{"id":1156,"date":"2019-12-04T02:33:28","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T02:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimkerkhoff.com\/test-roycreekranch\/?p=1156"},"modified":"2019-12-10T04:55:03","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T04:55:03","slug":"a-practical-2-kw-shop-solar-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimkerkhoff.com\/test-roycreekranch\/2019\/12\/04\/a-practical-2-kw-shop-solar-system\/","title":{"rendered":"A Practical 2 KW Shop Solar System"},"content":{"rendered":"

Solar Generator for Grid Down Event<\/h2>\n
\"photo<\/a>

Fully assembled<\/p><\/div>\n

Two years ago, I installed a small solar system<\/a> to pump water at the ranch. This solar generator makes us independent from the grid by insuring we can always pump water\u00a0 <\/span>\u2014 even in a grid down event. I\u2019ve learned a lot about solar power from that project. What about refrigeration? In a power failure we cannot refrigerate food or produce ice. After last summer (2019), with the highest number of 100-degree days ever recorded in Central Texas, we need more solar power.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of cost, I\u2019m not ready to build a whole-house system. On the other hand, I could build a smaller system to power the shop \u2014 including a small air conditioner. In a grid down event, the power could be routed into the house to run a refrigerator, some lighting and a few small appliances. Once in place, an extended power outage would be more tolerable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When designing the rainwater system, I collected power usage data from the rainwater and well pumps. The system size \u2014 1500 watts of solar panel, a 4 KW inverter, and 10,000 watt\/hours of battery storage seemed reasonable. After two years of use, I\u2019ve learned that much of that power goes to waste. The batteries are usually at or near full charge, and we\u2019ve even been able to use the system during extended periods of overcast.<\/p>\n

Designing the Solar System<\/h2>\n
\"Interior<\/a>

Interior View of the Shop<\/p><\/div>\n

With that in mind, I started thinking about power consumption in the shop. By far, the air conditioner is the biggest demand, at about 750 watts. Lighting is minimal with a few 30-watt LED fixtures. Power tools, and other intermittent demands, average only a\u00a0 <\/span>few dozen watt\/hours per day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the house, we recently replaced our refrigerator with a high-efficiency model. All of the lighting in the house is LED. Twenty years ago I was able to run an old refrigerator and some incandescent lighting easily with a 5 kilowatt (KW) gas generator. Typical modern refrigerator power consumption is between 1 and 2 KWH per day.\u00a0So the load inventories look like this:<\/span><\/p>\n

Shop:<\/h3>\n