For a more in depth dive into building your own setup, I recommend reading 'Wind and Solar Electricity' by Andy Reynolds (lowimpact.org) as reviewed in my latest video!
wondering if your still using solar , i know its been a few years since you made this video but we are planning to buy our own land , ive been learning for a few years which off grid system would be best to set up at present we have settled on the alternator method just wondered if you have tryed it or thought about it , great videos and really great content
There's always someone who feels threatened by people who generously give of their time and knowledge...I know who I would rather be listening to and maybe the thumbs downer knows at heart that he/she is a sad specimen who could never compete. Also, if you look, the same number seem to always be giving the thumbs down. I haven't in this case but often it is just a couple of socially and intellectually challenged people or maybe just one with access to a couple of devices?
I did, as 7th person. Because, as much as Maximus may be considered an expert in various departments, physics is not his field. Hands-on experience is not enough, when someone lacks fundamental theory and tries to mentor others. Urban legends are born this way.
@@Ansset0 I'll take practical first hand encyclopaedic advice thanks from someone 95% right on a broad range of things instead of being 99.9% right on 2% of what we need to know but clueless on anything else.
A few days ago i had no idea HOW to live ‘OG’ (off grid) . Now watching your lectures my brain is taking in all your useful info! You should seriously be a lecturer as more and more peeps will become homeless due to greedy developers wanting £500k to live in a shoe box!
I live off grid in a cottage in the middle of the moors, i recently upgraded my lister generator to a new solar/ lithium / isuzu system and it's awesome. The Victron controller lets me set the gennie to come on when the battery bank is 25% and stop when its 75% or manually turn it on via my phone. But so far (as i had it installed beginning of summer) the generator has never had to come on and i work from home on a computer all day, play video games, watch films, use microwave, electric kettle power shower etc. I've even had a 3kw heater on some nights. It's literally like i'm living off mains but without an electric bill.
@@maximusironthumper have a look at Lead carbon batteries, I've just installed 8 x 160AH Victron LC, cost about £2.5k equivalent lithium was quoted at nearly £7k the biggest disadvantage is the weight, totally irrelevant for off grid applications.
I dont suppose you can give us a run down of your set up? I'm looking to move into a horsebox but the one thing I have concerns about is living off of solar alone. What happens on days without sun for instance?! Anyway, sounds like a lovely set up you have. :)
I've learnt more from you than any School No nonsense get to the point, something you do just fine My favourite word of all Time is used often in your videos and my life Free Free and Free💡😜
great video Max. where i'm from in western Canada almost everyone has a small hunting cabin tucked away somewhere that is off-grid. i've seen all types of batteries and inverters and generator systems and now i'm trying to design my own for my own tiny house/off grid cabin. the information you presented in this video helps to clear up a few misconceptions i had about charging deep cycle batteries and explains why they go dead so fast. i'm really enjoying your channel and am quickly running out of videos to watch. would love to see the gassifier in action. also very impressed with the Land Rover series. i had no idea they were so utilitarian.
Great video, I've been marathon watching these videos, I think yours is probably the best for clearly explaining your knowledge and reasoning behind your setup. I love it. I'm a student, doing my dissertation this year on these small scale power systems. I'm investigating the pheasibility of mechanical storage over chemical batteries, options such as flywheels & reservoirs.
Great to hear that you are taking information from sources such as this guy, hope you ended up getting the results you hoped. Did you find anything interesting regarding alternative storage? Is there some holy grail way of using excess power after charging batteries to run a pump for a reservoir or even lighting and irrigation for biofuel crops or something even more out the box?
