Ever wanted to Be Green? Well now you can! This Instructable will show you how to Run your Shed, on a solar panel!
I Hope you enjoy my Instructable, This was one of my most enjoyable Projects! and I had good results from the little cost it has cost me.
Disclaimer:
I am not responsible for any damage to yourself or others from this 'instructable'. It is your decision to make this project. I would strongly advise to get an electrician or some in the 'know' to check out the all of your wiring.
Update: I will be hopefully showing how to install the 'ground' or 'earth' in a few months.
I Hope you enjoy my Instructable, This was one of my most enjoyable Projects! and I had good results from the little cost it has cost me.
Disclaimer:
I am not responsible for any damage to yourself or others from this 'instructable'. It is your decision to make this project. I would strongly advise to get an electrician or some in the 'know' to check out the all of your wiring.
Update: I will be hopefully showing how to install the 'ground' or 'earth' in a few months.
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Signing UpStep 1: Parts List
1 X 10w (or above) Photo Voltaic solar panel £33
1 X Solar Charge controller £15
2 meters of 15amp cable ( Already had)
1 X 15ah battery £20
8 X Spade connectors £1
1 X Power Inverter ( Above the wattage of the the equipment you use ) £30
2 X 13amp switched fuseways £4
1 X RCD ( Already had)
2 X 13amp wall sockets £ 4
5 meters of 23amp mains cable ( Already had)
1 X Energy saving lightbulb and Brakcet ( Already had)
Wire connectors (I used like 20!) £1
Other Items £5
Total £110
1 X Solar Charge controller £15
2 meters of 15amp cable ( Already had)
1 X 15ah battery £20
8 X Spade connectors £1
1 X Power Inverter ( Above the wattage of the the equipment you use ) £30
2 X 13amp switched fuseways £4
1 X RCD ( Already had)
2 X 13amp wall sockets £ 4
5 meters of 23amp mains cable ( Already had)
1 X Energy saving lightbulb and Brakcet ( Already had)
Wire connectors (I used like 20!) £1
Other Items £5
Total £110
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Good luck and don't forget to double check your ground.
Nice shed, i personally do a similar thing! glad to see there are others like me out there. I have one tip though: instead of cutting the wire out of the socket you could just drill a hole out the back of the shed, make sure it is a tight fit though so there is no water. i prefer to use spur cable but you can use household 3 core flex 13 amp cable
A few of these bottle lights could help light your shed without electricity during the day.
Oscar
I think the most you can go on a 12 volt inverter is about 14 volts
so 18 volt may not work the inverter will go in safe mode
very nice Instructable thanks for sharing this idea
David
at www.solarcells101.com
You will be able to run 12v LED lights for a conciderable amount on time with those batterys though.
About your batterys charge:
If your batterys were drained until they were dead, You might need to buy new batterys. Although there are methods on the internet but they require special tools to revive them.
Or you might of left you charger connected to the battery when it had finished charging a number of times, which can cause the battery to not hold a charge. You may also need to buy a new battery
Thanks
Oscar
http://www.musor-spb.ru
*Don't install the inverter - These are expensive and use additional power to cool the internals. Normally there's an internal fan running to cool the inverter,
*12 V Light Bulb - You can purchase these at you local hardware store.
*Automobile battery - provides larger storage of accumulated electricity.
First you need a deep cycle battery, or a boat battery. You put a car battery on that you'll be replacing it every six months.
The inverter is needed to convert the electricity from DC to AC.
Goes like this Solar panel, battery array, inverter, plug.
I run a similar setup in my shed 250w panel on top of the shed, six deep cycle batteries and a 1000w inverter. This allows me to run power tools and keep the mess out of the house and since I'm in Canada I can run a little ceramic heater in there to putter around for a couple of hours.
If you are going to build a solar setup, build it so it's useful. Spending $500 to putter around with it is fun, but completely useless. So scale the system so you, the owner of it, can actually use it for something handy.
Oscar
You do need to connect the ground pins of all the electrical sockets together though, otherwise you could grab one 'live' tool and one grounded tool and get a shock that way.
Sheds, by their very nature, especially in the UK are damp, and tend to be full of condensation. Lets take a situation with a very damp shed (you dont always feel the damp..its there!!) so somewhere along your installation, moisture has got into the electrics, doesnt matter if its affected the live, or the neutral, as its a floating supply, if you come into contact with the opposite conductor, its you thats going to light, up and not the bulb. The situation is even worse with the really cheap inverters or home made inverters that generate square waves instead of sine waves like the grid, often they emit spikes reaching several hundred volts higher then the mains voltage, which makes it easier for the electric coming to look for you!!!
Unless you can guarantee a 100% or reasonably near to, dry shed, i would earth the installation and fit an ELCB socket (Earth Leakage circuit Breaker) These devices cost less then £10 in the uk, add an earth rod outdside. You may have to connect the neutral to the earth (as the grid does) BEFORE the ELCB for the system to work, and ALL earth points need to be connected together.
If you dont have sockets and lights permanently fixed and your system is effectively portable, then there is no need for the earth or ELCB
Oscar
I also have a separate solar lighting system in my shed where I hacked a solar powered house number sign, disconnecting the built in LED's and running wires to some battery powered LED 'puck' lights on the ceiling, you can get those lights at discount stores for about $1 or $2. No batteries in the lights, I soldered the wires onto the battery terminals inside so they run off the rechargeable batteries in the sign. I have a real light switch on the wall to turn on the lights in the shed, but it is only switching the 4.5V battery voltage.
Adding a battery across the inverter will cure this, even if its a small one with a regulator.
Oscar
Your setup would be really good for camping! I might build something like that, as I'm quite into the outdoors,
The Lighting system seems quite good. Im still using 230v energy saving lights. A bit silly really. For two reasons
They use more energy than 12v energy saving lights and If I wanted to just use the lights I have to power up my inverter to use them.
Thanks
Oscar
...so I had to build a circuit to disconnect the panel when the sun is not shining on it.
I for one would like to see an 'ible on that!
Ideas I have had using diodes steal a volt or two but I am no electronics specialist. I recently found out germanium diodes 'steal' less voltage.
R1 is a CdS cell which senses when the sun is shining, the CdS has to be oriented in the same direction as the solar panel. +15V and ground connect to the solar panel, "Load" connects to the power pack charge input.