A dark shed with no mains connection is a familiar headache, and this build tackles it directly: burrheadjr put together a small solar system that gives a backyard tool shed interior lighting and electrical power with no utility lines involved.
The work starts with the mount. A 3-foot hole was dug with a post hole digger, then a 10-foot length of 2-inch conduit was cut with a hacksaw and checked with a spirit level before being set in gravel and concrete, with wooden boards bracing it while it cured. Unistrut rail sections tie the panel frame to a repurposed satellite dish mount, and the panel sits on top of the pole facing south.
The parts list is tidy: a 100 Watt 12 Volt panel, a 20 charge controller, a 1000W inverter and a 35AH 12V deep cycle battery. Extension cables with MC4 connectors run inside white PVC conduit, and the DC side goes via a wall-mounted switch to the LED fixtures. The large inverter is what lets the system run an electric chain saw, which is a genuinely useful capability for a shed.
In my view the pole mounting is the smartest call here. Beyond the flexibility, the maker lists real payoffs: no holes drilled through the shed roof, easier angle changes as the seasons shift, a lower chance of the panel overheating, simpler cleaning to keep dust off the glass, and no worry about roof shade.
One thing is still open. Fuses only went in after the initial setup, once someone in the discussion flagged arc flash risk from unfused DC connections and recommended terminal fuses, and the maker agreed to fit them. Another point raised was that the inverter looks oversized next to the small battery, and how that pairing performs day to day has not been covered.
Project by burrheadjr. Watch it on their YouTube channel: