What solar setup fo...
 

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[Closed] What solar setup for a shed?

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Figured out our house supply would need an upgrade to run an electricity supply to our new shed. So I'm thinking of a solar setup. We want to be able to run some lighting, a small wine fridge and possibly a Bluetooth speaker from the shed. Would solar be feasible?


 
Posted : 05/04/2021 7:07 pm
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I have looked in to doing this and the answer is not really.

In the summer it would be fairly do able, if you're getting 6-8 hours of sun a day then thr numbers add up but in the winter you have to calculate that you receive 1 good hours worth of sun per day, it then becomes prohibitively expensive to capture and store enough power. Do you need a fridge in the winter? A light and speaker with no fridge would be much easier to support

Edit - look in my post history, someone shared a very useful link when I asked the Q


 
Posted : 05/04/2021 8:14 pm
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The fridge is the killer, especially if its a cheapo peltier style cooler which I think bar/display style drinks coolers often are. You'd be looking at a 12v compressor fridge for a campervan, which is about £500 for a small 80 litre.

Otherwise you'd need solar panels, cables, fuses, a battery or two and a charge controller. Plus an invertor for anything not 12v. You'd have to work out the current draw and anticipated usage of each electrical item and put them into an online calculator to work out how many watts of solar you would want...any sort of heating is not happening unless you want to throw lots of cash at it.

Can't you just run a semi-permanent extension lead out there, perhaps using caravan hookup style cable?


 
Posted : 05/04/2021 10:04 pm
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Figured out our house supply would need an upgrade to run an electricity supply to our new shed

Are you just looking at lack of spare ways in your fuse board, or has a sparky told you this? It might not be as complicated as you think.

You could fit a stand alone enclosure adjacent your DB, with a double pole RCBO. You could even possibly fit a spur next to a socket on an outside wall, but you'd be limited to 13a - sufficient for you needs

Or are you 100% certain it's not do-able?


 
Posted : 06/04/2021 6:38 am
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As above, I'd look harder into doing it properly. The tricky bit is usually running the cable. There are several solutions for connection, especially if you only need a 13a supply. Or maybe dig a wine cellar under it


 
Posted : 06/04/2021 8:05 am
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We've been looking at solar power for a simple CCTV camera at work to run 24/7, summer not so much of an issue but in winter, and the further you get north, the panel size and number of batteries is silly, coming in between £8k & £10k and that's without instal costs.


 
Posted : 06/04/2021 9:25 am

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