Off-grid "Compound"

[snoobler]

One day I will post something meaningful into Show and tell that has more meat to it. This is just a fluff piece to introduce myself and to give a big picture view of stuff.

Thanks to Will and the very helpful folks here. I feel like I've learned a lot on my own, but if I remember to listen, there's plenty of stuff left to learn, and this is a great place for it.

Working on an eventual forever home.

39 acres of AZ high desert about 1/2 mile off a highway accessible via a cinder road that's been there for 25 years. So smooth the Prius can fly down it. Of course, when it rains (not often with only 11"/year), it's a shit show.

We chose the area because it's one of the lowest light pollution areas in AZ. I had forgotten how magnificent the milky way can be at night. prior to purchasing the property last year, I had only seen the milky way a few times since I left rural OK in 1988.

Hoping to see Comet Neowise this weekend.

Current:
40' shipping container (storage).
33' 5th wheel
33' motorhome (the mobile toilet)
12kWh of Trojan T-1275 (TESTED capacity, rated is 14.4 - I'm a battery nut and have a lot of test equipment)
3kW of 330W panels, $159/panel delivered as part of a group buy of two pallets.
Victron Quattro 5K/48
Victron SmartSolar 150/100 with Smart Sense battery module
935 gallons of total water storage (we use about 30-50 a weekend)
20Mbit DSL ($45 install covered 1100 feet of newly buried cable)
Blink camera for remote visual monitoring.
Wi-Fi Smart Plug so I can turn on the fridge a couple days in advance of a visit (USES 5kWh/day!!!!)

Things to do:
Deploy the second Quattro for 240V split phase - no priority as 4K is plenty for now, but the eventual dwelling will need it.
Build my 39kWh Explody-lithium battery.
Rewire my 72S panels from 3SXP to 2SXP (it does get cold enough for over-voltage to be a concern).
Deploy the remaining 3kW of panels
Get a second Victron charge controller (damn 3S to 2S reconfigure)
Build a dwelling.

View from the roof of the container:



My original panel mount:



LITHIUM!
Early config. 39kWh of 3.7V L-ion visible. Only the top row is configured for 24V. The bottom four rows are tested and charged. EVERYTHNG I do is temporary and intended to get it working ASAP with zero concern for cosmetic and minimal concern for best practices. Please do not judge. PICTURED: 60A SCC, 2kW inverter and shunt/battery monitor. No BMS, but the little black boxes visible on the top of the battery are auto-balancers capable of up to 6A balance current between cell groups. No BMS because of the temporary nature and because I tested all 84 cells for capacity, and they were right on top of each other:

Total cost: $4500

A recent 4.5 star review:


Temporary bank. Cost $400 used from a local golf cart guy. Tested to 83% of rated after some testing and controlled equalization love. I'll take it. Yes. The interconnects are WAY too thin (repurposed from the golf cart from whence they came). Should be like the 2/0 at the ends. Don't judge me. Like I said. It's all temporary.



We have dubbed it "HBR" or "Honey Badger Ranch" because you know... Honey Badger don't give a shit! You can't imagine my glee when the trail cam picked up this...


We haz badger!

The 3rd rack of panels installed a couple weeks back:


Happy with their performance:



How the RVs get their power:


That's a $35 Eaton NEMA 14-50R connected by 6-4 direct bury to the inverter. The two lines of the NEMA plug are jumpered to provide 120V to BOTH legs of the plug. This is how 50A RVs get power to all circuits when they plug into a 30A RV socket.

This was done just a couple months back. It's made a world of difference leaving the RVs powered full time.

We have a real problem with rodents. The badger clearly isn't doing its job, so we get the upper hand with... LIGHTS. Nocturnal animals won't nest where there is continuous light. We still have a few issues with them hiding out in cabinets, but the number that have taken up residence is dramatically reduced. Being able to leave a bunch of 4W LEDs on in strategic locations has almost completely eliminated significant intrusions. I need to find their ingress location, but these little bastids are small and can get into spaces I can't see!

If you made it to the end, thanks for reading.

