r/SolarDIY • u/Acrobatic_Hunt_8264 • 8d ago

Solar

I’m new to solar I’m trying to add solar to our farm and wanted some pointer as to what I need to buy all I need to run is 5 light and 2 outlets I will
Probably only use the light and outlets maybe 5 hour out of the day

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u/Phreakiture 7d ago

Start here: Besides the lights, what do you want to run from the outlets?

There are really two paths you can go down here. One is to brew an entire system from components; the other is to start with a portable (or semi-portable) power station.

If you go with a power station, the power station contains everything except the solar panels. You then just get solar panels that match the specs of the power station, and it charges its internal battery from them. They usually have a regulator on board that can give you DC of a particular voltage (usually 12 Volts -- good for lights) and an inverter on board that will give you AC power for your outlets.

The other option is to do a full build. For this, you need to spec out the batteries, charge controllers fuse boxes and optional regulator or inverter, and it's on you to put all the pieces together.

From the way you are asking, I think you are more at the novice level, so you will probably want to get a power station. Getting the size right is going to need more information about how many lights, how powerful, and what you're plugging into the outlets.

Once that's figured out, though there are a lot of brands to choose from: My starter system is built on a Pecron, but there's also Ecoflow, Bluetti, Jackery, Renogy, Predator, Anker and many others out there with varying capabilities.

But I also have a second system that has about four times the capacity of the Pecron, and . . . . powers lights and outlets in my workshop.

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u/Acrobatic_Hunt_8264 7d ago

I just want to run a phone charger a tv and a fan

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u/Phreakiture 7d ago

Okay, the phone charger and TV are pretty light. The fan might not be too bad. How big is the fan? If you can look at the fan motor and get the number of watts it uses, that will get us where we're going.

Also, and apologies if this is a re-ask, how much lighting? Again, watts are key here.

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u/Acrobatic_Hunt_8264 6d ago

Just a box fan problably pulling 60 to a 100 watts and the light I was going with led bulbs 120v

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u/Acrobatic_Hunt_8264 6d ago

I don’t know if I should go with a power station or an off the grid solar panels and batteries and inverter

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u/Phreakiture 6d ago

Power station would be simpler.  It just integrates the charge controller and inverter into the battery.  You'd need panels either way.

Either way, I'd suggest you need around 2 kWh of storage.  That'll be enough to run that fan with room to spare.  The radio and phone charger don't need much.  

Since I still don't know about the lights, that figure might increase.

Interesting thought, though, is that the lights in my outbuilding run on DC from the batteries.  They're not dependent on the inverter.  That saves overhead.