DIY Solar Q&A

Q: Just starting the research on potential solar project an I have a newbie question. Building an offgrid small cabin in wesrern NC. Thinking about a small 1000w setup. Only sunny spot to set up is 130yds up the slope from cabin site. What size wire to bring it to cabin…. 10/2 direct bury? Should I wire panel for 48v or better to move it then go back to 12v at cabin? Any other technical considerations that leap out? Is it even possible to run it that far? Thank you in advance for any guidance offered.

A: A few suggestions come to mind. 1. Having 2 sets of large battery banks. Swapping them daily down at the solar site. It's a lot of work daily but depending on your setup you could just leave them on an ATV or something. 2. Just overkill the number of panels you need. Get 4 or 5x more panels than you need and you should still generate some power, even if it's shady all the time. (Expensive but may be cheaper than the 2 battery banks) 3. Setting up a weatherproof solar generator at the solar site and running 240V AC back to the cabin. (Downside of this is you'd have to put the wire in conduit and bury it to do it safely.) We sell all this stuff on our site and we also do a lot of custom work.