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Neighboring off-grid homes

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kelvinfpv

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May 24, 2022
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Good morning,
My Uncle and I are both building off grid homes roughly 600 ft apart. We haven't started on our solar yet but we do have a SQflex11 well going in today that will have it's own solar system. We've decided to do 2 separate solar systems for our homes for resell ability, voltage drop concerns and redundancy reasons.

My question is, is there any feasibility in dropping wire in the trenches (we both have trenches for water open now going to the shared well) while we have one dug to somehow connect the two systems ?
What would be involved and what would the advantage/gain be in doing so?
 
kelvinfpv said:
Good morning,
My Uncle and I are both building off grid homes roughly 600 ft apart. We haven't started on our solar yet but we do have a SQflex11 well going in today that will have it's own solar system. We've decided to do 2 separate solar systems for our homes for resell ability, voltage drop concerns and redundancy reasons.

My question is, is there any feasibility in dropping wire in the trenches (we both have trenches for water open now going to the shared well) while we have one dug to somehow connect the two systems ?
What would be involved and what would the advantage/gain be in doing so?
Click to expand...
If you have the money, I’d buy some 2 inch conduit to run between your homes. You never know when you might want to add some high-voltage circuits in there for redundancy.
 
RV10flyer said:
If you have the money, I’d buy some 2 inch conduit to run between your homes. You never know when you might want to add some high-voltage circuits in there for redundancy.
Click to expand...
That isn't a bad idea. It would defiantly give us options. I'm starting to reconsider if the well even needs it's own system or if 800$ in wire from 1 house or the other would be a better option. The voltage drop isn't that bad on 10 awg 240. At least not for a well with as wide of a useable range as this one.
 
I agree.
If the ditch is open, adding a conduit is easy and fairly inexpensive.
No need to buy any wire, until you decide what you might use it for.
I always throw an extra conduit in a long run.
It's just too handy, down the road. When you think of adding something.
 
timselectric said:
I agree.
If the ditch is open, adding a conduit is easy and fairly inexpensive.
No need to buy any wire, until you decide what you might use it for.
I always throw an extra conduit in a long run.
It's just too handy, down the road. When you think of adding something.
Click to expand...
I think I will. A little sticker shock on 2 inch though. 600ft is over 2 grand doing a quick google search.
 
Thats a long haul to move power. I have been thinking about the same thing. How to move power for backup or maybe to another location that does not have sun exposure with out spending $$$$$

If you can send it 24/7 the copper can be smaller with a slow trickle but then you need good batteries. High voltage is another option for small copper but that can be more complex and dangerous.

I would love to hear more input on this.
 
sunsurfer said:
Thats a long haul to move power. I have been thinking about the same thing. How to move power for backup or maybe to another location that does not have sun exposure with out spending $$$$$

If you can send it 24/7 the copper can be smaller with a slow trickle but then you need good batteries. High voltage is another option for small copper but that can be more complex and dangerous.

I would love to hear more input on this.
Click to expand...
We both are planning 220 systems so I don't think the line loss would be terrible, I just don't know if there would be anything to gain or if it's even possible. One senerio would be if 1 family were using less power than the other. Say my batteries were full and my panels were still producing power, would it be possible to assist his system in getting topped off before the sun goes down or vise versa?

The fiber is another great idea. I belive he already plans to get starlink as he's working from home alot. My brother in law who lives several thousand feet away already switched from cellular to starlink.
 
kelvinfpv said:
We both are planning 220 systems so I don't think the line loss would be terrible, I just don't know if there would be anything to gain or if it's even possible. One senerio would be if 1 family were using less power than the other. Say my batteries were full and my panels were still producing power, would it be possible to assist his system in getting topped off before the sun goes down or vise versa?
Click to expand...
A 240v battery charger would be a solution.
 
600ft will have too much loss unless you use huge copper which is way more than the conduits. It might be nice in a pinch maybe. You are much better off running high voltage DC that kind of distance. You would need like 1/0 to reall power much from one home to the other at that distance at 240V.
 
What would be useful is a plot plan with house placements and well placement and solar array placements with distances. Im sure people would have some inputs. Having extra conduits is really nice for future use but 600ft is a long stretch.
 
Because the copper gauge will be smaller if you run higher voltage and costs way less.

If you are going to power something 600ft away and want an acceptable loss for a load of lets say 100A sub panel or even 60A you need a really big wire or the losses are really bad at 240V.

Im sure someone here could tell you the exact size needed but just a guess for a 60A run at 240V 600ft, you probably need a 2 gauge wire or bigger.
 
FightThePower said:
600ft will have too much loss unless you use huge copper which is way more than the conduits. It might be nice in a pinch maybe. You are much better off running high voltage DC that kind of distance. You would need like 1/0 to reall power much from one home to the other at that distance at 240V.
Click to expand...
240v 20a circuit could be done with #4.
That's all that is needed for a battery charger.
 
FightThePower said:
Because the copper gauge will be smaller if you run higher voltage and costs way less.

If you are going to power something 600ft away and want an acceptable loss for a load of lets say 100A sub panel or even 60A you need a really big wire or the losses are really bad at 240V.

Im sure someone here could tell you the exact size needed but just a guess for a 60A run at 240V 600ft, you probably need a 2 gauge wire or bigger.
Click to expand...
But why high voltage DC? I get that higher voltages allow for lower amperages to get the needed amount of power moved but it seemed like you were saying that DC would do a better job than AC. 60 amps at 240V would need 3/0 to stay under a 3% voltage drop.
 
OzSolar said:
But why high voltage DC? I get that higher voltages allow for lower amperages to get the needed amount of power moved but it seemed like you were saying that DC would do a better job than AC. 60 amps at 240V would need 3/0 to stay under a 3% voltage drop.
Click to expand...
Because 240 is your only option for AC.

Im just making a general statement. Of course it wont necessarily be whats needed for this guys particular problem. But generally speaking if you are doing long runs and PV is involved, you run the long runs with high voltage DC not 240V ac.

Thats why Im saying post a plot plan layout etc with distance and everything and more ideas could be tossed out for this specific setup.

By the way I live on 10 acres, have 2 power meters 500ft apart, have a well, 2 buildings, 2 PV arrays, lots of sub panels, conduits and pipes everywhere. Theres a lot to consider when planning this stuff. For sure come up with a good plan that makes sense, go bigger on wires and water pipes than you think you need etc. You dont want to be regretting not making things bigger when you were doing construction. Thats how it usually goes though. Should have put that future use conduit in, should have ran bigger copper. Should have run a bigger water line or two....
 
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