Newbie question - components required for weekender

[Craig Richards]

I have no experience whatsoever with solar setups, but I want to get a
system which will power my weekend shack. Am suffering a severe case of
information overload after surfing for information, so I am after a *rough*
indication of what I need, in terms of battery types, number, panel types &
number, inverters, etc....

The dwelling will only be used around 2 weekends a month. I plan on only
running a couple of fluoro tubes, a TV, DVD player and maybe a notebook PC
or two. Maybe an evaporative air cooler during summer. All devices need to
operate off 240V supply. All heating, cooking, etc will be via wood or gas.

The weather bureau tells me we get on average 8 clear days a month in winter
and 11 cloudy. In summer we get 15 clear days a month and 6 cloudy.

I think my energy needs are fairly low, so I shouldn't require a massive
setup. The main thing would be the capability to collect and store enough
energy in the 27 days of the month it's not being used for the 3 days it is
in use.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[wmbjk]

I have no experience whatsoever with solar setups, but I want to get a
system which will power my weekend shack. Am suffering a severe case of
information overload after surfing for information, so I am after a *rough*
indication of what I need, in terms of battery types, number, panel types &
number, inverters, etc....

The dwelling will only be used around 2 weekends a month. I plan on only
running a couple of fluoro tubes, a TV, DVD player and maybe a notebook PC
or two. Maybe an evaporative air cooler during summer. All devices need to
operate off 240V supply. All heating, cooking, etc will be via wood or gas.

The weather bureau tells me we get on average 8 clear days a month in winter
and 11 cloudy. In summer we get 15 clear days a month and 6 cloudy.

I think my energy needs are fairly low, so I shouldn't require a massive
setup. The main thing would be the capability to collect and store enough
energy in the 27 days of the month it's not being used for the 3 days it is
in use.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

You're miles short of supplying the information needed to make even a
rough estimate.

You might start here http://homepower.com/files/loadcalc.pdf. Once you
read those two articles you'll understand what it takes to estimate
your consumption, and why it's usually something you can do most
accurately yourself. Or perhaps you can use the information from those
articles to post a more detailed description of your loads, along with
the location.

Wayne

 

[Craig Richards]

Thanks guys for the info, I will definitely check out homepower.com - I
hadn't come across that particular site. Hopefully, it may contain all the
info I need to do the calculations - a few sites I have checked out have
"calculators", but I haven't found them very helpful. For example, most seem
to assume the system will be in constant use, ie recharging and partially
discharging every day. I don't need that, but I do need to know how long
different types of batteries will hold a charge, or what percentage they
lose with no load over say, a week. Without such info, it isn't possible to
do the calculations (or maybe they lose nothing, but I don't know that).

If I still can't figure it out after checking this site, I'll post more info
here. Or maybe even if I think I can - I'd rather find out my errors before
I outlay a large sum of money on the wrong thing!