Max, I love watching your videos and I've watched this one several times but just heard "slightly illuminating".. haha very good, keep up the jokes as well as the videos .. I'd also just like to say how inspiring you've been as I'm about to do something similar to you. I own five acres in the Dorset countryside, built 2 pole barns (30'x30' and 20'x60' full of timber, and vintage tractors/machinery) and my next step is a traditional Canadian style log cabin which im planning to live in (off grid). Just collected the last of the round timber, last week and due to make a start in the next week or so. Weather permitting.. Thank you so much for your technical advice, amusing videos and inspiration. You keep me pushing forward. Thanks again
I've been looking into doing this for a few years now and have been totally overwhelmed by the books advice videos etc all telling you different things! I have some of my own 'food sources' so to speak but I'm limited to what I can grow etc. I try and recycle water and everything else I use and try to buy as little as possible from shops and places. Then I found this guy! And in the UK!! I am now so very optimistic and enthusiastic again! I'm now looking for some land where I can start with my 'shed' and gradually turn my life around and live the life I've wanted to for so many years! To be as self sufficient as possible.....a lot of hard work ahead I think but I have the passion and determination which I hope will help me get there!! Thankyou thankyou thankyou!! 👩🌾🐔
I've plannned for a long time now to buy some land and go off grid the same as you have, i've found your videos extremely useful in educating me on the Dos, Don'ts and solutions to problems i hadn't acknowledged before. Thank you and keep up the good work!
I am 3 minutes in watching this... And it is one of the best videos I have ever seen in you tube. Thank you for the information. Living the similar lifestyle so all the information is well received . I like the style and I like the no nonsense... Good job well done
Covid 19 talk so much sense and integrity Thank you very much. I also like to fix or create and feel blessed that a fifty year career in metal bashing gives me a feel for what might be possible from a collection of unlikely components. Again many thanks Stay home stay safe look forward.
Thank you so much for these videos, Max. At this point, it seems unlikely i will ever be as independent as you but your videos are non-the-less inspiring and educational. As soon as I get paid I'll try and give you some beer money to go some way to acknowledging the great stuff you do.
I think lovely man you are going to become invaluable to me. You give me hope that I can back to England. Thankfully I'v already done 4 years on land in portugal.
You're brilliant you know. I only discovered your channel today and you have given me answers to heaps of things that have been worrying me about when I get the solar/wind hybrid system and heaps of other things that you have better ways of doing. You really should be a lecturer as I have followed everything so far (my late father was a marine engineer and I was the token boy in the family so some stuff I had a grasp of but others were way over my head...thanks). And now I want a bread maker whatever it does Lol! It just seems like one of the best ways to use extra solar...of course there's probably heaps of things like that....it's my stomach speaking Lol!
The 89% battery explanation is very useful to know, that explains why mine charges quickly via a split charge relay in the campervan. It can go from showing 12v to 12.4v in about 40 mins (90amp alternator) but running it for an hour sat doesn't seem to add much. I need solar on my roof to maintain my battery instead of the foldaway thing I have which is only 40 warts and a faff to get out and hook up. Its out now as the sun is shining today (East Anglia area) and its putting something in which saves running the engine for a change but it won't be much that goes in, an amp or two at best. Good video, thank you for your time and effort.
Very cool mate ... thanks for that. I can certainly understand that you haven't the time to design or provide step by step instructions for systems ... but equally what you do provide is just as valuable for those who want to avoid pitfalls you've discovered. I for one would love to see some of the stuff ... the gassifier for example. It wouldn't need to be running, just showing us and explaining how you built it would be fascinating. As MarktheOddJob mentions in his comment ... even though many of us are unlikely to ever rebuild a tractor engine, we enjoy seeing you doing it and we learn a bit more along the way.
Perfect explanation, made much clearer than any other RUclips video I’ve seen to date... and it is in plain English. It would be nice to see the big diesel generator you mention and how it all links up. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge with us and helping us to avoid making the same costly mistakes. You now have yet another subscriber... Cheers
Wonderfull simple explanation! I am quite a bit into electronics, and sometimes struggling with how to explain to someone else. Great video again, will share it with some friends over here. For the off grid living, love this way youre living. Here in Holland you almost won't find it. Due to lak of space and to much regulations. Cheers ;-)
Love the clipboard, makes you much more authoritative! I enjoy all of your videos even though I live in London and am unlikely to be able to live off grid or rebuild a tractor engine in the foreseeable future. I do love my Series 2 though. Anyway, keep up the good work.
