Gday i spent about 2 years off grid in a camper
Not knowing much about solar i started off with a single 100a lifep04 battery (and ofcourse lead acids but they were junk) i found one 100ah could just manage to run my fridge overnight (6a draw)
I would like to share my setup as i think it is most minimal cheapest reliable system that one can build
I ended up with 3 100amp solarking batteries that provided me with enough power to run my ps4 fridge and to occasionally cook on a induction cooktop
I started off with 600w of solar and quickly realised that was not enough to refill the batteries (worked well when out on the road)
So i added 1.2kw of solar to a shed that i had just using second hand 250w panels
I lived off that system for two years with no issues using multiple inverters (purchased many chinese ones that failed to do what i wanted)
I ended up with a 3000w kings and was happy with that i wish i bought that one first
I would like to share what i think is the best budget setup i really wish that everyone had what i had and lived off grid
I am only going to share the products i had success with and i think are stout and a good investment
Please note i used solarkings but i have listed kings as this is a budget build so i am assuming that kings are good please tell me if there not
I used solarking batterys only they were 750 each but i see prices of kings are now 500 however i do not have any experiance with them
I caution people to only buy what others have reviewed there are many batteries flooding the market that do not actually hold 100amps
Someone please tell me if the kings hold water i will list them only because there the most budget friendly
Okay so heres what you need
3x 100a batteries 1500 (kings 500per)
3x renorgy rover li 600
Kings 3000w inverter 400
5x250w solarpanels 350
Second hand 70pp
Renorgy shunt 100
Total 2950
You may want a 12v fridge but i could imagine there would be enough energy to run a 240v fridge aswell
I wish i knew all the information i provided before purchasing and or repurchasing all the gear i needed
So there you have it if you have 3k to spend that is the gear i can recommend from experiance
As i said before i used to cook with 2.2kw induction cooktop it takes literally minutes to cook a nice steak so it only costs you maybe 400w of battery storage to doso
If you want to run something power hungry like a pc then maybe you want to reevaluate the ammount of batteries and solar but a laptop would be ideal
I used to run a led tv and a ps4 and used to be up all night using it and never ran flat
Thanks for reading my little story i hope this post reaches you in time so that you know what works and how much a all in system that works costs in total
All the gear i have listed i believe to be stout and money well spent
Please note this does not include all the cabling i actually ended up running dual 8g wires to all the batteries and to the inverter
I also had a voltage sensitive switch vsr and ran the inverter through it and that cooked it (was rated for 220a but it couldnt handle a constant load)
Only use solar rated cabling 4mm is enough normal cables degrade in the sun very quickly i bought a 100m roll but needed the distance due to having the shed a little while away
May add or edit later on would love to hear what you guys think of my selection i think this is a bang for buck setup
Not knowing much about solar i started off with a single 100a lifep04 battery (and ofcourse lead acids but they were junk) i found one 100ah could just manage to run my fridge overnight (6a draw)
I would like to share my setup as i think it is most minimal cheapest reliable system that one can build
I ended up with 3 100amp solarking batteries that provided me with enough power to run my ps4 fridge and to occasionally cook on a induction cooktop
I started off with 600w of solar and quickly realised that was not enough to refill the batteries (worked well when out on the road)
So i added 1.2kw of solar to a shed that i had just using second hand 250w panels
I lived off that system for two years with no issues using multiple inverters (purchased many chinese ones that failed to do what i wanted)
I ended up with a 3000w kings and was happy with that i wish i bought that one first
I would like to share what i think is the best budget setup i really wish that everyone had what i had and lived off grid
I am only going to share the products i had success with and i think are stout and a good investment
Please note i used solarkings but i have listed kings as this is a budget build so i am assuming that kings are good please tell me if there not
I used solarking batterys only they were 750 each but i see prices of kings are now 500 however i do not have any experiance with them
I caution people to only buy what others have reviewed there are many batteries flooding the market that do not actually hold 100amps
Someone please tell me if the kings hold water i will list them only because there the most budget friendly
Okay so heres what you need
3x 100a batteries 1500 (kings 500per)
3x renorgy rover li 600
Kings 3000w inverter 400
5x250w solarpanels 350
Second hand 70pp
Renorgy shunt 100
Total 2950
You may want a 12v fridge but i could imagine there would be enough energy to run a 240v fridge aswell
I wish i knew all the information i provided before purchasing and or repurchasing all the gear i needed
So there you have it if you have 3k to spend that is the gear i can recommend from experiance
As i said before i used to cook with 2.2kw induction cooktop it takes literally minutes to cook a nice steak so it only costs you maybe 400w of battery storage to doso
If you want to run something power hungry like a pc then maybe you want to reevaluate the ammount of batteries and solar but a laptop would be ideal
I used to run a led tv and a ps4 and used to be up all night using it and never ran flat
Thanks for reading my little story i hope this post reaches you in time so that you know what works and how much a all in system that works costs in total
All the gear i have listed i believe to be stout and money well spent
Please note this does not include all the cabling i actually ended up running dual 8g wires to all the batteries and to the inverter
I also had a voltage sensitive switch vsr and ran the inverter through it and that cooked it (was rated for 220a but it couldnt handle a constant load)
Only use solar rated cabling 4mm is enough normal cables degrade in the sun very quickly i bought a 100m roll but needed the distance due to having the shed a little while away
May add or edit later on would love to hear what you guys think of my selection i think this is a bang for buck setup
