Hey what a great idea and welcome

 

I would suggest that you log-on at:
Forums - Solar Panels - Solar Panels Forum

or Northern Arizona Wind & Sun Solar Forum

or Solar Beginners Corner

 

I agree with @ghrit ...this topic has been very thoroughly covered, so the search function on this website is your friend.

I will say that a 400 watt solar power system is relatively easy and inexpensive. The only warning I'll offer is that you may find that " 4 led bulbs, a 26 inch roku tv our tablets and our sat set up from hughes net" gets kind of boring after a while and at some point you may want more. Plan accordingly.

 

First thing you do is don't buy anything.
The biggest mistake people make is buying stuff and not understanding really what they are buying or they buy some pre-made kit.
A lot of the affordable kits out there are over rated, use cheap under sized batteries not appropriate for solar power duty, junk power inverter and junk charge controller.

 

So far as building any system especially if there is the potential of growth is to build it that way from the beginning .
If you've got the space and sunlight you might also consider solar thermal for heating and hot water.
Also as you build your home consider windows that face south and a mud porch glass enclosed It can add a great deal to the house heating .
Also consider a rather large battery bank. I refer to mine as primarily a "battery system" using several forms of generation, solar, wind, and generator, and a little off the grid as well, for heavy equipment . If you've got the wind, a Mill is good contributor.
All of my components are switched and fused so that at any time I can isolate each component and test it . Though all my panels differ in brands and sizes, on the amp meter you can see the individual contribution of each .

 

Forgot to add earlier.
400w worth of panels is only going to collect 2kwh per day, best case scenario.
The average 2 person house with gas appliances can easily use 20kwh per day during your non heating and cooling days.

 

Welcome!!

 

I just finished installing a system at my cabin this past winter...I had someone design it and help select the equipment and then I did the install myself......Definitely listen to the good advice on here, go with good quality equipment......I have (6) 330 watt panels and (8) 6 volt AGM batteries for a 48 V system. It has been nothing short of awesome! There is a lot of good stuff on Youtube as well....

 

So, something like 48vdc, at maybe 240 AH? Not bad a'tall.

 

There is ALSO alot of KRAP on U-tub

As posted ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ , the links to the power forums are the best to ask & question .

Sloth

 

This is what I use to power our 1600sqft house, we have a gas stove, wood stove, electric refrigerator and electric heat pump water heater:

Solar Panels 1400W - $800.00
Schneider Electric Conext XW MPPT 60 Amp Solar Charge Controller - $500.00
Schneider Electric Conext SW 4024 3,400 Watts, 24VDC Inverter 120/240 VAC - $1,500.00
Schneider Electric Conext XW+/SW System Control Panel (SCP) - $211.00
LiFePO4 Prismatic Batteries 24V, 300Ah - $3,800.00
Unistrut/Bolts/Nuts/Hardward for Panel Rack - $500.00

The LiFePO4 batteries are much more expensive than lead and would be a good place to cut costs if needed, I chose them for their excellent life span and safety.

We have 2 kids that need baths every night so our water heater is our biggest power consumer.