It looks like a I'm about to move into a yurt (which is currently full of sheep shit). Excited and maybe more nervous than i expected. Looking forward to messing about with getting a power supply, if only for a few leds. Thanks for the inspiration and straighforwardness, you are a good teacher. :)
Another informative video Max. I thought I knew most stuff about batteries, chargers and solar, but I learned a few things from this 😀 While I’m not off grid, I use this stuff in vehicles etc and it’s good to know more and therefore get better life from batteries etc.
Another great video Max, what I know about solar power is very basic, possibly postage stamp material, your explanation of the alternate options for charging, and the differences between the controller and inverter types may well have brought me up to the realms of a postcard. (A big improvement for me.) ;) I have a few small panels sculling about, to run a single led bulb in a remote woodshed for example and another to charge a car battery which runs an exhaust fan to keep the poly tunnel from going into meltdown by sucking hot air out. Unfortunately I can't really afford any kind of proper solar array, a single panel would be expensive let alone the batteries and controllers, etc., but when I can get a system together I now feel a lot more confident in understanding the further reading I would need to do to design a basic system. Thank you vey much for your time Max, these videos will help many of us who find these concepts a little too unfamiliar. You're a star Sir. (y) Kane
Thanks for the feedback. If you're really skint try keeping an eye out on ebay and the like for broken panels, these are very cheap panels damaged in storms etc with broken glass. They don't work as well but even 60% of a 250w panel is a fair amount of power.
Just found your channel and it's great! Thank you so much for taking the time to share all this information with us. You're literally living the dream! I think it's great that you're not putting pressure on yourself to be completely off grid 100% of the time. I can see that it works so well and that you are very happy. I have vehicle envy ;) Enjoy the Spring!
I'm a new subscriber, what excellent video , i like the way you try to simplify everything into layman's terms ,looking forward to more of your work :-) :-)
A brilliant basic explanation of the basic important points concerning a solar battery system. The explanation on the multi stage charging of batteries was spot on especially concerning bulk vs. absorption charging. Kicking in the bulk charge with the big generator and then switching to the mini generator is a useful concept that most people miss. A little more detail on your smart meter use and function would be nice , but overall well done video.
A brilliant explanation for beginners, I am just learning myself, to cut a long story short I divorced and ended up keeping a run down urban semi, not my ideal thing, I would love to live more off the land like you. However, I am trying to make the best of what I have available and my tiny monthly wage which keeps getting smaller with inflation. The first thing to go after my divorce was the TV, I had to cut back to survive on my own, the next thing to go was the gas boiler, for around 5 years I survived on very little heat, in fact during the winter of 2010 I recorded a lounge temperature of minus 1 degrees. For five years I had a brand new Dunsley Yorkshire stove sat on a pallet, I had bought the stove but could not afford the flue liner and vermiculite to fit it. My only form of heat became a stove I desperately welded up from scrap metal one weekend and botched into an old fireplace. Luckily I have had a homemade solar thermal system since 2002, so hot water between February and October never was much of an issue, immersion heaters were also an option but they had to be run at night on cheap rate. 2012 was interesting, British Gas sent me a letter, up until that point my quarterly gas bills were around about £20 for winter time and around £0.50p for the summer months, I only ever cooked on gas nothing else, and I used camping stoves outside during good summer weather with free gas bottles people gave me. The letter said that they were introducing standing charges, this was going to make my bills around £90 a year just for the luxury of owning a gas meter, not surprisingly I instructed them to remove the meter from my property ASAP. For around a year I run a camping stove on the top of my nearly new natural gas cooker, this was not ideal but unfortunately, my cooker was of a type that could not be converted to run on bottled gas. Eventually, I traded some of my time to do some work for someone, in return, I got a bottled gas type cooker, this was still not ideal because of the gas bottle being indoors next to the cooker, in a former job I used to do gas work, and I even had a ticket at the time so I quite conversant with LPG, so I made up a vented stainless steel housing for the gas bottle to live outside, and