Treehouse power

Ah, gotcha. I thought you meant new panels locally. Yeah, I'd do new batteries for sure. I'm going to check FB and CR for panels now. No idea what I'm looking for really though.

I guess if I keep everything in the shed, it's all close to itself and I could run the panels in parellel at low voltage, then use an inverter to run 120v over the 80' to the treehouse, and convert it back to 12v again. Sounds right?

The are pretty close. Thoughts?

SkylinesSuck said:

Ah, gotcha. I thought you meant new panels locally. Yeah, I'd do new batteries for sure. I'm going to check FB and CR for panels now. No idea what I'm looking for really though.

I guess if I keep everything in the shed, it's all close to itself and I could run the panels in parellel at low voltage, then use an inverter to run 120v over the 80' to the treehouse, and convert it back to 12v again. Sounds right?

Click to expand...

If you have full sun with no shadows between 10am to 4pm there is No need to connect panels in parallel. You are only getting a few watts early or late.

250w panels are cheap.
Santan Solar in AZ sells them for $50 but shipping kills that deal for 2 panels.

250 watt
37.6Voc
30Vmp
8.27A

Two 250w panels in series is 30Vmp x 2 = 60V
8.27A
80 feet one way.
10AWG is only 2.2% voltage drop.

So those local ones I listed above are too expensive then? Keep looking?

I tried checking out shipping prices on Santan but they won't give you anything until you completely check out which is kinda nuts.

SkylinesSuck said:

I tried checking out shipping prices on Santan but they won't give you anything until you completely check out which is kinda nuts.

Click to expand...

All you need to do is enter your state and zip code and make sure you uncheck the ship to a different address button

Forbisher said:

If you have full sun with no shadows between 10am to 4pm there is No need to connect panels in parallel. You are only getting a few watts early or late.

250w panels are cheap.
Santan Solar in AZ sells them for $50 but shipping kills that deal for 2 panels.

250 watt
37.6Voc
30Vmp
8.27A

Two 250w panels in series is 30Vmp x 2 = 60V
8.27A
80 feet one way.
10AWG is only 2.2% voltage drop.

Voltage Drop Calculator

This free voltage drop calculator estimates the voltage drop of an electrical circuit based on the wire size, distance, and anticipated load current.

www.calculator.net

Click to expand...

It comes to $366 shipped to me for 3 which is how many I could fit on my shed roof. Not sure how terrible a price that is. I'm trying to talk that local guy down on his price as he's actually wanting a little more than Santan. If I can get the panels I linked for $300 or less for 3, would that be a decent deal? The specs look exactly the same as Santan's.

I'm considering ordering panels from Santan united something decent local pops up soon. For the 250w panels, the size means I could fit 4 of them on the shed roof, but only if I mount them "sideways." Is there any downside to mounting them rotated 90* from the normal vertical way I typically see?

Another thing that has me thinking--as I mentioned, the main things that will need to be powered are all 12v and located in the treehouse. If I run 120v from an inverter in the shed to a 12v power supply in the treehouse, will both the conversion loses at both ends at well as the standby consumption of both the inverter and the 12v power supply be enough to make it worth considering a different setup? I doubt I'm going to ever have much peak wattage needed (but who knows), but the 12v would need to be "on" in the treehouse 24/7.