Hi new friends.
Five years ago, I moved to the Missouri Ozarks to begin living an off-grid lifestyle in the woods. Up until September of 2021, I was living a very primitive off-grid existance on some very remote 5 acres that was difficult to access. It was fun and I finally upgraded from living outside to living in a cabin with a 12V 600W solar system with a roughly 420Ah battery bank using 6V golf cart batteries wired series-parallel. However, I wasn't truly happy on this property and moved back to town a year ago. Now, after a year, I've finally rebooted myself and have purchased new land closer to town, with much easier access, and a much larger clearing already established for better solar potential. I'm going to learn from my mistakes of the past and build smarter this time around.
My cabin is going to be roughly 192 sq. ft. and I plan to insulate it very well (probably spray foam), top to bottom, and use quality windows. Heat will be from a wood stove.
Three key requirements I did not think I needed last go around but definitely want this time:
Most of the remaining electrical requirements will be mostly ham radio and tiny computer gadgets and some lighting with some small, low voltage, water pumps here and there. No microwave oven, no toaster, no air fryer or hair dryer, none of that crap. I've lived without that stuff for awhile, don't need it going forward.
My current dilema is trying to figure out what size battery bank to go with. I use the ham radio and computer gadgets 8 to 10 hours a day and all of it runs off of 12V or 5V at very low current draw. A large capacity 12V bank would seem to make sense until I factor in the fridge, freezer, and/or AC during the summer and I don't know if I want to run a handful of DC-DC coverters for all of my low voltage stuff.
Would appreciate any thoughts/advice about anything above. I'm going to try and keep this thread going as a journal as I start building the cabin over the next couple of months.
Five years ago, I moved to the Missouri Ozarks to begin living an off-grid lifestyle in the woods. Up until September of 2021, I was living a very primitive off-grid existance on some very remote 5 acres that was difficult to access. It was fun and I finally upgraded from living outside to living in a cabin with a 12V 600W solar system with a roughly 420Ah battery bank using 6V golf cart batteries wired series-parallel. However, I wasn't truly happy on this property and moved back to town a year ago. Now, after a year, I've finally rebooted myself and have purchased new land closer to town, with much easier access, and a much larger clearing already established for better solar potential. I'm going to learn from my mistakes of the past and build smarter this time around.
My cabin is going to be roughly 192 sq. ft. and I plan to insulate it very well (probably spray foam), top to bottom, and use quality windows. Heat will be from a wood stove.
Three key requirements I did not think I needed last go around but definitely want this time:
- 7 to 10 cu. ft. freezer
- Smaller refridgerator (milk, egg, butter, some veggie storage)
- Air Conditioning
Most of the remaining electrical requirements will be mostly ham radio and tiny computer gadgets and some lighting with some small, low voltage, water pumps here and there. No microwave oven, no toaster, no air fryer or hair dryer, none of that crap. I've lived without that stuff for awhile, don't need it going forward.
My current dilema is trying to figure out what size battery bank to go with. I use the ham radio and computer gadgets 8 to 10 hours a day and all of it runs off of 12V or 5V at very low current draw. A large capacity 12V bank would seem to make sense until I factor in the fridge, freezer, and/or AC during the summer and I don't know if I want to run a handful of DC-DC coverters for all of my low voltage stuff.
Would appreciate any thoughts/advice about anything above. I'm going to try and keep this thread going as a journal as I start building the cabin over the next couple of months.
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