 

[WoodsieLord]

We have a real problem with rodents. The badger clearly isn't doing its job, so we get the upper hand with... LIGHTS. Nocturnal animals won't nest where there is continuous light. We still have a few issues with them hiding out in cabinets, but the number that have taken up residence is dramatically reduced. Being able to leave a bunch of 4W LEDs on in strategic locations has almost completely eliminated significant intrusions. I need to find their ingress location, but these little bastids are small and can get into spaces I can't see!

You should keep cat as a pet. Don't know if you're a cat person but cat's smell is the best rodent prevention.
Your project is amazing. Reading your post reminded me of two experiences I had as a kid, both cases while in car trips at night. My memories for "starry nights" are exactly those two occasions

 

[snoobler]

You should keep cat as a pet. Don't know if you're a cat person but cat's smell is the best rodent prevention.
Your project is amazing. Reading your post reminded me of two experiences I had as a kid, both cases while in car trips at night. My memories for "starry nights" are exactly those two occasions

On the feline - unfortunately, at this time we only visit once very 2-4 weeks. If we were there full time, I'd consider it. There are a lot of coyotes and the occasional mountain lion, so a cat roaming free on the property would likely not survive in our absence. Thanks for the suggestion though. Fortunately, finding 1-2 mice in traps every 2-4 weeks, I'm good with that for the time being. Being able to leave on an exterior light, the engine compartment light and various interior lights has made a monumental difference.

At one point it was so bad, it threatened the wife's enthusiasm for the entire plan... No more.

 

[snoobler]

Done via running a 100 ft outdoor direct bury ethernet cable (that I didn't bother to bury):

Color Control GX FINALLY installed:



This thing is amazing. I can see the same or other displays on my phone remotely:



On the VRM portal, I can see updates every 5 minutes.






It also gives me full control of the attached 150/100 Smartsolar charge controller:



I can't tell for sure if I have every feature as though I'm sitting there connected via bluetooth, but I can definitely access everything I normally do, and I can modify the charge controller settings as I like.

I still have a BMV-700 that I need to get installed. I already had a cheap shunt and battery monitor installed as part of my previous system, so that's what's running for the time being.

Also got the rest of the bird spikes mounted to the top edge of the panels. I have some giant ravens or crows that love to perch up there and empty their cloacas down my panels. I was careful to ensure the steel spikes to not cast shadow on the panels.

Ran a stress test - background loads, coffee maker, water heater and microwave... pulled about 3800W. Didn't seem to bother anything.

I spent an absurd number of minutes turning things on and off to see how much the inverter power changed...

Nerd!

 

[snoobler]

I'm not even going to mention the WIDGETS I found after the rant above. OMG!

Things to do (updates in red and re-ordered):
Rewire my 72S panels from 3SXP to 2SXP (it does get cold enough for over-voltage to be a concern).
Replace Victron 150/100 with 250/100 so I don't have to rewire panels (lazy won).
Install the BMV-700 battery monitor.
Deploy the remaining 3kW of panels
Build my 39kWh Explody-lithium battery.
Deploy the second Quattro for 240V split phase - no priority as 4K is plenty for now, but the eventual dwelling will need it.
Get a second Victron charge controller (damn 3S to 2S reconfigure)
Build a dwelling.

 

[JoeHam]

On the feline - unfortunately, at this time we only visit once very 2-4 weeks.

I think the suggestion was that the residual cat smell would be a deterrent after you leave.

Perhaps you can take a “rent-a-cat” for one weekend and see if it helps. ?

That is a beefy panel mount you have. I just lean mine against my 20 foot container on the outskirts of San Tan Valley when I am there in the winter.

If you don’t mind saying, what city is your setup near?

 

[snoobler]

Pretty sure my neighbor has cats... might let them hang out at our place...

My original panel mount was generally fine, but the area gets a lot of gusting winds with sustained winds from 20-30mph during the day. Needed something more permanent.

It's within 25 minutes of Show Low.

 

[Prefersdirt]

Snake? should help with the rodents.

great post!

