150 Sq. Ft. Cabin Build. Help with solar ideas.

[Einthewoods]

I have a shack on our other property with a HF 100W panel setup. I have a battery hooked to it as well. I run lights during the nighttime hours as well as charge cell phones through the same device that came with it (USB ports). I have a small AC inverter meant for running from a vehicle to charge anything else. I have stayed there for weeks without needing anything else.

It just takes discipline on when you do things. Use the heaviest load while the sun is shinning.

I also had a generator on site that I would fire up on occasion when I was using power tools or whatever.

Start with the cheap HF and a battery and work your way up from there.

Read all of this with the thought that hunting cabins are supposed to be that. If it is getting too much technology and power needs....might as well stay home and buy the meat from the grocery store. :laughing:

 

[Jstpssng]

That will be a fun project to watch you build, so please keep us posted. I'm very interested in solar, but from what I've read it takes a pretty large system to run A/C. You could run fans though. I have read about some innovative cooling systems:

Cooling Device Made from 2 Liter Bottles Uses Zero Energy

Also, in a hot, dry climate, you can use an evaporative cooling system (they don't work in humid conditions). You can buy evap cooling units, but people have made them too.

I take it there's no way to get electric to the shed?

That's an interesting concept in your link. There must be ways to adapt it to a fan rather than depending on natural convection. I am curious though, where the heat goes after it's bled off.

There are ways to quiet down the generator, especially in a permanent setting like the OP's. I had a flange mig welded to my muffler so that I can run the exhaust through a piece of flex pipe to a car muffler. A generator shed made from 6x6 wood will deaden the sound more, as long as you allow for adequate air and cooling. You can run a basic battery charger off the generator; make sure that you use a deep cycle battery. Jeep people sometimes install a kit so they can have one battery for the starter, and another to run lights, wipers, and auxilliaries. The last time I priced the kit it was about 150 bucks, sans the extra battery.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Read all of this with the thought that hunting cabins are supposed to be that. If it is getting too much technology and power needs....might as well stay home and buy the meat from the grocery store. :laughing:

Agree with that. Never had AC or heat on my weeks-long backpacking trips. Of course that was never south Texas.

Honestly if I had to make a huntin' shack comfortable in south Texas, I'd use a multi-pronged approach.

1. Partially earth-berm the shack, which is using the cooler temps of the earth as a heat-sink. This makes a huge difference.

2. SHADE. As much as possible. Over the shack of course, but also immediately around it if possible. If no trees, then tarps can help a lot.

#1 and #2 will reduce your cooling needs way more than you think.

Then:

3. Fans. Air blowing over you will cool you down by evaporating perspiration. Can easily be powered by solar.

4. I would totally try the 2-liter bottle idea. Apparently it's scientifically proven to work. As for the question about where the released heat goes, I believe it is released as moisture, but you engineering guys can answer that for sure.

Fun project. Keep us posted.

 

[Lelandwelds]

Solar is nice when cabin is vacant. Put in a larger than normal battery to store excess generator capacity. When not using AC, small loads can run directly from 12 volt and/or a small inverter. Build a rock shack to kill genny noise. Non routine genny noise will drive skittish game away. How much hunting pressure?

Most hunting is done in the fall and winter. Why need AC?

 

[Egon]

A generator with a rating that is slightly larger than the air conditioner, A plug in battery charger. Several solar panels. A couple of twelve volt deep cycle batteries. And wire the cabin for twelve volt service with appropriate fuses/breakers. ( make sure the generator capacity will handle all the future extra loads that will get added. )

The same type of system used for RV’s.

 

[clemsonfor]

I can stay at my 50s era farm house on the farm on a summer weekend in july in SC without AC so in October I would think you could stay in this cabin without AC and have a few fans. Put some extra windows in the shed and make sure its insulated, esp the roof!!! and have some fans.

Get the cheap HF kit (or 2) with at least 2 or 3 Deep cycle batteries, get 4 golf cart batteries and you can hook them in series and parallel for 12v. Golf cart batteries are the best deep cycle you can get. Will have the longest life and the thickest lead plates. Lead equals power in batteries, the heavier a battery the more energy it will have. You can run plenty of LED lights that you need and fans for cooling and maybe a plug in cooler type chiller. And like said just get you a 12v charger that your generator can charge them with the generator when you run it. Get one of the small inverter type generators like Eddie mentioned. The Honda kind that everyone makes now including Yamaha and even HF has them now. To quiet a generator you can lean 4 pieces of plywood over it into like a pyramid type structure and reduce the sound by like 3x and it will still get plenty of airflow if you leave some gaps at the bottom and it will not overheat either. Now if your shack is on 50 or 100 acres you might not want to run a genny much in hunting season as like mentioned a small property and infrequent noise will tip them off.

 

[CoachEarl]

On the temp questions. I am a bow hunter which starts a month before rifle season down here. It is still generally hot when we start hunting. We will also stay there over night some during the summer if we are out there working. I can survive without any heating options, but without cooling options, it is unbearable for a large portion of the year. Keep the ideas coming. I appreciate all of the information.

 

[Diggin It]

One thing to keep in mind if you decide to go renewable energy. Make sure whatever you get is expandable so you can add more panels or a turbine later. I'm not sure if the HF system is or not. For $150 (or less) plus a battery or two, it may be a good starter system to learn how the process works though.

 

[CoachEarl]

One thing to keep in mind if you decide to go renewable energy. Make sure whatever you get is expandable so you can add more panels or a turbine later. I'm not sure if the HF system is or not. For $150 (or less) plus a battery or two, it may be a good starter system to learn how the process works though.

I need to figure that out. Most information I can find suggests to start small and work up as you learn. Solar is more confusing than I thought it would be. There is a Renogy system on Amazon that is priced like the HF and seems to be a bit more quality.

 

[Diggin It]

^^^ The Renlogy (and others similar) is the one I was thinking of, but I will NOT promote AMZ any more. It's available on other sites also. It was priced a lot higher when I first started looking and has come down quite a bit. They use a single 100W panel vs. HF's 4 25W panels and I think their controller is rated higher too which would allow expansion panels.