Solarcabin Channel
Solar Addict
I am new to this forum but not to off grid living and I have been off grid in a hand built cabin I designed and I use solar power and wind power for everything electrical in the cabin.
I started in 2003 in a tiny camp trailer with just an old truck battery and Harbor Freight 45 watt panel to run my water pump, a couple of lights and my tiny DC TV radio. Over time as I had the money I built my 200 sqft cabin and upgraded my solar and got some deep cycle batteries. Winters can be very hard here and the old Trojan deep cycles had to be stored outside and I would lose most of my charge in the cold temperatures.
About 10 years ago I upgraded again to a 400 watt Renogy ground mount system and Vmax tank AGMs I kept inside the cabin so no more temperature issues and for 10 years that is all the power I had. It ran my water pump, lights, 12 volt fridge/freezer, small appliances, tools and gadgets.
Last year I decided to get an Ebike and electric mower and snow blower and I wanted to stop using the generator. So I upgraded again with another 400 watt Renogy system and two 200 watt solar recharging stations using Geneverse and Allpower power stations instead of separate batteries.
This year those Vmax tanks finally had to be replaced so I just installed a 400Ah Enjoybot LIFEPO4, new MPPT controller and a bigger inverter for the main system. All together I have 1.4Kw in three separate systems and I use power stations I recharge when I have excess sunshine to cover the low sun days in winter.
With that system I have all my power needs covered and I am retired but run a business online and upload videos to my channel and send my books and cabin plans out to customers so I have a laptop running 24/7. That keeps my ebikes charged, runs a microwave, induction burner, air fryer, lots of lights and gadgets, apartment washing machine, two 12 volt fridge/freezers and I have enough backup for 3-4 days of low sunshine without needing the gas generator now.
Ok, hope to share ideas and help people with off grid questions in the forum!
Here are a few pics of my cabin and systems and I will post some videos of my upgrades if allowed:
I started in 2003 in a tiny camp trailer with just an old truck battery and Harbor Freight 45 watt panel to run my water pump, a couple of lights and my tiny DC TV radio. Over time as I had the money I built my 200 sqft cabin and upgraded my solar and got some deep cycle batteries. Winters can be very hard here and the old Trojan deep cycles had to be stored outside and I would lose most of my charge in the cold temperatures.
About 10 years ago I upgraded again to a 400 watt Renogy ground mount system and Vmax tank AGMs I kept inside the cabin so no more temperature issues and for 10 years that is all the power I had. It ran my water pump, lights, 12 volt fridge/freezer, small appliances, tools and gadgets.
Last year I decided to get an Ebike and electric mower and snow blower and I wanted to stop using the generator. So I upgraded again with another 400 watt Renogy system and two 200 watt solar recharging stations using Geneverse and Allpower power stations instead of separate batteries.
This year those Vmax tanks finally had to be replaced so I just installed a 400Ah Enjoybot LIFEPO4, new MPPT controller and a bigger inverter for the main system. All together I have 1.4Kw in three separate systems and I use power stations I recharge when I have excess sunshine to cover the low sun days in winter.
With that system I have all my power needs covered and I am retired but run a business online and upload videos to my channel and send my books and cabin plans out to customers so I have a laptop running 24/7. That keeps my ebikes charged, runs a microwave, induction burner, air fryer, lots of lights and gadgets, apartment washing machine, two 12 volt fridge/freezers and I have enough backup for 3-4 days of low sunshine without needing the gas generator now.
Ok, hope to share ideas and help people with off grid questions in the forum!
Here are a few pics of my cabin and systems and I will post some videos of my upgrades if allowed:
