Solar Power For Small Livery Yard

[AshleyG]

Hi,

I recently helped setup a small solar power system at a yard with no mains power connection. The goal was to make lighting as simple as it would be had they had a mains connection (so a simple as flicking a switch!!)

Knowing some of you also have your yard's 'off the grid' and might be as fed up of torches as I was, I decided to write it up and share it here should others on here are looking for a solution now the nights are drawing in! I'd welcome any comments or feedback any of you might have. It'd be great to be able to update the article going forward to make it as useful as it can be for people looking to do a similar project.

https://www.attheyard.co.uk/blog/2018/12/6/solar-power-at-equine-livery-yards-and-stables

 

[case895]

I am just about to install a solar energy system at home. Different I know, but some similarities. To be totally off grid you will need batteries, such as Tesla Powerwall II and they are expensive, highly nickable and there is a waiting list to get hold of them.

 

[Xanthoria]

Nice writeup AshleyG!

 

[AshleyG]

I am just about to install a solar energy system at home. Different I know, but some similarities. To be totally off grid you will need batteries, such as Tesla Powerwall II and they are expensive, highly nickable and there is a waiting list to get hold of them.

Yeah, for an entire house to be totally off grid you're going to need much much more energy storage (and solar generating capacity). You'll also be running nearly all your devices of AC mains voltage so the need for a high power inverter is going to be there from day one.

The benefit of doing this at the yard was that our needs for power are quite small and we could choose the loads to work with our setup (12 volt LED light strips). In our case this meant that we could use the much cheaper Lead Acid Style batteries (we actually ended up going for one of these https://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/...ar-exhaust/exhausts/heat-exchanger/?444776773) which so far has been providing us enough energy storage for our needs. The benefit being that none of the kit is really worth that much. It's kind of why I thought it was an interesting project as I'd think it's a project that a lot of yards could take on without a huge upfront investment.

It would be really interesting to hear a bit more about your setup when you've got it in place. Out of interest what's changed in the Powerwall II from the Powerwall I?

Nice writeup AshleyG!

Thank you. I'm glad you liked it

 

[JennBags]

Really interesting, thank you. I was looking at this myself recently, spent a long time on the phone to a solar power company and when we costed it up it was going to be well over £600 and it didn't sound like I was going to get much light, so I shelved the idea. This is definitely worth another look!

 

[JennBags]

@AshleyG I've seen you're in the South East, if you're anywhere near West Sussex I'd be really interested in coming to see your setup, would that be a possibility?

 

[AshleyG]

@JennBags sadly we are quite a way away from you I'm happy to answer any questions though or take some photos of the setup if that'd be helpful? I can see why you didn't want to spend £600. I was definitely pro cheap and cheerful when putting ours together (but it does work surprisingly well).