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One room cabin solar power ?

My cabin is a 16x16 one room, with an 8x16 addition. Rain barrel water collection , half decent insulation , wood stove. Propane cook top , about 100' from the Saco River.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...765693.-2207520000.1409789009.&type=3&theater

I think it makes the most sense to just go all 12v. I sort of prefer the lanterns and candles , but having the ability to flip a light (led ) would be cool. As well as charge phones , and run a car stereo. I have a vision of getting the radio up & running - I am going to crank up Jimi Hendrix on very loud and play Voodoo Child. Then shut it down.

My well is a whole other story , but it'll get sorted out before Spring , maybe sooner.
 
fubar said:
My cabin is a 16x16 one room, with an 8x16 addition. Rain barrel water collection , half decent insulation , wood stove. Propane cook top , about 100' from the Saco River.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...765693.-2207520000.1409789009.&type=3&theater

I think it makes the most sense to just go all 12v. I sort of prefer the lanterns and candles , but having the ability to flip a light (led ) would be cool. As well as charge phones , and run a car stereo. I have a vision of getting the radio up & running - I am going to crank up Jimi Hendrix on very loud and play Voodoo Child. Then shut it down.

My well is a whole other story , but it'll get sorted out before Spring , maybe sooner.
Click to expand...

Facebook page says "This content is currently unavailable". Yes I have an account so it probably isn't public.
 
If you have sufficient water flow rate and drop, micro-hydroelectric (picohydo) is absolutely the way to go.

Jason m said:
Have you considered wind power? I'm building some small vertical windmills from treadmill motors.
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I wish I could use wind power, but I'm in New Hampshire... 80% trees.

I'd have to go 100' vertical even with VAWT.
 
http://www.sunpumps.com/

Good source for reliable submersible 12V pumps. I have had one installed for 3 years now. Mine is down about 45ft and pumps into a 60PSI pressure tank using 48 watts (or less depending on pressure). They are fully rebuildable too!
 
Depending on how much light you actually need, you won't need all that many LEDs if you do it right. I have two panels that I made in the basement here that light up a large section of that space. I used a 5M roll of 3528 LED's per panel, feeding them from 12v, 5A power supplies. Since you'll have 12V via alternative sources, you'll just need to add the amp draw to the spec's.

Of you want to see how much light each panel actually throws, let me know (PM me). I believe you get 6 lumens per emitter. With 600 emitters per 5M roll, that's 3600 lumens. Equal to a 250-300W light bulb. That's using all of 60W of power.

You can also make smaller panels if you want, with more directed light. The NES member that got me hooked on LEDs set me up with a bank of them for my lathe. We also made a set to go around my drill press chuck. We even made a hand-held illuminated magnifier (runs off two 23A batteries).
 
GomerPile said:
What do you do in wintertime when your water source can freeze?
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Moving water generally won't freeze solid, just ice over the top, so you just need to be careful in siting the penstock. The real problem is summer, when flow is often reduced, seasonal streams dry up.
 
Guess you have to create a pond or something and control the flow out of it.

Kevin_NH said:
Moving water generally won't freeze solid, just ice over the top, so you just need to be careful in siting the penstock. The real problem is summer, when flow is often reduced, seasonal streams dry up.
Click to expand...
 
I spoke some more with AltE. They have tools to evaluate your roof as a location for solar panels, based on orientation, pitch, shade, etc. Partially shading a panel dramatically cuts output.
 
garandman said:
I spoke some more with AltE. They have tools to evaluate your roof as a location for solar panels, based on orientation, pitch, shade, etc. Partially shading a panel dramatically cuts output.
Click to expand...
And with traditional solar, partially shading one panel cuts output for that entire string of panels.

Solmetric makes a solar evaluation app for iPhone only.
 
Hey guys, I was revisiting this thread today and wanted to know if there were any new developments. I'm interested in solar more from a hobby/engineering standpoint than anything else and the Renogy system (on Amazon) looks pretty decent for what I want. I'll be reading more about it this weekend but it seems nice for the price.
 
ToddDubya said:
Hey guys, I was revisiting this thread today and wanted to know if there were any new developments. I'm interested in solar more from a hobby/engineering standpoint than anything else and the Renogy system (on Amazon) looks pretty decent for what I want. I'll be reading more about it this weekend but it seems nice for the price.
Click to expand...

