Get a big battery

[OffGridForGood]

I think it’s fascinating and great to see some of the large builds. It created a sense of viability for people like myself.

keep in mind, many of us (myself at least) started out with a small set up. one inverter, one battery, no PV. That was my "big UPS" and all it ran at first was the lights in the shop! (so we were not all standing in the dark when the utility dropped out, searching for flashlights and the honda generator) that was back in 2020...
Building in stages as you can afford it and as you learn makes total sense to me.
I think it allows a person to grow with their system, and to step by step learn what the heck your doing.
nothing wrong with starting out small and learning as you go.

 

[RV10flyer]

32kWpv/152kWh. No problem even with dark cloudy weather now.

 

[OffGridForGood]

32kWpv/152kWh. No problem even with dark cloudy weather now.

About 5:1 ratio, nice. I wish I had 152kWh ESS.

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

keep in mind, many of us (myself at least) started out with a small set up. one inverter, one battery, no PV. That was my "big UPS" and all it ran at first was the lights in the shop! (so we were not all standing in the dark when the utility dropped out, searching for flashlights and the honda generator) that was back in 2020...
Building in stages as you can afford it and as you learn makes total sense to me.
I think it allows a person to grow with their system, and to step by step learn what the heck your doing.
nothing wrong with starting out small and learning as you go.

Started with an old truck battery and a 45 watt harbor freight system with just DC output and a couple of DC halogen lights.

Off gridders today have it so easy!

 

[G00SE]

keep in mind, many of us (myself at least) started out with a small set up. one inverter, one battery, no PV. That was my "big UPS" and all it ran at first was the lights in the shop! (so we were not all standing in the dark when the utility dropped out, searching for flashlights and the honda generator) that was back in 2020...
Building in stages as you can afford it and as you learn makes total sense to me.
I think it allows a person to grow with their system, and to step by step learn what the heck your doing.
nothing wrong with starting out small and learning as you go.

For sure. And I admire those builds for sure. Back in that time it simply either wasn’t on my radar or I simply assumed either A: insane cost or B: underperform.
My uncle has a 10-15yr old 24v outback with maybe 6kwh of fla and he’s off grid and I just struggle to wrap my head around the how lol.
The bigger/cheaper stuff made for way more threads and really opened my eyes, and then the societal climate kinda accelerated plans thus skipping the tiered growth type approach.

 

[OffGridForGood]

Started with an old truck battery and a 45 watt harbor freight system with just DC output and a couple of DC halogen lights.

Off gridders today have it so easy!

and just imagine what will be available in 20 more years...will make what we are doing now seem pretty lame I expect. Hey but we all gotta start somewhere!
I am excited to see where the tech goes, and what we will see as this technology really takes off. We are in the early stages of a lot of new products and development.

 

[Hedges]

I started with a pair of 6V tractor batteries in an ice chest in the back of my Saab. Charged through a separate set of 3 diodes from the alternator.



That powered lights in 18' RV on my 10 acres in the hills. (dragged in with an old Cat D6).
Water came from a spring a few hundred feet away and filled a 50 gallon steel drum, providing gravity fed sink/shower/toilet. Laundry was mini washer and dryer on a used pallet "deck". Separate agitation tank and spinner; you can imagine what it was like doing laundry in the winter.

One time I walked out with a cup of coffee and saw little fuzzballs scrambling up the hill and tumbling down. Baby quail. Another time, a bird fell to the ground a couple feet from me. Then it barely rose off the ground and glided down the hill, carrying a mouse. Small owl.

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

and just imagine what will be available in 20 more years...will make what we are doing now seem pretty lame I expect. Hey but we all gotta start somewhere!
I am excited to see where the tech goes, and what we will see as this technology really takes off. We are in the early stages of a lot of new products and development.

Yes, the equipment these guys are using today will probably be dinosaurs they will laugh at in 5-10 years just like our old systems.

It has been a very interesting journey and I also started programming on a Vic 20 that had just 20kb of memory and programmed entire games on a Commodore 64 with less memory than it takes for a simple jpg pic.

I just watched a video of a 120 year old electric car called the Waverly that still runs and did 20mph and 60 mile range.

 

[RV10flyer]

About 5:1 ratio, nice. I wish I had 152kWh ESS.

I’ll see how low I can keep heating with my heat pumps this year before needing to light the wood burner. Last year with 20.6kWpv/143kWh, barely made it below 28F. Never had to run Gen, but came close even with wood burner. We are all electric, std elec hwh and dryer. Use DeLonghi insulated toaster oven as much as possible, hang laundry inside for moisture.

 

[JRH]

Things are moving fast and prices are coming down. I probably could build my house system today for less as other options became available, members shared experience and new suppliers. This is the reason to participate here, you learn of new possibilities, share information and in the end it leads to everyone participating to be able to reach more energy independence.

Thats ironic as hell you mention “learning new possibility’s and sharing info” as this is day 4 with cold fog and no sun at all …Zero…..batteries so low at this point I was going to switch back to grid before dark which involved several things to do that are a PITA in the rain.…. but then last nite (or the day before) I read a reply by Hedges about how to wire multiple chargers to the same bank…hmmm
never thought about it… i never even read anything or heard about it…

but it occurred to me this morn “ I have two unused Victron IP 22 battery chargers sitting on the shelf in the shed…” I had forgotten I had them. A 12 and 24v
I took the 24v 16 amp charger and wired it up and adjusted it the way he suggested to a forum member ,hooked the charger to the bussbars , rigged up a extension cord to a storage shed and it is running my loads tonite in the RV…it will buy enuf time to get to tommorow easily.

