How long do you leave your system unattended?

[OffGridForGood]

I have left my system running for up to three weeks, while away.
If it is winter months, this is more tricky then summer.
One thing about being away, loads are a lot lower.

 

[DaveF]

Last year I left mine unattended for months, but kept an eye on it via Victron's VRM through a RPI3 (running Venus OS) connected to the mainland through a radio-based internet connection.
I run a couple of RUVI sensors to monitor the fridges (one propane, one 24V) and can contact a neighbour if something looks off.

 

[Subdood]

The longest we were gone was about 5 days when we went out west to see my kinfolk for Christmas. I have one EG4 6500 and one Lifepower4 battery and monitor it via the Watchpower app. So, I could monitor it all the time as long as I had Wi-Fi or network connection. Yeah I was a bit worried about leaving it on its own, but it ran just fine.

 

[OffGridForGood]

via the Watchpower app.

I never did get WP to work properly.
After seeing others on the forum using Solar Assistant (SA) I looked into it, and bought this unit April 2023. It has been a great way to monitor the system and allow remote setting changes easily. Adding a Victron 500A smartshunt (supported by SA) really improved SOC information accuracy displayed on SA.

 

[Subdood]

Watchpower is not ideal, but it works for me (because it's free). It only updates every 5 minutes so it's not as accurate as I'd like. There's also an app called SmartESS which is a glorified version of WP, that's more detailed oriented.

 

[ChrisG]

Installed at EG4 6000xp system about 3 weeks ago at our cabin and left. Will be back there in about another week. Have a Nest Protect smoke detector in the basement above the system for remote monitoring, Kasa Indoor web camera overlooking custom battery packs and inverter so I can take a peak and also have activity zone alerting setup if anything changes in the area (fire or something falling for example). Also at least every other day look at the EG4 monitoring tool.

 

[nycamper62]

My system is on 'auto pilot' for most of the work weekdays. Granted I've got more coin into it these days than when I started with solar at camp over a decade ago, but I've left it alone for weeks at a time especially over winter. And over the years it's been ready to go when I get back there. So no I guess I really don't worry about it.

 

[seneysolar]

I leave the cabin for weeks at a time. Inverter off but keep the CC on for my lead acids. Winter time is no trouble.

One of my friends put his refrigerator on its own 500w inverter so he can turn his main inverter off but keep the fridge on with minimal draw when gone.

 

[wheelman55]

We have both a summer and winter residence. Summer res is in MN and is grid. Winter res is in TX and is off-grid.

When we leave for TX in the fall, we shut off the water in MN, keep the WiFi on and monitor everything remotely. We also shut off the gas to the water heater.

When we leave TX in the spring, we shut the entire solar down and turn off the propane at the tank.

When we leave either place for weeks or months we shut off the water.

On grid MN neighbors had a water pipe burst when they were in FL for the winter. They had over a foot of water in the basement which ended up freezing…radiator heat. This did 6 figures of damage.

Some offgrid TX neighbors had a small leak upstream of their water pump (we all live on 100% solar and 100% water catchment down here). They lost half of their water. Since it seldom rains here, loss of that much water was a big deal.

My advice is to guard against anything catastrophic that could cause major damage like flood or fire. Then just let go and let god

 

[SoakedUp]

I’ve since upgraded since my original post.

2 more SOK 206ah 12v batteries
2400w of solar
2 victron CC 150/100 and 150/45
Multiplus 2000VA

Multiple fans via AC infinity that come on by schedules, temp or humidity thresholds, or by wifi control if I deem necessary.

A wifi controlled portable AC unit that again comes on automatically due to temp or I can remotely control via wifi.

I installed a cell booster and but the repeater inside my container and then I checked out a cellular hotspot from my local library that I keep inside the container with all my solar gear to provide a nice wifi signal for remote monitoring.

Everything has been working really well. I’ve gone a month with out physically attending to anything and I’m not sure I ever would need to. I have a cheap wifi security camera also mounted inside my solar room if I want to see what everything is doing. It’s usually pretty boring though.

The real test is going to be when summer hits and temps rise to 120* during the day. Not sure if my solar will keep up or if I’ll be able to keep the AC running long enough to keep temps inside the solar room reasonable for 3.5 months while I’m not there. I’d like to ad a couple more Ruuvi tags and figure out how to wire in a smoke detector into the victron cerbo digital inputs if anyone knows how!

 

[JWLV]

I don't usually touch anything unless something's beeping or the power is off. I do use Watchpower and a smart shunt to monitor the system every now and then. I also have two cheapo Wyze cams pointed at the inverter and the batteries. One is powered by the inverter and the other is powered by the grid. If I can't see the first camera, that would mean the inverter shut off. The second camera allows me to see what's happened when the inverter is off. They both record to micro SD cards too. I have a smoke detector on the ceiling right above all of the equipment. I probably should put a big old fashioned thermometer near by so I can see it through the cameras.