I installed a Renogy panel and charge controller on my son's scout troop's equipment trailer this past Fall along with a few 12V blem marine batteries from Interstate, 800W Black & Decker inverter from Home Depot, a car battery charger (for that quick boost before any longer trips), and misc 12V LED lights from a local truck supply shop. The panel is setup on its own stand and essentially "plugs" into the charge controller in the battery box in the trailer. I was happy with the product, found that it has worked well so far, and am planning to install additional Renogy panels at our cabin in Maine this summer.
 
My sister in law's family has a camp cabin on an island on Winnipesaukee. Until maye the 90's, they had propane (gas) lights. Just a thought, in case you have a cloudy spell.
 
That's an interesting point. I used to have one of those Coleman propane lanterns that ran on the 1LB bottles, never thought about propane light fixtures hooked to a big tank. Very retro.
 
We still have the propane lights at our cabin and I have to say that the LED lights (or even the 12V incandescent bulbs) do a much better job of producing a workable light...something you can read with without sitting right under the light. They have a place (ie. when its been raining for days and the solar batteries are low on charge) but we don't use them much now that the current panels do a decent job of keeping the electric ones lit.
 
You can also have a stove and fridge powered by propane. That's what I grew up with for quite a while and I know people still do it. When we eventually have our own house again, we will seriously look at doing this.
 
Some of the energy-star rated full-size fridges require less than 1kWh/day.

PennyPincher said:
You can also have a stove and fridge powered by propane. That's what I grew up with for quite a while and I know people still do it. When we eventually have our own house again, we will seriously look at doing this.
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Propane cooktops are great, the refrigerators, not so much.

The propane-driven fridges are expensive to buy, and expensive to run. There's a reason so many RV fridges are dual-fuel, only running on propane when electricity is not readily available. For a house, where weight and space-efficiency are less of a concern, you'd be better off with a super-insulated compressor-driven fridge, even if you need to run an inverter generator when PV electric power is low. And you can even make ice, icemaking is usually not feasible with a propane fridge.

Many "energy star" 120VAC refrigerators draw less than 1kWH/day, while an "efficient" propane fridge require 1.1 gallons of propane per day. That same 1.1 gallons of propane, burned in a generator, will put enough energy in your battery bank to run the fridge for several days.
 
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PennyPincher said:
You can also have a stove and fridge powered by propane. That's what I grew up with for quite a while and I know people still do it. When we eventually have our own house again, we will seriously look at doing this.
Click to expand...

I think they had that on the island as well.
 
Kevin_NH said:
Propane cooktops are great, the refrigerators, not so much.

The propane-driven fridges are expensive to buy, and expensive to run. There's a reason so many RV fridges are dual-fuel, only running on propane when electricity is not readily available. For a house, where weight and space-efficiency are less of a concern, you'd be better off with a super-insulated compressor-driven fridge, even if you need to run an inverter generator when PV electric power is low. And you can even make ice, icemaking is usually not feasible with a propane fridge.

Many "energy star" 120VAC refrigerators draw less than 1kWH/day, while an "efficient" propane fridge require 1.1 gallons of propane per day. That same 1.1 gallons of propane, burned in a generator, will put enough energy in your battery bank to run the fridge for several days.
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good info on the refrigerator.
 
Interesting thread. AltE is now gone - some Chinese (?) squatters at the URL. My full off grid system is a few years away but I'm researching a small system to light my shed and power some safety lighting. Looks like a few hundred will do it while avoiding the legion of solar charged Lithium battery systems that won't work in below freezing weather.
 
I run two 75 watt incandescent light bulbs all weekend long on two 12v marine batteries. Thats plenty of light for me. I wear a head lamp for trips to the latrine. You can get the bulbs at NAPA auto parts, 50W or 75W for around $8 a six pack. Presently I take the batteries home and charge them which is a pain because its a hike in cabin. But I have a 35ft light post that was given to me and I plan on putting a solar panel on it soon.

Heres my cabin.
 
OutdoorFanatic said:
I run two 75 watt incandescent light bulbs all weekend long on two 12v marine batteries. Thats plenty of light for me. I wear a head lamp for trips to the latrine. You can get the bulbs at NAPA auto parts, 50W or 75W for around $8 a six pack. Presently I take the batteries home and charge them which is a pain because its a hike in cabin. But I have a 35ft light post that was given to me and I plan on putting a solar panel on it soon.

Heres my cabin.
Click to expand...
Nice cabin. I think you would be better off using LED light bulbs.
 
guard3.jpg


I got a goal zero guardian and 4 referb 15 watt pannels cheap off of ebay. I hooked it up to my campers battery and It works great! It runs my led lights, and my laptop with out problem. I use lp for the fridge and heat.
 
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