Solar panel for my shack?

[mysnopro]

What size and brand to charge a 12 volt deep cycle?

[Whoaru99]

Depends.

1. What amp-hour capacity is the battery?

2. What percent of discharge do you expect to run down to?

3. How much time for recharging is there between uses?

Generally, unless you spend a pretty big wad on solar panels they're just trickle chargers/maintainers, not chargers in the sense we usually consider a battery charger.

Depending on your draw, a small solar panel may be practical to extend your run time between full recharges from a plug-in charger, or not.

[Dahitman44]

I am thinking about one too -- who knows anything about these Solar-dohickies?

[low277]

I installed a solar panel system on a semi trailer a number of years ago. If you want to integrate it into a system with a generator and shore power it can turn into a project.

The system I did had 2 - 100 watt solar panels on the roof tied into 3 optima batteries which could be charged from solar, generator or shore power.

It is for a field test trailer that is used in different parts of the country for testing atvs and such, they are sometimes in the middle of nowhere and they don't always like to have the generator running.

[Whoaru99]

I am thinking about one too -- who knows anything about these Solar-dohickies?

It's mainly math, so, without information such as previously requested there is a fair probability you will be disappointed in the outcome.

The panels you see for $50-100 are likey to be in the 10 to 15w, maybe 20 watt range. That's roughly equal to a 3/4 to 1 amp trickle charger...in full sun, of which there aren't a whole lot of hours of in the winter (average about 3.5 hrs per day in Central MN winter). As you can see, if your battery use is low or infrequent it may help, if there is a lot of draw on the battery and or frequent use, you're probably going to be disappointed with the outcome of a small panel.

The main point is that to keep the battery charged you have to put back more than you take out. If you just want to extend the operating time between battery charger-type full recharges then you can put back less than you take out, but to get an idea of the extended time you still have to figure out how much you're taking out and how much is going back in. Then, it's a matter of the difference factored against battery capacity.

Rather than me try to nail it all down in a post, go to solar power calculator and put in all the information.

[PurpleFloyd]

A mini windmill might be better.They can be purchased for 120 dollars and up.

[Whoaru99]

Yeah, it might be, but the same basic considerations of supply and demand must be taken into account.

[LakeDocktor]

Check out Solar Sportsman. They have solar panels and lithium ion batteries that with all the information you need. Send me a PM if you want a discount code.

[mysnopro]

Most of the time it will be charging off the inverter and geni! Just want something to keep them fresh while i'm not there!

[Whoaru99]

If what you're looking for is a maintainer then a small panel should be fine to do that.

That said, if the batteries stay essentially charged by the other means you mention and if there is no load on them when you're not there, the rate of self discharge in cold storage is extremely low.

[Princeton]

I have 200 watts of solar on my house that feed 2 120 AH batteries. I pretty much only use the house on the weekends and the panels completely charge the batteries during the week. I have yet to have to use a generator. It all comes down to how much energy you need to run everything in the house. I built mine with all led lights, LED TV and low draw stereo. Works great and I have yet to have to listen to a generator running. Total cost of solar panels, batteries and charge controller was $800. The great part is that I have power in the house year round and never have a dead battery.

[chris63]

Prince,what brand of panels are you using?What would you say your average amp draw is for a typical weekend is?c63

[Princeton]

I purchased flexible solar panels from HSOList the brand is Uni-Solar PVL-68. I bought 3 of them and negotiated with them a bit. You can also find them on Amazon. My roof on my house is curved which allows the panels to be angled. These panels are peel and stick like ice and water barrier that you would put on your house roof. I put them on the roof so they are not visible and therefore do not draw attention to the house. The downside is that during winter the sun is lower in the sky so you have to oversize the install - I was generating about 50 amps of power per day. These panels are not glass and are very reliable. If you were going to mount on the side of the house I would suggest buying regular solar panels- you can find them on Amazon.

You will need a charge controller as well. I will post some pics of the set up.

[Princeton]

Forgot to mention how much power we use. This totally depends on many factors, including if you have a forced air furnace, TV's, etc.

This was a build from scratch so I figured out the load and calculated from there. I figure that we consume around 70 ah a day.

[Princeton]

I just started a new post with pics from my fish house build.

[Bonecollecter44]

I have a Monocrystaline solar pannel 100w mounted on the roof of my fishouse that works perfect. My whole solar setup was less than 200 dollars and it produces around 4 amps and tops out at around 6 amps. To get the peak amperage out of the solar pannel it has to be directly fasing the sun and depending on if it is a sunny day or not. I have two deep cycle batteries that the solar keeps them maintained and charged. Granted I dont use that much power from my batteries since I built my house using all led lights. That is why I went with solar so i dont need a generator. i build my house to use only 12v and the only 120 I have is my tv. My tv is a led tv witch takes around 30 watts and so a little inverter can run that will very little stress on the batteries as well.