I have been running a small solar system for nearly 6 years. This system has worked well, charging batteries for power tools, batteries for electric bikes and a railway track. My shed however also has a mitre saw which draws up to 1400w and I want to buy a bench drill press. To use the mitre saw I have been carrying it up to the house.
The pictures show my rather cluttered and very simple off-grid set-up for my shed. Yes I know the wiring needs to be redone. It ended up like that because when I built it, it worked and I didn’t want to disturb it, in case it stopped working. My current systems consists of:
2 x 12v Alphaline XV24 MF batteries (wired in parallel)
1 x Steca SCC Solsum 10.10F 10a
1 x Sterling power inverter
4 x Maplin TPS-102 12v 48ah capacity solar panels
Honda EU10i Generator 
Maplin TPS-102 12v 48ah Capacity Solar Panels 
Cluttered wiring – full system 
Charging area and to the left the railway track 
Sterling Power Inverter 
Alphaline XV24 MF batteries 
Wiring Diagram
I want to upgrade the system and to start learning about off-grid technologies. Our family lived in a van for a couple of years which started an interest in off-grid living and a desire to maybe do it again.
So, I am hoping to build a system that will run the 1400w mitre saw. I have done various calculations and realised that I am heading towards a large system in which case why not go further and prep a system for a small house with plenty of upgrade possibilities.
- Purchase a 100 watt glass solar panel – but how can I tell what is a good panel and what is cheap? Also can I install the new panel and have it run alongside my old panels (they run in parallel at the moment)
- Add 2 x Alphaline batteries
- Increase solar array to 4 panels in total.
- Purchase one 40 amp MPPT Controller
- Purchase second 40 amp MPPT Controller
- A 3000w power inverter
It might be a long road to get there but in this way I can keep the current system running until I get to step 4 or 5. At this stage I might need to bite the bullet and do 4 and 5 together.
Can I introduce wind power into this system? Would you suggest any changes? I would like to get something running the saw as soon as possible, is there any thoughts on building a system that would allow this please?
My first job is to tidy up the wiring and then build.
Thanks for reading.
Nice to see it’s still rocking all these years later! All the best. Mike (Retrotecchie)
Hi Mike
It is so good to hear from you. How are you?
Yes the system is still up and running and doing well, certainly in the summer months anyway. I am thinking of adding to the system, mostly because I want to learn a bit more about what it is doing and what I am doing but also we might be buying some land – finally! In which case I want to be able to build a system that will run a small house. We’re thinking of downsizing in terms of electrical goods though, so no washing machine, we’ll do it by hand and trying an earth fridge. So I am hoping to build something that will run something like 3.5 kwh.
I am thinking along the lines of building up the solar array to add in another 4 to 8 panels. Can I run both systems together?
Build up the batteries to another 2 but also look to spending a lot more money for one of the powerwall type systems if we move?
Upgrading the inverter to run 2kwh.
What would you suggest?
Take care.