Solar power question-very lite use...?
Question:
what do you think the amount of panels needed and cost of installation/basic upkeep for;
300 square foot cabin, used weekends only.
open flame heat, so for lighting, mini fridge (plugged in only while cabin is occupied) hot plate maybe a radio. thats about it.
anythoughts?
Answer:
Hotplate and frige are gonna suck up the power. Better have a good battery bank charging all week. Radio and lights use nearly nothing. Basic upkeep is pretty much zero, except for maybe cleaning the dust and leaves off panels. If you or a friend is good with tools installation isn't too hard, just make sure you hook up the batteries correctly! Cost of panels depends on what kind you get and where you live.
The mini fridge is the problem... If you can get by with one of the peltier coolers (no frozen food) you minimize what you need.
The hot plate... get propane.
Mini fridge, maybe if enough storage batteries. Hot plate, forget it. Much to big a load. My friend had a solar system and just the resistance heaters in the "frostless" fridge drained the batteries and we had to disconnect them and make it a frost fridge. Any resistance loads are a no-no.
Mini fridge may draw about 1 amp (AC) when running. I believe this is about equal to 10 amp DC, so will need somewhere around 300 to 400 amp-hour storage for one day. Maybe one panel and 2-4 good batteries, and a charge controller and inverter / controller. It would be a lot simpler if you went with a DC fridge and lights. (12 V System) like on a boat, then do not need controller.
I used to have a little system on my little sailboat. Had two batteries and one small panel. Worked well for DC lights and stereo. I had a 12V charger for my laptop. Didn't have fridge. Used alcohol stove. Lived on it for a year. I did have an alternator on my outboard to charge batteries in emergencies.
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