using the existing gas piping from the old natural gas system I managed to safely pipe the LPG indoors and use an LPG rated cooker flex. My journey into off-grid living is still ongoing with so much more to get done as and when time and money allow, I had some roof repairs done, so I managed to fit 8 x 100watt 12-volt panels, but it was then two years or more before anything was done with them. Although during the roof repairs I fitted the Dunsley Yorkshire and piped it into my old central heating system, which now works a treat. I eventually made the panels off into two banks of four panels and connected them to a nice thick four core wire armoured cable which I had the pain of dragging through my walls, at the same time I was chopping up some Yew tree for firewood, not the easiest to split, between those two jobs I virtually lost the use of my arms for nearly two weeks such was the strain. Years ago I remember a TV program which came out with Major Dick Strawbridge, it was called "IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN" those five words certainly are very true. The PVs on the roof doing nothing were eating away at me, during a crisp cold winter day I managed to light an old incandescent 100watt light bulb quite brightly and draw an impressive arc of the end of the cables. The feeling cannot be described when you feel the raw power of solar energy, to people who do not appreciate the safest nuclear power plant we have (The Sun) it is hard to explain. Many years ago I had put a drop of water into my homemade solar thermal panel in a bid to prevent any desoldering of the copper joints to give me time to connect up the plumbing, I was in the loft and the sun came out, I could hear the water start to boil, I foolishly put my hand across the top outlet, the steam gave me quite a burn. Anyway, I had fitted a nice change over switch to go between grid electricity and my full sine wave inverted which was still sitting in a cardboard box under the bed. Then last year it happened I found some batteries which were still ok, which I could buy for scrap value a tenner each. I used an old display freezer tipped horizontally on its side, I figured it would make an ideal battery box, insulated against heat and cold extremes and with a see-through door, I set about wiring it all up with 70mm crossectional area welding cable, crimp on lugs and battery clamps YIKES THE COST! how much a meter!!! I nearly fainted, maybe I should have used flattened copper pipe links like other youtubers. When I switched it on and put the changeover from grid to home power on and everything worked fine, the feeling was something else, I still need more batteries and panels, but I am working on that. I already have some panels sat in carboard boxes doing nothing, I chose an electric company called Ebico to supply my electricity at an increased unit rate but with zero standing charge. My winter electricity bill would usually be around £60 with British Gas, but with being frugal and using solar at times I got it down to £17, my bill for the last three months of last summer was £4. Yes, I do live frugal, because I live in a town, if I want something frozen, I go and buy it from Lidl or Iceland, I let the supermarkets pay to keep stuff frozen or cold, my small box fridge and box freezer are seldom switched on, I do not drink Tea so no energy boiling kettles, and no energy keeping milk cold. In winter I tend to hang carrier bags of food that needs to be chilled from an "S" hook under a door canopy. But when I have lots of spare power in the summer, yes I may run the fridge. My biggest game changer this year will be my 12volt Fridge I will wire up very soon, already my 12volt system is taking shape with a 12volt socket and a voltmeter in my bedroom, my bedside lamp has 12volt led bulbs in it and a cigar plug replaced the old mains plug. Using 12volt directly is far better than using the inverter all the time and suffering the power conversion losses. On a final note, I had my 500watt sander running the other night, for quite some time trying to get planer marks out of a Teak plank I have had sitting around for nearly 30years, it was amazing to think about the fact that earlier that day, the energy running through the sander had started life millions of miles away when lots of heavy Hydrogen nuclei smashed together releasing massive amounts of heat. The stupidity of not harnessing solar energy to me is just totally insane, but then to a psychopathic, elitist energy fat cat whos only love in life is money and he is not really bothered about the planet not even for the future of his own kids then you can understand why these scumbags downplay the potential of correctly harvested solar energy. More sunlight energy falls on the planet in two minutes than what the entire energy consumption needs are in a year. But I do believe the tide is turning, and folk like us are taking a stand against a very corrupt and deleterious system which is failing the whole of mankind be they be rich or poor.
