Costing out a small, rural solar panel installation

[Justin]

The shooting club I belong to is not connected to the grid. We've been kicking around the idea of doing a solar panel installation on the main building so that we don't have to run a generator for indoor light/electricity.

One of the guys there got an estimate for a solar panel/battery installation, and was told that it would cost around $10,000.

This cost was immediately shot down by the board of directors as excessive, as the only thing we'd be using this for is to power around 10 indoor 2-bulb light fixtures, maybe one exterior light, and maybe the ocassional laptop/tablet/smart phone. Run times wouldn't generally be very long. Most of our meetings only run about an hour or so, though a longer run time (maybe 4-5 hours?) would be nice, for those times when a visiting trainer has class time.

Given that we're not looking to run a household (no HVAC, no fridges or other appliances) I would have assumed a solar array+battery setup could be installed for around $4,000-$6,000.

Am I incorrect in my assumptions, or are even small solar+battery setups in the five figure range?

[Irving]

I'm not your expert, but I'd think you could accomplish that cheaper than quoted. Especially if someone in the club is capable of doing install themselves.

[Justin]

Also, are deep-cycle lead batteries still the go to for something like this?

[Justin]

That's one thing I was wondering. What's the cost of the hardware vs. the cost of installation. I wouldn't be terribly surprised to find out we've got at least a couple of members capable of doing the install.

Got any good pointers on where to go to research this stuff and spec it out?

[Grant H.]

The shooting club I belong to is not connected to the grid. We've been kicking around the idea of doing a solar panel installation on the main building so that we don't have to run a generator for indoor light/electricity.

One of the guys there got an estimate for a solar panel/battery installation, and was told that it would cost around $10,000.

This cost was immediately shot down by the board of directors as excessive, as the only thing we'd be using this for is to power around 10 indoor 2-bulb light fixtures, maybe one exterior light, and maybe the ocassional laptop/tablet/smart phone. Run times wouldn't generally be very long. Most of our meetings only run about an hour or so, though a longer run time (maybe 4-5 hours?) would be nice, for those times when a visiting trainer has class time.

Given that we're not looking to run a household (no HVAC, no fridges or other appliances) I would have assumed a solar array+battery setup could be installed for around $4,000-$6,000.

Am I incorrect in my assumptions, or are even small solar+battery setups in the five figure range?

No, you're not incorrect. Solar doesn't have to be expensive, most quote it that way because lots of people don't know any better.

I'll post some options in a minute...

[GeorgeandSugar]

Seems a lot for the power requirements you listed. If you could DIY, the cost would be a lot less. The set-up is straightforward.

https://www.wholesalesolar.com/


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[Grant H.]

Seems a lot for the power requirements you listed. If you could DIY, the cost would be a lot less. The set-up is straightforward.

https://www.wholesalesolar.com/


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Keep in mind, their kits don't include batteries.

I also prefer having my solar controller and inverters separate. It protects gear, and your house/building.

[crays]

Seems a lot for the power requirements you listed. If you could DIY, the cost would be a lot less. The set-up is straightforward.

https://www.wholesalesolar.com/


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Wholesale Solar is is running a special on battery banks right now. 50% off select battery banks with purchase of any qualifying off-grid system. (saw it on FB)

OFF GRID SOLAR SALE

Get 50% Off your off-grid battery bank when you purchase a cabin sized package or larger.

No matter how many batteries your chosen system needs—four, eight, sixteen, twenty-four or more—we’ll give your battery bank to you AT 50% OFF

[Grant H.]

Wholesale Solar is is running a special on battery banks right now. 50% off select battery banks with purchase of any qualifying off-grid system. (saw it on FB)

I don't mean to sound like I am harping on them, but there is a reason they can offer to sell a battery bank at 50% off.

The offer requires the purchase of a "Cabin" sized system or larger.
The cheapest (smallest) "Cabin" System is 1080 watts, and costs $6620 with no batteries. It does have a very good solar controller (Midnite Classic 200), and a decent quality inverter, so those are good selling points, but it's still 2.5x the cost of a complete diy system.
A comparable battery bank is $1466, and you can save $733 (50% on it)

So, for an extra 180 watts of solar, a better solar controller and inverter, you would be spending a grand total of $7353+shipping.




For comparison:

Taking the $2450 system I laid out earlier:
Add another panel - +$250
Upgrade the controller to the same Midnite Classic 200 - +$400
Upgrade the inverter to the same - +$1300
Add some more batteries - +$400

So now you have:
1200w Solar
High end MPPT Solar Controller
Decent Quality Pure Sine Inverter
860AH of Batteries

For $4800+shipping.

[Grant H.]

First off, come up with a demand.

10 indoor 2 bulb fixtures, with 100w equivalent LED bulbs (14W each bulb) is 280 watts.
Laptop, Tablet, Smartphone charging - Figure on 90 watts for a laptop power supply
Outdoor light - Guess on 2 14w bulbs - 28W

Now, add time into the mix.

Indoor lights, figure 5 hours per day - 1400W (280*5)
Laptop, figure the same 5 hours - 450W (90*5)
Outdoor lights, use a photosensitive fixture to conserve engery - 15 hours (worst case in the winter) - 420W (28*15)

Total watt hours you need: 2270W/H per day (assuming this happens every day, unlikely, but plan for the worst).

Now, divide that by the number of hours of sun you get (again worst case). A safe bet for CO is 4 Hours.

2270/4=567.5 watts of solar. Now, I would upsize that by ~50% so that you are able to recover from a cloudy day.

That gives you ~900 watts of panels. In the solar thread I linked a site where 900w of panels is $750, before shipping. There are better prices out there, but they're an easy site to quote prices from.

Now, you have to decide what voltage you want to run the battery bank at, and I would recommend 24VDC or 48VDC. It means more batteries (more money), but it's better from a current draw standpoint.

2270w at 24VDC, gives you 94.5A/H required. That's what the listed devices above will use in a day.

For battery health, you never want to exceed 50% discharge, and staying at 40% discharge or less is better.

So miniumum, you need 200A/H of batteries to support your usage.

I would also suggest that your battery bank be able to run the required items for 2-3 days. Now you're at 400-600A/H.

A good go to for batteries, that I have used extensively, is a 6V 215AH golf cart battery. https://www.batteriesplus.com/productdetails/sligc110
They handle charge/discharge very well.

So, at 6V you need 4 in series to get 24VDC.
That means 8-12 batteries, so $800-1200 in batteries.

A charge controller and a inverter will also be required. For what you are building, I wouldn't bother with higher end solar gear. It's not necessary.

Low Cost MPPT: https://www.ebay.com/itm/4215BN-Trac...53.m1438.l2649
Low Cost Pure Sine Inverter: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2500W-DC-to...sAAOSw~bFWQaBA

MPPT: $260
Inverter: $240

So, Grand total, minus wiring, boxes, etc, is $2450 for 900 watts of panels, 3 days worth of batteries, and a relatively well liked solar controller and inverter.

It's an overbuilt off grid system, but it will work well for what you want.