Solar on a barn

jnldr

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L2800
Mar 12, 2010
114
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Knox TN
Anyone have solar in their shop or barn.
Just to power a few lights, maybe a plug, etc....


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Tooljunkie

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May 13, 2014
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I was contemplating the same thing,solar for all my low demand things like lights. Setting up a 12 volt system for lighting only. If i leave certain lights on there would be no concerns about hydro usage.
 

bxray

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Bx25d
Dec 1, 2014
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SLIMSHADIE

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Kubota BX25D
Apr 10, 2013
445
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Bxray, I a have also been replacing my bulbs to LED. I like the instant brightness compared to flourescent. It used to be within a watt or 2 but now seems like another 30% savings compared to the flourescent. Now just a buck or 2 for the bulb.
 

SLIMSHADIE

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Kubota BX25D
Apr 10, 2013
445
1
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Eureka,IL
My neighboor built a barn just to hold the solar system. He said he had a cousin in the solar business and got everything for cost. Went to look at a panel system holder and found that a pole barn was the same price, so why not.

IMG_1617.jpg
 

bxray

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Bx25d
Dec 1, 2014
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Cleveland, ohio
Bxray, I a have also been replacing my bulbs to LED. I like the instant brightness compared to flourescent. It used to be within a watt or 2 but now seems like another 30% savings compared to the flourescent. Now just a buck or 2 for the bulb.
And no Mercury:eek:

If a cfl or floresent tube breaks you need to evacuate the area and break out your hazmat kit :mad:

https://www.epa.gov/cfl/cleaning-broken-cfl#di

Ray
 

eserv

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BX24, A1000 Kubota Generator
May 27, 2009
2,110
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Hardisty, Alberta
Anyone have solar in their shop or barn.
Just to power a few lights, maybe a plug, etc....


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I have three 40w solar panels on my barn to charge the batteries in my 1973 general electric garden tractor. It is not really practical (cost more to purchase it than all the power I will ever consume if I just plugged it in!) But I wanted to be able to say that the tractor is powered by the sun!
 

skeets

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BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
14,094
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SW Pa
From what I have read the placement of the panels in conjunction with the arc of the sun is important for getting full power from them. Also there are 2 maybe 3 different cells on the market HF has the cheapest units and are the oldest technology but they still work but have a low % of efficiency, you wont power the barn or house a few lights maybe from the batteries, and that is dependent on the battery bank size your controller and inverted sizes.

New technology is coming out every day, but in MHO unless you get a BIG tax break or can sell the power you dont use back to the power company. It is not economically feasible to those of us that have to work for every dollar we make.

No matter how hard you try to get off the grid, it aint gona happen. Some places have levied bans on solar panels others have tried to impose taxes on them, and I dont remember where it was, some place, the power company began pursuing law suits against people that were trying to go total solar on their vacation homes , where running a power line would cost you and arm and leg and maybe your first born.
Just some things to think about,,

Oh and NT has a few complete solar set up, 400 watts I think for like a couple grand, panels controller and inverted and a couple batteries,
Also you might want to make some discrete inquires about this to the local powers that be, and the power company as well,, you know,,, I have bet with a friend about solar power and I said the power company wont let them in ,,,so do I own him a case of beer or not?
Works with the local officials, and you might want to check with the state about a tax rebate,,
And go on line there are several sites where you type in your location and the orientation of the roof or panel array and they will tell you if you have it right.
All the best with you solar project
It might be a lot of fun to play with, but I cant afford a set up , I doubt if you would ever get your money out of it in our life time :D
 
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D2Cat

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cviola2005

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Jun 8, 2016
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Clarkrange, TN, USA
I am amazed we're still alive to post on here!

According to that web site you have to evacuate the house, turn off the AC or heat, and pray for 1.2 hour before proceeding.....
Lol, no kidding. I don't know how many of those things I've broken and immediately picked up the pieces without evacuation. I should be dead from that, right?
 