Very interesting story of your journey! I well know the frustration of having projects only part completed due to lack of funds - when I put in the poles for my barn, another 3 years went by before I could afford the wood to join them all together. I have gone the other way with power, I got a very good deal on a secondhand super efficient inverter and most of my lighting, gadgets etc is now 240v, my fridge is an A+ mains fridge. The trouble I had with 12v fridges was that unless you get a very expensive one they tend to be unregulated and just get colder and colder. I agree they are optional items, I went 10 years or so without a fridge and used the same technique as you of letting the shop pay for the cooling!
@@maximusironthumper The Fridge was free, apparently, it works although I have not tried it yet and it was off an expensive hire boat fleet, they changed them routinely regardless of their condition, it is a compressor type, but the insulation never seems to be very thick on boat fridges, maybe it is to save space. I have kept stuff cool before by leaving water in the sink and using a wet tea towel for a wick to take advantage of evaporative cooling. A few years back I went walking with a friend, it was a bitterly cold January day, and on returning to his old BMW car the windscreen had frozen and I remember thinking it was going to take ages to get everything warmed up. To my surprise on turning the key hot air almost immediately blasted out of the blowers, I was puzzled, the car had been sitting about five hours. It turned out the car had a PCM box, PHASE CHANGE MEDIA, it comprised of a box surrounded by Aerogel insulation and a special Eutectic mix of special salts, Lithium Nitrate and Potassium Nitrate I think it was in the right quantities. The salts in the box melted from waste engine heat and they stayed molten for around four days, on starting the car 45KW of heat is suddenly dumped back into the engine circuit as the salts in the box changed back to a solid. Ever since that day I have wanted to experiment storing excess solar heat in a PCM, the chemicals of choice, might be either Candle Wax or Sodium Sulphate with some added Sodium Chloride. I am still at the research stage for this though.
One trick with your fridge freezer if you get a couple of 2liter plastic pop bottles 3/4fill them with water and a cup of salt freeze them and when frozen put them in the fridge it will cut down down the fridge ramping up during the day.the salt water defrost slower than normal I e water. Reg in dublin
"My inner engineer" wants to get hold of some of that power that the solar controller is chucking away (Well, in my limited understanding, it's chucking some away). I love the idea of getting a cheap second-hand UPS to use as an inverter... it's one of those things that's obvious once you say it but I'd never had thought of it until you did, It's great that we can all learn from your mistakes... even though it must have been a pain to make those mistakes in the first place.
I sometimes make use of the excess power by using it to heat water (immersion heater) or pump compressed air into my big receiver. It does rely on me being on the ball enough to turn things on - maybe one day I'll build an automated and optimised system - maybe!
@@maximusironthumper I'm a software developer in my day job.... I could imagine a control system getting very complicated very quickly.... keeping you eyes on things sounds loads easier, even if you do "miss" occasionally.
wind turbine (mine is '600w' 24v) on a 6m scaffold pole, three guy wires. Its the cost of connecting to batbank, as cable needs to be fat for a long run. Also shitting yourself when a big storm runs through is no fun. On the plus, general day and night trickle feed, with winter peak generation. A dump system a definite requirement, into your water tank?
That´s why driving small stretches with your car is worthless for your battery, it never fully charges and looses a little from it´s original voltage until it won´t charge anymore. What we really need is a new generation of batteries, that would be able to go down low and still be able to be charged up to workable capacity, over and over again. Also, exide(and other producers) sells smart chargers for a good price(~100 pounds), that will maintain or trickle -charge your battery after it´s "full", never making it boil. I´ve used one at work for 10 years now, almost every day, without it breaking.
