Solar for hunting camp

fogducker

fogducker

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toronto sewers
looking into adding some solar to the hunting camp
looking for advice on what i should get..
right now we use a generator for most needs..
just looking to light up a few 12 volt lights to keep us lit up during the night and to have some instant light
when we first get to camp without firing up a genny.
with out spending a ton of cash...whats a good option for a panel and battery?
or add in some pics of set ups you have to keep a few lights going
 
fogducker said:
looking into adding some solar to the hunting camp
looking for advice on what i should get..
right now we use a generator for most needs..
just looking to light up a few 12 volt lights to keep us lit up during the night and to have some instant light
when we first get to camp without firing up a genny.
with out spending a ton of cash...whats a good option for a panel and battery?
or add in some pics of set ups you have to keep a few lights going
Click to expand...

First things first. Have you replaced the 12v lights with 12v LEDs? Thatll reduce the drain on your batteries a TON. Our hunt camp lighting is all 12v LEDs and a deep cycle marine battery. Its a small camp so only 4-6 lights on at a time but they draw next to nothing.
 
53Izzy744 said:
First things first. Have you replaced the 12v lights with 12v LEDs? Thatll reduce the drain on your batteries a TON. Our hunt camp lighting is all 12v LEDs and a deep cycle marine battery. Its a small camp so only 4-6 lights on at a time but they draw next to nothing.
Click to expand...

no so far cabin is just wired for 120 to use with genny....will be using all new set up for the 12 volt system
 
Just get the battery back up led light bulbs, 8 hrs on a charge, light switch still works, not as bright as when genny is on, but cheap and easy
 
53Izzy744 said:
First things first. Have you replaced the 12v lights with 12v LEDs? Thatll reduce the drain on your batteries a TON. Our hunt camp lighting is all 12v LEDs and a deep cycle marine battery. Its a small camp so only 4-6 lights on at a time but they draw next to nothing.
Click to expand...

How long does your battery last running 4-6 lights? What's your charging setup like?
 
I bought a 40W panel at Canadian Tire when it was 50% of (this happens often) and grabbed a 28 Ah sealed gel UPS battery from work.

It will run 12V LEDs for a long time as well as a small radio.

Over Christmas I got a Jackery 500 for $580 (yes, expensive but AMAZING). It's a 500Wh lithium battery pack; super light compared to lead batteries and you can run it down to empty without damage (lead < 50% charge will damage battery), so you effectively get double the power of lead. Bonus is you also get USB and 120V if you need it.

There is also the Jackery 240 with half the capacity for $330 right now....

Throw in a 200W worth of solar panels from Amazon.ca and you will be around $800 (it has built in charge controller).

If you run your generator at all plug this into the generator and run your devices off the Jackery. It will take the extra power produced by the generator and store it (pass through charging).

REALLY amazing advances over the last few years.

 
You could also check out some motion activated lights for when you arrive at camp in the dark or have to hit the outhouse or wood pile. I have 2 in my shed one goes on when I open the door the other goes on when I go to the back of the shed. They work well all year round and the panels to charge them are only about 8x8 inches max and have flexible mounts that go on with 2 screws. The ones from Costco and TSC are pretty good and the TSC ones are often on sale. I have had mine for 3 years with no problems. They are usually less than $50 or so and would work well as an assist to anything else you may get as they are stand alone no maintenance. You can adjust the sensitivity and time length they are on and if they go off a slight movement gets them on again.
BTW the 100 watt panels often go on sale at CTC and are a bit more bang for your buck at CTC. Costco also sells deep cycle batteries as does CTC but you tend to get what you pay for. Don’t let your battery freeze or put it directly on concrete ot the ground.
 
i run my cabin on solor panels. have one large 12v agm with two 40 watt panels for all my 12v led lighting needs. also have two 6v lead acid batterys with two 40 watt panels to run my inverter. the inverter runs tv, toaster,piezio lighter on the gas cooktop and anything else needed. works pretty good and i don't have to run the generator at night.
 
Go to renolgy dot com and look at one of their small packages. You can get better pricing buying individual items but its simple to go for a small package if you don’t want the hassle. Really you need to calculate how much power you need and size from their. Making sure you factor in for low sun in the fall and rain days.
No one can tell you what to get until you figure out what you need. Led lights and cell charging are fairly small until you get a group of guys who use a lot and forget to turn lights off like my group
 
We use the Canadian Tire panel hooked up to a big deep cycle battery. Runs LED lights in the bathroom and kitchen. Lasts all night without a problem (once we turn the genny off). We use it up to mid November and it doesnt have an issue with the lower light levels that time of year.

Its strictly as a nightlight for us. Its enough to hit the toilet, get around the wood stove, and start the coffee going before getting the genny fired up in the morning.
 
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Our camp uses 200W worth of panel and a 400W windmill 35 feet in the air. These are connected to 200 amp-hour of true deep cycle batteries (not marine/RV which are actually hybrids - kinda half way between automotive and true deep cycle). Everything that can be 12VDC is. Lights are all LED. For AC items (skill saw and microwave) we have a 1500W pure sine inverter. We installed it all 8 years ago and have not run a generator ever since than. We use it year round as the windmill manages through the winter. With batteries at full charge we can go 4 or 5 days with no sun or wind.

Not gonna lie - it is not cheap (we invested +/- 2.5K between hardware and wiring) and if i life cycle costed it it likely would be cheaper to just run a small gas genny. I like it though as no noise, no fuel, and no lugging a genny around.
 
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