 

[snoobler]

Heh. Lots of snakes already around. We call them danger noodles to make them sound cuter. Wife's not a fan.

 

[snoobler]

I'm not even going to mention the WIDGETS I found after the rant above. OMG!

Things to do (updates in red and re-ordered):
Rewire my 72S panels from 3SXP to 2SXP (it does get cold enough for over-voltage to be a concern).
Replace Victron 150/100 with 250/100 so I don't have to rewire panels (lazy won).
Install the BMV-700 battery monitor.
Deploy the remaining 3kW of panels
Build my 39kWh Explody-lithium battery.
Deploy the second Quattro for 240V split phase - no priority as 4K is plenty for now, but the eventual dwelling will need it.
Get a second Victron charge controller (damn 3S to 2S reconfigure)
Build a dwelling.

UPDATE:

Done
Victron 250/100 installed
BMV-700 swapped for 702, installed

Things to do:
Build my 39kWh Explody-lithium NMC battery.
Deploy the remaining 3kW of panels
Deploy the second Quattro for 240V split phase - no priority as 4K is plenty for now, but the eventual dwelling will need it.
Build a dwelling.

I've started the process for the NMC battery:



Each row is a 21P 1.9kWh NMC "cell". The final battery will be a 26P16S battery. Yes. 16S for NMC. Quattro and SCC can handle 66V, and my peak voltage will be under 65V.

These Panasonic cells swell from heat due to gas expansion, and each little black thing between the cells is spacer for ventilation. Prior to complete assembly, the uncompressed cells/spacers are 4 cells longer than the case, so I have to compress the snot out of them. It takes me about an hour to build ONE of the above "cells" (a row of 21 cells).

Only 17 more to go...

FWIW, these are Panasonic cells from the Ford Fusion Energi PHEV. They can handle something like 150A EACH. Assuming I hammer both my Quattros with 10kW each, that's 417A - per cell that's 16A. I'm hopeful I'll get good life outta this fella.

 

[toms]

Thanks for sharing, great stuff!

 

[snoobler]

Oh... and a second Blink camera installed... looks like a divine light was shining down...

 

[Hdonly]

Used to live in Taylor, Arizona just up the road, back in the early 1960's. Snakes? Yes, plenty of snakes. Favorite swimming hole was Fourmile Ruin. Only thing I knew about the sun then was that it was hot! I am the little guy with his back turned. Back then the only application of solar cells was on space satellites. How the world has changed since this picture was taken!

 

[snoobler]

We're about 40 minutes from Snowflake. 90% of our time is spent working on stuff with 10% on exploring the much more local spots. Once things get less hectic, we'll branch out. Fourmile Ruin is on our list now.

 

[snoobler]

UPDATE:

A surprisingly beautiful weekend. Upper 50's, dry, cloudless sky and only about 4-5mph wind. Not typical for mid-Novemburr

Done:

1. Two more of the Lithium modules assembled, 5 of 20 complete (only thing on the previous to-do list).
2. DSL modem/router and Blink wifi module now running on the 12V system instead of the inverter, so I'll still have lights and Internet for about 18 hours if the inverter kicks off due to low voltage.
3. Extension cord cut and spliced to Quattro AC-in 1 for generator charging. Tested good. Limited to 15A draw from the 120VAC outlets, but that's about all the battery can take.

Things to do:

1. Vent the generator exhaust OUTSIDE the container.
2. CONTINUE to build my 39kWh Explody-lithium NMC battery (15 of 20 remain).
3. Install my studs and plywood backing for the permanent mounting of the hardware.
4. Deploy the remaining 3kW of panels
5. Deploy the second Quattro for 240V split phase - no priority as 4K is plenty for now, but the eventual dwelling will need it.
6. Build a dwelling.
7. An endless pile of nit-picky shit I'll never remember all at once.

 

[Hedges]

"Vent the generator exhaust OUTSIDE the container."

Is your generator inside the container? Hope its in a mostly sealed box, and suggest you get a CO alarm.

