Solar Shack
 

I have been building this to house my batteries, charge controller and what not.http://i1000.photobucket.com/albums/...SolarShack.jpg

That's a nice looking shed. You might even have room for a horse.

Thanks. Maybe a little horse. I'm more or less building this as my solar play house. This is at my father's house and the plan is to use solar to supplement and back-up for power outages. I should have room for 2 kw of PV.

I count about 3.2m minimum width so with a bit of overhang on all sides, you might even get 3kw

Have you considered climate control? Batteries don't like it too hot or too cold..

nice looking solar shack Verdigo.
I use passive climate control. Roxul between my joists (and a plan to put 1 or 1.5" polyiso sheets over the joists). I also insulated the floor (before finding out about floor insulation in "pole" barn style buildings). So glad I used pressure treated.
My walls are about R16-20 and my floor is around R25. I put an additional R10 under the batteries with xps.
We had quite a cold winter here this year with plenty of -20 C to -30 (as low as -15F). My batteries lowest recorded temp was -7 C (20F). I have better luck in the summer maintaining a pretty close to 25C average regardless of outside temps.

Actually the 8 planned 280 watt panels would be rated at 2240 watts. Once I get a couple of them hung where I can see what's what I may try for a total of 10 for 2.8kw. This is the other side with the ground mount shown. http://i1000.photobucket.com/albums/...4919023_o1.jpg As for climate control I was thinking of enclosing the battery bank and using a camper refrigerator for parts to cobble together a cooling unit. Haven't thought much about heating it yet. maybe a beer can heater for sunny days?

Passive climate control meaning just well insulated? I didn't insulate the floor. I was concerned about moisture building up. I do plan on insulating the walls and roof though. Southern Kentucky winters these last few years have been pretty mild. I am mainly worried about high winds taking my roof and solar panels away during thunderstorms. I was really hoping to get my upper roof done this weekend but its looking like its gonna rain all weekend. so much for gardening as well.

Very cool shed, looks well constructed. Thought about erecting a pole and putting a wind turbine on top of it? You can get a 50w DIY kit for around $180. You know for when it's overcast. :)

I've pondered battery temperature regulation in an unoccupied structure for a long time. It's a hard decision to heat/cool an area that ya don't live in..

I was thinking about using Peltier Thermoelectric Panels with a very insulated battery box. They will both heat and cool, depending on the polarity of the D.C. applied to them. They would only need to overcome the temperature changes inside of the box and use the batteries themselves as the mass to regulate temperature and the energy to operate them..

I know that they are very inefficient but I don't believe it would take a bunch of energy to regulate the temperature of a small area. (within a 5 degree margin +/- 70 degrees F.) The thermostat control shouldn't be too difficult to figure out..

Thoughts?

Nice building, BTW.. ;)