Grouse Feathers

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Lol, no kidding. I don't know how many of those things I've broken and immediately picked up the pieces without evacuation. I should be dead from that, right?
I think playing with mercury as a kid negates all the potential bad effects now.:rolleyes: Or maybe you are not old enough to have played with mercury and made pennies and dimes shiny.:D At work they used to fill guys lunch boxes with mercury and watch them grab the handle on the way home. They would leave with the handle the box stayed put.;)
 

sheepfarmer

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Mercury is a nervous system toxin, so we just don't know how much smarter you (or I) would be if we hadn't been around mercury :eek: the shiny metal is less awful than some of the ionized forms. Guy in the building where I used to work studied the effects of methyl mercury. Deadly in very small amounts...

Somebody left a whole beaker of the metal around, but by the time I found it I didn't want to play with it any more. Liquid nitrogen though, now that is fun, pour some so it will run under someone's door..
 
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wozza

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BX2370
Mar 12, 2017
45
1
0
Perth, Western Australia
I'm going to set mine up on solar, basically the same setup as on my caravan. I'm looking at running 12v LED lighting, a small 12v pressure pump for water, and an inverter for the AC stuff. Anything requiring more power will run off the generator as it will only be short term use, not continuous.

Currently on my caravan I run 200w of solar and 2 x 110ah batteries. This is enough to power lights, water pump, fridge and charge batteries on laptops, camera, etc., but it doesn't keep up when I start running more demanding stuff. I haven't done all the sums yet but figure I will need about 400w of solar and 300 - 400ah of batteries. The only other option is LiPo battery system which is more efficient but a lot more expensive.

It should be noted though that the part of Australia that I live in gets a lot of useable sunlight hours (3200 annually). Using US cities as an example Dallas (2850hrs), Pittsburgh (2021) or Las Vegas (3825) shows the variations and this has a major impact on the performance of the system.
 

skeets

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BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
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SW Pa
Yes Sir you hit it right on the head. And yes there are newer panels, layered one on top of another and increase the output, but aint cheap!! Im thinking a 400 watt system might run about a grand American dollars or so. I dont know how your set up on your trailer but I have seen folks with an array on a light aluminum angle frame set up and would move it toward the sun when they were parked for a couple of days. Again if you can afford it a couple marine deep cycle battery's like used for electric trolling motors work much better than car battery's, heavy and expensive but worth it over the long run from my research
 

BR25004X4

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Kubota B6000 L3901
May 12, 2017
41
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Columbus, NE
I think playing with mercury as a kid negates all the potential bad effects now.:rolleyes: Or maybe you are not old enough to have played with mercury and made pennies and dimes shiny.:D At work they used to fill guys lunch boxes with mercury and watch them grab the handle on the way home. They would leave with the handle the box stayed put.;)

When I was in 5th grade years ago we had a 10 cent coke machine. We found out that if we covered a dime in mercury we'd get our coke and 15 cents change there wasn't a safe mercury thermometer anywhere after that.
 

whirly

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Dec 16, 2016
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Pepeekeo, HI
Needed power for a pump to push water out to the horses so did this on the cheap.



I have since added 2 more batteries so I can run 4 10W 12VDC led lights in the barn. Deep cycle 85Ah batteries run about $90 @ Wally World. That charge controller is 40A and cost about $100. The breaker box and 3 15A breakers cost about $100.



280W panel cost about $350 and I talked the guy into including the mounting and the shed is a Home Depot plastic shed with the door on the side - actually the most expensive piece of the project.

I still use the generator for 110/220VAC equipment because the cost of making the barn 100% solar was not cost effective.
 
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sheepfarmer

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Use LN to make LOX. LOX is kinda cool stuff but don't get it near a fire as it's a powerful oxidizer.
LOX is rocket fuel! My ex thought since he had to be in the marine corps he might as well sign up to learn how to do something interesting, so he learned how to run the LOX plant. At the time I was less than enthusiastic. Must be a guy thing, the more dangerous the better. :eek: