Cabin has an electrical box with three breakers and is currently set up to plug into a generator. One circuit has three lights in cabin, the other two circuits go about 70-100ft to outbuildings with a couple lights each.
Will this work just by putting 12v led bulbs in and connecting that panel to a battery? Are the 100ft runs a problem with 12v?
Assuming your disconnected from the utility side??? Make sure you label everything as 12v DC in the event something happens to you, see others will know what you did.
You shouldn’t have an issue since the gauge wire should be more than adequate. I run 9v over 400 feet on 24g twisted pair wire for security cameras
Assuming your disconnected from the utility side???
There is no utility provided power there, should have mentioned that. I don’t want to buy or run a generator just for a few lights. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work but since it’s going through circuit breakers and longer distances I want sure if I was missing anything. Thanks!
The joys of responding to questions on the internet. Never know the actual skill sets of who your chatting with. Sometimes it’s just a matter of stating the obvious.
It would help to see a picture of the breaker panel with the cover off. Most panels are set-up for 240V, meaning there are (2) 120V legs and a neutral. Is the current wiring already set-up to run off of a single 120V plug?
HRG
It would help to see a picture of the breaker panel with the cover off. Most panels are set-up for 240V, meaning there are (2) 120V legs and a neutral. Is the current wiring already set-up to run off of a single 120V plug?
I’m not there right now to get a picture but it is meant to run off one plug into a generator.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Hot Runr Guy wrote:</div>
It would help to see a picture of the breaker panel with the cover off. Most panels are set-up for 240V, meaning there are (2) 120V legs and a neutral. Is the current wiring already set-up to run off of a single 120V plug?I’m not there right now to get a picture but it is meant to run off one plug into a generator.
“generator” is a pretty vague term. Does the plug look like 120V plug like your home outlets, or a 4-prong twistlock 120/240V ?
HRG
CONTROL-PANEL.jpg
It’s a regular home style 120v plug
Reef, something to think about.
Instead of going 12 volt DC, it might be more versatile to get 1-2 good sized deep cycle batteries and an inverter to change the battery DC to AC.
Then run the AC power from the inverter directly into the breaker box. That keeps everything inside the cabin and outbuildings on AC power and you don’t have to touch anything.
As far as simplicity, if you stick with AC, you only buy the AC inverter and a battery. Although in your situation it might make sense to also buy a solar panel. Also, these days with everything having a plug, AC is just more versatile because you can run anything on AC you want. Chargers, TV, fans, etc, etc. Obviously, you have to stay within your wattage limits of your inverter, so air-con, microwave, etc is not feasible, but most of us can live quite happily on basic AC power.
A lot of inverters now come with a remote control to shut down the inverter at night so you don’t lose power to the inverter when power isn’t needed. Click the control and the inverter fires up and the lights come on.
Another benefit to staying with AC, let’s say you need to run higher amperage stuff like power tools. Buy a generator, connect to the panel, and now you have all the AC power you want, just plug in and go. Can’t do that with DC.
Yes, you COULD do as you asked, but there are a couple of hurdles. DC has a big power drop over cabling distance, so you may not be able to send enough DC across the wires to the outbuildings to light the lights out there.
Also, solid AC wire vs stranded wire makes this problem much worse, DC really needs stranded wire and you need the proper size which can get very expensive. A solar system I helped install in an off the grid cabin in the Canadian tundra had a 30 foot run between buildings and the wire for that run was like $300 for that run alone.
Also, you will need to replace all bulbs with DC bulbs. Check out the price! Yikes.
I have worked on and installed off-the-grid systems and I’ve done it both ways. Straight DC and inverter-supplied AC. There are pros and cons, but here’s what I’ve found.
Pros of Straight DC
– Simple
– Efficient in terms of no power “parasite” effect from the inverter.
Cons
– DC has a huge power loss over wire distance.
– Components like light bulbs are many times the cost of a standard AC component. Light bulbs, appliances, etc. And much harder to find.
– Limits to what you can do with some items like well pumps, etc.
AC has pros and cons as well, just throwing this out there as it sounds like you have a working system in place so staying with AC might be a far better option.
Grouse
Reef, something to think about.
Instead of going 12 volt DC, it might be more versatile to get 1-2 good sized deep cycle batteries and an inverter to change the battery DC to AC.
Then run the AC power from the inverter directly into the breaker box. That keeps everything inside the cabin and outbuildings on AC power and you don’t have to touch anything.
As far as simplicity, if you stick with AC, you only buy the AC inverter and a battery. Although in your situation it might make sense to also buy a solar panel. Also, these days with everything having a plug, AC is just more versatile because you can run anything on AC you want. Chargers, TV, fans, etc, etc. Obviously, you have to stay within your wattage limits of your inverter, so air-con, microwave, etc is not feasible, but most of us can live quite happily on basic AC power.
A lot of inverters now come with a remote control to shut down the inverter at night so you don’t lose power to the inverter when power isn’t needed. Click the control and the inverter fires up and the lights come on.
Another benefit to staying with AC, let’s say you need to run higher amperage stuff like power tools. Buy a generator, connect to the panel, and now you have all the AC power you want, just plug in and go. Can’t do that with DC.
Yes, you COULD do as you asked, but there are a couple of hurdles. DC has a big power drop over cabling distance, so you may not be able to send enough DC across the wires to the outbuildings to light the lights out there.
Also, solid AC wire vs stranded wire makes this problem much worse, DC really needs stranded wire and you need the proper size which can get very expensive. A solar system I helped install in an off the grid cabin in the Canadian tundra had a 30 foot run between buildings and the wire for that run was like $300 for that run alone.
Also, you will need to replace all bulbs with DC bulbs. Check out the price! Yikes.
I have worked on and installed off-the-grid systems and I’ve done it both ways. Straight DC and inverter-supplied AC. There are pros and cons, but here’s what I’ve found.
Pros of Straight DC
– Simple
– Efficient in terms of no power “parasite” effect from the inverter.Cons
– DC has a huge power loss over wire distance.
– Components like light bulbs are many times the cost of a standard AC component. Light bulbs, appliances, etc. And much harder to find.
– Limits to what you can do with some items like well pumps, etc.AC has pros and cons as well, just throwing this out there as it sounds like you have a working system in place so staying with AC might be a far better option.
Grouse
I figured he wanted to use 12V battery power to save money somehow.
Not much difference in loss on wires if the DC voltage is the same as AC on a single phase system as long as you don’t need the 240V AC
It’s mostly to be cheap and lazy 
I only need 6 bulbs, looks like $40-50 on Amazon. I know outlets wouldn’t work for anything but there isn’t anything else I need besides maybe charging phones which I’m used to doing in the car.
I see the advantage of an inverter but I was thinking it’s easiest to just take the plug off the cable, which is outdoors in a tiny generator hut, and put ring terminals on it for battery. I’ll have to look at the whole thing again next time I’m there.
I don’t have any easy way to recharge the batteries there either so I don’t necessarily want to power more than some necessities to make a single deep cycle last for a weekend trip and then recharge at home. Same as I do with camper.
Do you have or plan on getting an on-demand propane water heater for a shower and sink? What kind of power will that need (if any)?
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