It is about 30F tonite and I rely on the batteries and multi to be on and running when it gets cold so as to keep the temp around 5O inside the trailer from their operating heat..
So I didn’t didn’t have to go find and wire up a space heater and move shore power cords and whatever…..Gona be bright clear sun and about 50 tomorrow ….?.. yesss
Im Gona redo and mount the charger in the trailer tomorrow with proper wiring and lugs to be a permanent safety net device in the coming snow months up here..

Can’t believe the only time I’ve ever needed to know this was ONE day after I read his answer to a question I have never even thought about..
I gotta find that post so as to thank him for his typical great info..
J.

 

[jimf909]

I’m just astounded by all these numbers being thrown around about pv watts —-batt bank power, system costs , daily draw…
J.

This post is not a judgement! Just an observation of reported household energy use.

I'm also astounded by the numbers: 40, 60, 80 kW/day!!! We live in a 2,800 sq ft house and use about 6-8 kWh/day. The biggest users are a pig of a fridge (1.75 kWh) and Starlink (1.4 kWh). The rest is the dishwasher, laundry (propane drier), electronics and LED lights.

My guess is that the huge (to me) consumption is A/C which we don't need at 48.5 degrees north. Keep in mind that with the exception of a swamp cooler in NM I've lived the past 40 years w/out A/C in western WA, NorCal, CO, NM and ID. More than a few days in the 90s each year and I'm looking for cooler temps. I guess some of y'all are seeing warmer temps which require A/C.

I'm currently at 10.2kWh of battery and 1.75 kW of PV so about 5.8:1. PV provided 96% of needs since April but will drop well below that in winter. I'm planning to roughly triple my PV and double my ESS to reduce generator use over the winter and support increased consumption in summer.

This is an informative thread.

 

[Gason]

Surprised at the huge consumption of solar off grid systems. Regarding lifepo4 batteries, maybe consider the Cloudenergy brand.

 

[niktak11]

I'm sitting at 20.5kW PV and 82kWh in my main system currently, exactly 4:1. I'll probably add another 30kW of batteries and 10-12 kW PV in the next 1-2 years. Plus a 100-200kWh EV truck.

 

[Kenny_]

I got my wooded 5 acre off grid place for $501.00 at a tax sale. I'm just good like that.

Wow! Nice. Lot of work though I bet.

 

[Kenny_]

Started with an old truck battery and a 45 watt harbor freight system with just DC output and a couple of DC halogen lights.

Off gridders today have it so easy!

I'm still a baby, but I started this way maybe 10 years ago with this sort of setup as emergency power for amateur radio equipment.

 

[Kenny_]

Things are moving fast and prices are coming down. I probably could build my house system today for less as other options became available, members shared experience and new suppliers. This is the reason to participate here, you learn of new possibilities, share information and in the end it leads to everyone participating to be able to reach more energy independence.

Yep.....that's why I'm tempted to get an 18Kpv and a couple of 'wall' mount batteries....would love to have something that will outlast me.

 

[CoolWill]

Wow! Nice. Lot of work though I bet.

If you mean finding it in the first place, yeah lots of looking over a long period of time. If you mean work on the land itself, monumental. It was like a Vietnamese jungle. The access easement existed on paper but had never been cut through. And it crossed a creek so I had to build a bridge. I didn't prioritize the bridge. I rented an excavator and plowed a path. I built a small foot bridge across the creek. For a couple years everything was carried in on foot. Try humping 50 sheets of plywood 3/8 mile through the woods...

 

[Kenny_]

If you mean finding it in the first place, yeah lots of looking over a long period of time. If you mean work on the land itself, monumental. It was like a Vietnamese jungle. The access easement existed on paper but had never been cut through. And it crossed a creek so I had to build a bridge. I didn't prioritize the bridge. I rented an excavator and plowed a path. I built a small foot bridge across the creek. For a couple years everything was carried in on foot. Try humping 50 sheets of plywood 3/8 mile through the woods...

Yes the work, clearing, building, etc....

 

[Nobodybusiness]

Started with an old truck battery and a 45 watt harbor freight system with just DC output and a couple of DC halogen lights.

Off gridders today have it so easy!

We all started with Xantrex, Trace, Midnite then came Outback.

Reading Richard Perez homepower mag got me started.

Him and Karen ( and others) are really the pioneers of this.

If you wanted to do Solar, PV was $5 a watt.

Biggest inverter was 4k and the only batteries were Lead acid.
Everything was 12 Volt and sometimes 24v.

Parallel? What’s that? I think Outback had an auto transformer that would work.

You really had to curtail your usage and most were not willing or able to do that.

Now a 12kw 48v inverter is standard plus you have ability to parallel.

It’s much easier to do this today than ever.

Hopefully that trend continues.

 

[Nobodybusiness]

This post is not a judgement! Just an observation of reported household energy use.

I'm also astounded by the numbers: 40, 60, 80 kW/day!!! We live in a 2,800 sq ft house and use about 6-8 kWh/day. The biggest users are a pig of a fridge (1.75 kWh) and Starlink (1.4 kWh). The rest is the dishwasher, laundry (propane drier), electronics and LED lights.

My guess is that the huge (to me) consumption is A/C which we don't need at 48.5 degrees north. Keep in mind that with the exception of a swamp cooler in NM I've lived the past 40 years w/out A/C in western WA, NorCal, CO, NM and ID. More than a few days in the 90s each year and I'm looking for cooler temps. I guess some of y'all are seeing warmer temps which require A/C.

I'm currently at 10.2kWh of battery and 1.75 kW of PV so about 5.8:1. PV provided 96% of needs since April but will drop well below that in winter. I'm planning to roughly triple my PV and double my ESS to reduce generator use over the winter and support increased consumption in summer.

This is an informative thread.

I would say 75% of our load is environmental. Heating and cooling.