Perhaps someone here can help. Let’s assume I want to run my laser on solar only. I can buy panels and a battery and set that up in my garage. But how big a battery would I need. Let’s assume I run the laser 3-4 hours a day. How do I calculate what I might need in terms of battery and panels. Ideally I would like to cover my Cnc, too but I can start with the laser. Any help is appreciated.
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I’ve never bought one of these modern power stations, but this guy has done some reviews. I’ve followed him for years and his opinions are not tainted by the manufacturers who send him stuff. This one, he uses a Jackery 3000 to run power tools all day to build a bench away from his house/shop. I follow others that have put in similar systems to power a small building, and several that have narrowboats on the British canal network.
I can tell you, you will need to know the average energy usage to calculate the size of battery (capacity) you will need. I would expect these days the (good) manufacturers provide tools to do that online.
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Power draw discussion here:
Assuming the information here is correct and we’re talking 1.4 kW it’s very simple to do the calculation.
One big assumption: I’m going to assume that the Jackery stats and that the power draw stats are exactly accurate. This is not going to be true. There’s going to be inefficiency and as batteries age they lose effectiveness. But for now let’s just assume that we’re dealing with a 3000 W hour battery and that the Glowforge takes 1.4 kW with a filter.
The calculation goes like this:
3000 Wh ÷ 1400 W = 2.14 hours (about 2 hours and 8 minutes).
You can back into the battery size you need easily enough:
Required Battery Size Calculation
- Power Draw: 1400 W
- Desired Runtime: 4 hours
Battery Capacity Needed:
1400 W × 4 h = 5600 Wh
And that’s just one day. If you lose sun for a significant stretch you may run into trouble of not generating enough to top your battery off between sunny stints. There are so many solar forums online, you can get super detailed advice there. There are probably calculators too.
Oh also are you counting lighting and hvac in your power draw? It gets complex.
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Yea this is importan. There are also a lot of conversations here in the forum about operating environment. The 
has a range it wants to work in. Not too hot not too cold.
Do you already have a good way to tackle that too? Would hate for you to invest in going off grid for the tool and hit an operating temp constraint.
Fun adventure though. Hope you get all the info you need.
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This is a good question. I would need some kind of heat. It does get cold in the garage which is a tricky thing with the GF. Lighting, too which will make the whole thing complicated. Hmmm…
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