Solar panels on garden shed

I know nothing about how to set up a solar panel system.  I am wanting to get power to a garden workshop to run a light, and power a plug socket for using small electrical equipment eg. soldering iron, drill. What products would you suggest would be suitable and how would I set them up?

Hi Jennifer,

A solar panel system is extremely simple - a solar panel charges a 12 volt battery (usually through a regulator, a little circuit that prevents the panel overcharging the battery), and then you can power your appliances off the battery. Many appliances are designed to run directly off 12 volts - anything that plugs in a car cigarette lighter socket for example - but you can also use an inverter to convert the 12V from the battery into 240V to power standard household appliances.

In your case you would need:
1) a solar panel kit (which includes the regulator and wiring) such as our 40W kyocera solar panel kit.
2)  standard 'leisure' battery, available from any motoring store
3)  a 12V light to run directly from the battery (eg the Labcraft Trilite),
4) an inverter such as the 500W model, in order to run 240V appliances such as power tools. For bigger tools you might need a bigger inverter - the 1000W model would be more than adequate for most household power tools.

The 40W solar panel kit should be adequate for occasional domestic use in a shed. If you were using the system for more than an hour or so a day on average you might need a bigger panel.

Do hope that helps. I know quite a number of people who have done similar things on their garden shed - it is pretty easy to set such a system up.