Great videos. Reminds me of visiting my grandfather back in the 70’s so a step back in time.. Notice you have a hill in the Russian truck video. How about putting IBC containers at the top and bottom of the hill, connect via pipes and then use a solar powered pump to create a water store that you can release at night to recover power from?
Sadly gravity as a force is weak as fuck. You need many many IBCs to get any decent amount of storage from them. A car battery like the one in the video will store about 1.5kwh when fully charged. To get 1.5kwh out of gravity storage you need a whole load of water. Lets say you have a very generous 50m height difference. 1.5kwh is 5.4MJ Gpe=mgh So m=Gpe/gh So m=5.4e6/9.81*50 m=11000kg or 11 tons. For a magical 100% efficient system you'd need 11 IBCs to replace 1 tiny car battery.
You ever thought about making a couple wind veins to spin a bank of alternators/generator's because your area has a fair amount of continuous wind power?
Love your video's, do quite a bit of binge watching. Can I ask about charging your lead acid batteries with the generator? Do you disconnect them from the rest of the installation to top the charge up. I've seen some inverters that have a generator or mains input built into them. An internal switch senses voltage on the input and switches to charging the batteries from the generator. My batteries rarely drop below 65% but have never stayed at 100% for long. Just want to stick the generator on every now and then. Thinking about going totally of grid with electricity, standing charge will be costing me more than what I use by April. Started drinking rainwater a while back, chlorinate it, filter it and boil it. Drank from a puddle once in my twenties after a very heavy cider night and sleeping in a bush and still here so cant be that bad for you. Take care Chris.
No, the batteries are always connected to the system - whether charging via solar or generator. That way the charge source covers the load(s) plus provides as much charging as the battery needs.
Think about, or research, tying a wind turbine to a big weather balloon and tethering it to your barn. Possibly big heights to be attained, clearing the top of the forest foliage?
If you've got even a small stream on your land you can also consider making a small water wheel generator. Even if its 100-200w it's 24x7 so worth a lot and much more preferable to wind IMHO. I like solar best of all as it's nor mechanical, water then and last wind...
I Need approx half to one acre of land for building a pole barn and siting a Polly tunnel. Can be rough - wooded (pref) whatever that needs clearing and work say but not a low lying/flood zone area.. Pembrokeshire - west Wales area is a main interest but will look/move as far as north Yorkshire too. Cash buyer if needed at a lower price. A Sustainable living project plot has been a goal for me for a good spell. Workshop build to construct tiny homes too. Thanks.
For a more in depth dive into building your own setup, I recommend reading 'Wind and Solar Electricity' by Andy Reynolds (lowimpact.org) as reviewed in my latest video!
This is clear and informative, more than enough, you are very knowledgeable!
wondering if your still using solar , i know its been a few years since you made this video but we are planning to buy our own land , ive been learning for a few years which off grid system would be best to set up at present we have settled on the alternator method just wondered if you have tryed it or thought about it , great videos and really great content
Just bought the book - arriving tomorrow from Amazon :-)
You should do training days mate. I'd happily pay to take some of you knowledge back to my workshop.
To pay this guy for a personal walk through on this is something I'd paid for.
Who gave this a thumbs down? He's giving you free information that can only be of benefit to you!
There's always someone who feels threatened by people who generously give of their time and knowledge...I know who I would rather be listening to and maybe the thumbs downer knows at heart that he/she is a sad specimen who could never compete. Also, if you look, the same number seem to always be giving the thumbs down. I haven't in this case but often it is just a couple of socially and intellectually challenged people or maybe just one with access to a couple of devices?
Pricks 🤬
I did, as 7th person.
Because, as much as Maximus may be considered an expert in various departments, physics is not his field. Hands-on experience is not enough, when someone lacks fundamental theory and tries to mentor others. Urban legends are born this way.
@@Ansset0 I'll take practical first hand encyclopaedic advice thanks from someone 95% right on a broad range of things instead of being 99.9% right on 2% of what we need to know but clueless on anything else.