I saw that some generators had "vacu-flow cooling", suck air across the engine and exhaust it, rather than blowing air across the engine. This was to have negative pressure and keep fumes or crank case ventilation leaks from remaining inside.

 

[snoobler]

It's in the container. If it gets run, it's going to be with the door open. It's a cheap HF Predator, so I'm sure there's nothing special about it.

Container is for storage/working only.

As with all my systems, they are slap-together, makeshift, etc. This is just the next thing on the list for a fast and dirty, "make it work" solution.

 

[Hedges]

Looks like one portable generator is the equivalent of 450 cars all in your garage, idling.

https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/PresentationSAE_SETC.pdf

Fumes from generator in attached garage get into house, even with door wide open.

Carbon Monoxide Poisonings Spike After Big Storms. Portable Generators Are A Culprit

Portable generator use increases in winter, raising the risk of deadly carbon monoxide exposure. Safety advocates say the issue transcends user error, but legislative and regulatory efforts stall.

www.npr.org

Maybe it will solve any rodent problems you might have.

$20 bucks says you can have a warning before it kills you:

Kidde Firex Carbon Monoxide Detector, Battery Operated, CO Detector 21030863 - The Home Depot

Protect your family with the Kidde Firex Carbon Monoxide Detector, Battery Powered, CO Detector. The Kidde Firex Carbon Monoxide Detector, Battery Powered, CO Detector operates on one, 2-AA alkaline batteries.

www.homedepot.com

I had a splitting headache after spending the night next to an RV with generator running in a ski resort parking lot. I figured it was carbon monoxide poisoning.

 

[snoobler]

I have no doubts that running the generator inside the container will create plenty of CO. I have 3 CO detectors in the 5th wheel because I'm paranoid as hell. The exhaust will be a simple pipe punched through the wall with the exhaust ducted into it jet pump style. The goal will be to get MOST of the CO, etc. out of the container.

I ran it just long enough to register charging with the system and to purge the carb of fuel. The smell alone initiated an immediate evacuation of the container until it finished.

Emergency use only.

 

[snoobler]

UPDATE:

Done:

1. Two more of the Lithium modules assembled, 7 of 20 complete.
2. Fully winterized the 5th wheel. Temps are dropping...
3. Actually used the genny this time (completely outside the container)...

Things to do:

1. Vent the generator exhaust OUTSIDE the container.
2. CONTINUE to build my 39kWh Explody-lithium NMC battery (13 of 20 remain).
3. Install my studs and plywood backing for the permanent mounting of the hardware.
4. Deploy the remaining 3kW of panels
5. Deploy the second Quattro for 240V split phase - no priority as 4K is plenty for now, but the eventual dwelling will need it.
6. Build a dwelling.
7. An endless pile of nit-picky shit I'll never remember all at once.

Another weekend out at the ranch. 12V powering of the DSL modem/router and Blink cameras' wifi module remains viable. Wife didn't want to come back to civilization. Win.

Of course, her enthusiasm hinges on my ability to work "behind the scenes" and make off-grid restrictions seemingly non-existent.

As is not uncommon with middle-aged females, body temperature maintenance may be somewhat... erratic.

That coupled with nightly lows in the 20's makes for interesting solutions. For her, it's a heated throw over the bed. For me, that's another 100W burn on top of 200W with background and propane furnace blower running more often than not... That's a big drain on COLD batteries, especially if I'm trying to keep them above 60% SoC to prevent freezing.

Two hours after sundown, battery was at a meager 80% per the BMV... WTF? Yes. Heated throw and furnace as predicted.

Used the extension cord attached to the Quattro last visit with the cheap-o Predator and voila.... 1300W charging or so. Ran for about 1.5 hours to get the battery up to nearly 93%.

What really sucked was the power coming out of that generator. Voltage was pretty steady at 112V, but the frequency was 58-62Hz. The Quattro synched to that, so my LED shop light in the container was clearly reacting to it with a sort of flickering. Not horrible, just disappointing. Can you tell when I ran the genny from this plot of the last 48 hours?



Ick.

Wife was toasty warm all night long, and she regretted the decision to only stay one night. Progress!