Chasin' Dreams
Well-Known Member
I'm looking for advice on solar power to run a cottage that will usually house 4 people. The cottage currently has a couple older 100 watt solar panels, two 6 volt batteries and an inverter. But it is older stuff and not set up very well. Just one man was living in the cottage so I guess that was sufficient for his needs.
I want to replace the whole system with new equipment and I want to make sure I get more than enough for panel wattage and more than enough for battery power storage. I'll be using the cottage throughout winter months as well but usually just a couple people on and off through winter. During summer months there will usually be 4 or us using it.
I've been watching some youtube videos on solar set ups and they are helpful and give me a pretty decent idea of what I need to buy/do but just looking for any tips or advice from folks that have gone through the learning curve with these set ups and may be able to help me avoid an issues along the way.
I want to do all the power stuff the correct way and I want to feed the power inverter power into a circuit panel with breakers then run outlet lines off of that just like a house is rigged up with juice coming from the meter to the breaker panels etc. So if there is anything I need to note about doing that I would appreciate info regarding that as well. I have a smaller system on a travel trailer and my inverter in there just has a couple outlet receptacles on it that plugs can go into but I would like to hard wire the inverter direct to a circuit panel if possible. Not sure if they make inverter outputs in 220 volt but if they do I'd be looking into that to power up a circuit breaker panel. Would also like to have a DC powered fuse box as well for any 12 volt DC stuff I end up needing to run like the hot water on demand water pump etc.
I take possession of the cottage on March 1st but I want to get my ducks in a row well in advance so I can bring all the new equipment in ASAP.
The cottage does have cold water supplied by a community drilled well and it is on a septic field. Currently it has an old boiler tank for hot water but I'm gonna replace that with hot water on demand.
Any tips on living solely off grid would be greatly appreciated. I'm used to working in the bush with some solar powered stuff but I always have generators to run most of my main power needs while working so this will be a first for our family depending completely on solar power while at the cottage. I will have a genny for back ups but only when absolutely needed.
I want to replace the whole system with new equipment and I want to make sure I get more than enough for panel wattage and more than enough for battery power storage. I'll be using the cottage throughout winter months as well but usually just a couple people on and off through winter. During summer months there will usually be 4 or us using it.
I've been watching some youtube videos on solar set ups and they are helpful and give me a pretty decent idea of what I need to buy/do but just looking for any tips or advice from folks that have gone through the learning curve with these set ups and may be able to help me avoid an issues along the way.
I want to do all the power stuff the correct way and I want to feed the power inverter power into a circuit panel with breakers then run outlet lines off of that just like a house is rigged up with juice coming from the meter to the breaker panels etc. So if there is anything I need to note about doing that I would appreciate info regarding that as well. I have a smaller system on a travel trailer and my inverter in there just has a couple outlet receptacles on it that plugs can go into but I would like to hard wire the inverter direct to a circuit panel if possible. Not sure if they make inverter outputs in 220 volt but if they do I'd be looking into that to power up a circuit breaker panel. Would also like to have a DC powered fuse box as well for any 12 volt DC stuff I end up needing to run like the hot water on demand water pump etc.
I take possession of the cottage on March 1st but I want to get my ducks in a row well in advance so I can bring all the new equipment in ASAP.
The cottage does have cold water supplied by a community drilled well and it is on a septic field. Currently it has an old boiler tank for hot water but I'm gonna replace that with hot water on demand.
Any tips on living solely off grid would be greatly appreciated. I'm used to working in the bush with some solar powered stuff but I always have generators to run most of my main power needs while working so this will be a first for our family depending completely on solar power while at the cottage. I will have a genny for back ups but only when absolutely needed.