Shed

hunts_with_stick

5 year old buck +
So I am finally getting a shed for my small property. It’s 10x16 with two 4 foot lofts. I plan to keep my riding lawnmower in it As well as other tools, etc.. Possibly sleep in it overnight during hunting season. maybe in the off season with one of my boys. Is there any reason to think about adding solar? I am going to have the two windows that open face my fruit trees for a possible blind. I have about 32 or so fruit trees adding more. Some day hoping to build a house/cabin.
 
You could put in a small solar unit or use a battery operated push light just so you would have to have a head lamp
 
Yeah, I was thinking a battery type thing. Cheaper than Solar. Not sure if Solar was worth it.
 
My 10x16 has solar, but it's shed converted into cabin for the man purpose of sleeping. It's definitely a luxury to be able to charge your phone or computer if needed. My light is also really bright, which is a bonus. I thought also about turning mine into a blind, but the outside screen isn't removable on my windows.
 
I've got a "tiny home" a 12x20 shack that we power with a battery unit: https://us.ecoflow.com/products/del...2s_EXWUJfSv1GxaMPnbPluowpWeKVCekaAqxQEALw_wcB

FWIW, we power the lights, charge up our phones and Ozone stuff. Lasts a weekend no problem for that type of use. Then just bring it home to charge up. Easy to charge/transport.
 
I like that idea, thanks!
 
I got some advise on here from someone that recommended Backwoods solar they are great.If interested in solar I would call them and see if they have what you need
 
The EcoFlow is very nice packaging, and would be nice to use. But depending on budget some may prefer to DIY it for around $500 instead of the $900 they charge.

The EcoFlow portable power station is 1260wh and 1800w. That means you can DIY it with this battery (10 year warranty), a 2000w inverter, and a LiFePo4 charger like this. If you want to charge it at home and use it in one location (the shed), the DIY solution might be more convenient because all you'd need to haul back and forth is the battery. But if you want to haul it around and use it in many random places, the nice packaging of the EcoFlow unit would be more convenient.

If you have questions on solar I may be able to help. I've done a lot of reading about them lately. I built a small solar system last year (400w of panels, 100ah battery). I'm building a smaller one currently (100w panel, 12ah battery). Later this year I'll be building a much bigger system (3-4 kw of panels, 200-300 AH of 48v batteries).
 
My place is on solar. I am a huge fan of it. I upgraded my charge controller late last fall, and that really gave me visibility to what my system can do. I never realized how much power I was getting out of my panels, especially early/late in the day, and when it's cloudy. I always assumed I wasn't getting much at all during those times, but now that I have live readouts to my phone on battery voltage and power accumulation, I've canned plans to replace the few batteries that went bad finally last year, and go with a 400 amp bank instead of a 700 amp bank.

It's as simple as: panel >> charge controller >> battery >> fuse block >> wiring to your outlets. For what you're talking, you could do one panel, one battery, and a small charge controller.

$300 - 100 amp sealed AGM deep cycle battery
$200 - 100 watt panel
$100 - charge controller (10 amp)
$100 - fuse block, fuses, wiring, outlets
$700

There's lots a person would love to have when at camp, and if you're there for an extended stay, you'll want to have ability to charge while you're there, and tend while you're away. You need to know how much power what you intend to use will consume.

12v LED light bulb: .75 amps/hr
12v ceiling fan: .75 amps/hr
12v window fan: .5 amps/hr
12v squirrel cage fan: 5 amps/hr
12v porch lights: .25 amps/hr (I have outdoor lights on all 4 sides of my cabin)
cell phone: 5 amps/day
pc charge: 5 amps/day
tool batteries: 4 amps/day
small tv: 3 amps/hr

The marine, RV, and trucking world have an immense amount of 12 volt devices. My buddy custom built lighter plug outlets for my place. Most on Amazon only handle up to 2amps. We found marine lighter outlets that were rated to 15amps. I can run Makita battery chargers, pc chargers, mower/wheeler battery chargers, and even an electric fillet knife. When it's hot in the summer, I'll run my squirrel cage fan on the floor and blow cool air from the garage into the cabin. Open the cabin on the other three sides to force that heat out. About 30 minutes of that and it's good.

12v LED lighting takes almost no energy, so I went bananas putting lights into my place. It's as well lit as the finest operating room.
 
I have to add some more power outlets in my garage. I don't know if my mower is going to start, so I'm gonna put an outlet on each side of my garage so I can run a 5 amp 12 volt charger if I've ever got a dead wheeler or mower. I also need to get one installed under my game cleaning table to run my fillet knife, so I don't have to do that inside the cabin.
 
@SD51555 next time you're buying batteries, take a look at LiFePo4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate). They're not the same as the lithium ion batteries in laptops that can catch on fire. The LiFePo4 batteries are thermaly stable, tolerate 100% DoD, and last a very long time (both in years and cycle counts).

The various Lead acid batteries (AGM, etc) are damaged when they're over 50% discharged. They last 3-5 years, and a few hundred charge/discharge cycles.
LiFePo4 batteris can be 100% dishbarchaged, last many years (10 year warranties and 20 year design life is common), last for thousands of charge/discharge cycles, and can be charged and discharged at a very high rate. The standard charge/discharge rate is 1C (so a 100ah battery can be charged or discharged at 100 amps without damage).

They also have a BMS (battery management system), which is a circuit board inside the battery case that prevents you from damaging the battery (from over charging/discharging, etc).

The only downside is LiFeP04 batteries can't be charged below freezing. But batteries with low temp protection are available too.

All this, for slightly more cost than a lead acid. Check out https://diysolarforum.com/. Lead acid batteries are rapidly loosing market share for solar.
 
They make a small panel with controller made just for charging small batteries,there is also a device I will have to get name that you charge on 110V and then it starts batteries much like a jump starter but a whole lot smaller
 
I have a 10 x 20 log cabin on my land. It's made from 10" square white pine logs with a nice chinking. Has a small loft. We have a big screen tv, refrigerator, cooking griddle, and a table and chairs and sofa and recliner. The roof is insulated and I had foam insulation added to the floor. Stays toasty in November. I got grid power, electric heat, ceiling fan, lights and more. I keep it heated for a moth or so each fall....but we sleep at my home about 20 minutes away.

It's nice to have a place to have lunch, watch some football, or dry off. We usually bring a lunch with us.....or make pancakes and sausage for brunch. The Refer holds lots of beer and pop. Not sure how we got by without this "shack". Love it.
 
Sheds are cool projects.
We are shopping for a prebuilt 10'X12' ish utility shed right now, going to use it mainly for storage of hunting stuff. Going to prep an area for it this weekend.
 
son loves the loft. He is 9. Best investment ever.
 
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