Solar LED lighting for the shed

[wshields]

New to this idea.

I'm on a rental property, I was recently given a go to flip the shed in the backyard. I plan to stay here for few years. It's in bad shape but the ideas are spiraling outta control in my head.

I want to add solar powered LED lighting inside the shed where I can switch off and on when I need lights. I'm mainly going to be storing my fishing stuff, some yard stuff inside this shed. When I move out though, I'm going to take the solar lighting set up with me anyway!! So any guides and help will be greatly appreciated!

I also would like to keep this as cheap as possible? The shed is also fairly small. Probably 8ft by 10ft.

[SunEagle]

Hello wshields and welcome to Solar Panel Talk

If you are going to rarely use the lighting in that shed and want to keep the costs down then I would advise not going with a solar/battery system.

It is going to cost you at least a few hundred dollars to get a small solar panel, battery, charge controller and inverter. That system maybe produces a couple hundred watt hours a day. Then you will have to replace the battery in a few years if you use it every day or not. Or for much less spending you can go with a portable battery operated LED lantern.

If you don't mind spending hundreds for a solar/battery system then we can help but first you have to tell us exactly what loads (watts) you will be running and for how long (hours) in a day. From there the battery and panel wattage can be calculated.

[wshields]

I'm thinking of adding several strip of LED lightings inside the shed. It's obviously going to be really low wattage of power required.

What if I throw in large battery without replacing it for long term (like more than a year) and add a switch to turn on and off?

[SunEagle]

I'm thinking of adding several strip of LED lightings inside the shed. It's obviously going to be really low wattage of power required.

What if I throw in large battery without replacing it for long term (like more than a year) and add a switch to turn on and off?

Using a single battery connected to LED string lights will work. EverReady make some pretty nice ones that should last a while depending on how many watts those LEDs are.

If you want to go with a rechargeable battery, my suggestion is to not use one that is too big (like a car or big deep cell type) so that you can carry it back to the house and recharge it using a grid powered battery charger. That will be much less expensive then purchasing and installing solar panels and a solar charge controller.