Currently building a small solar array to power some of my shop. I really did it because I wanted to learn a new thing and I really like doing electrical work.....Putting in outlets, lights, running wire that kind of thing.
The "cheap" chinese batteries are indeed "a thing". Some of them are down right junk. You really need to do the best research you can on all of this stuff if you want to play around with this.
I took some time off around my birthday early this week and finally "finished" the inside part of the install. I still need to mount the cells on the side of my building. Side you say......Yup the building has 24' side walls and I am not as young as I once was, so side it will be. I will loose a few hours of sun but I really don't care.
Same thing goes with "toy" batteries. RC toys, or other things. You need to get good cells. Oddly enough "good" RC cells are some of the best batteries. People are very mean to RC batteries and crappy batteries will not be on the market for long.
My "max" draw in my shop. All lights, fans and such powered up. No tools like saws, sanders, grinders......
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My charge controller right after I got it hooked up.
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If you have interest in this stuff I suggest you play with it. It is very educational. From the start I always figured that this "clean energy" was a total farce. Now that I have build a small setup that goes double. This is in a 30x40 shop and does not power anything 220 I have power for about 4 hours with my current setup if I am careful. It will take roughly a day of zero use to recharge the batteries all the way back up.
On a side note I really built this so I could run the furnace blower fridge and freezers over night if there was a long term power outage. My house has a propane gen, but if I can turn it off and save some propane so much the better. I can make some power to keep the food cool.