What a nice guy. We need more people like him in Parliament. But we've got nothing but Rats at present.
A few days ago i had no idea HOW to live ‘OG’ (off grid) . Now watching your lectures my brain is taking in all your useful info! You should seriously be a lecturer as more and more peeps will become homeless due to greedy developers wanting £500k to live in a shoe box!
Land value's still extortionate. You'll be lucky to get a good deal on a decent stretch of land.
I live off grid in a cottage in the middle of the moors, i recently upgraded my lister generator to a new solar/ lithium / isuzu system and it's awesome. The Victron controller lets me set the gennie to come on when the battery bank is 25% and stop when its 75% or manually turn it on via my phone. But so far (as i had it installed beginning of summer) the generator has never had to come on and i work from home on a computer all day, play video games, watch films, use microwave, electric kettle power shower etc. I've even had a 3kw heater on some nights. It's literally like i'm living off mains but without an electric bill.
That sounds great! I look forward to the day I can afford a lithium battery bank - not there just yet!
@@maximusironthumper have a look at Lead carbon batteries, I've just installed 8 x 160AH Victron LC, cost about £2.5k equivalent lithium was quoted at nearly £7k the biggest disadvantage is the weight, totally irrelevant for off grid applications.
How did it go through the winter? I'm very keen to instal something similar in Northern Ireland, but worried about those darker months.
I dont suppose you can give us a run down of your set up? I'm looking to move into a horsebox but the one thing I have concerns about is living off of solar alone. What happens on days without sun for instance?!
Anyway, sounds like a lovely set up you have. :)
Could I ask what this cost you too set up? Sounds exactly like what I want
Just finished your offgrid basics series, and I wanted to say thank you for sharing a bit of your wealth of knowledge. You're an amazing teacher
I've learnt more from you than any School
No nonsense get to the point, something you do just fine
My favourite word of all Time is used often in your videos and my life Free Free and Free💡😜
Great explanation I actually learn from it thanks again for sharing your information
Super useful, thank you Max ☺
You're most welcome!
great video Max. where i'm from in western Canada almost everyone has a small hunting cabin tucked away somewhere that is off-grid. i've seen all types of batteries and inverters and generator systems and now i'm trying to design my own for my own tiny house/off grid cabin. the information you presented in this video helps to clear up a few misconceptions i had about charging deep cycle batteries and explains why they go dead so fast. i'm really enjoying your channel and am quickly running out of videos to watch. would love to see the gassifier in action. also very impressed with the Land Rover series. i had no idea they were so utilitarian.
He's a top Guy, seems very happy with his lot. Its an art to be able to explain technical things in an easy to grasp way.
Thank you for making these videos. I wish one day I will live a life like this :)
Thank you for taking the time to do these videos. Fantastic information.
Great video, I've been marathon watching these videos, I think yours is probably the best for clearly explaining your knowledge and reasoning behind your setup. I love it.
I'm a student, doing my dissertation this year on these small scale power systems. I'm investigating the pheasibility of mechanical storage over chemical batteries, options such as flywheels & reservoirs.
Great to hear that you are taking information from sources such as this guy, hope you ended up getting the results you hoped.
Did you find anything interesting regarding alternative storage? Is there some holy grail way of using excess power after charging batteries to run a pump for a reservoir or even lighting and irrigation for biofuel crops or something even more out the box?
Max, I love watching your videos and I've watched this one several times but just heard "slightly illuminating".. haha very good, keep up the jokes as well as the videos ..
I'd also just like to say how inspiring you've been as I'm about to do something similar to you. I own five acres in the Dorset countryside, built 2 pole barns (30'x30' and 20'x60' full of timber, and vintage tractors/machinery) and my next step is a traditional Canadian style log cabin which im planning to live in (off grid).
Just collected the last of the round timber, last week and due to make a start in the next week or so. Weather permitting..
Thank you so much for your technical advice, amusing videos and inspiration. You keep me pushing forward. Thanks again
I've been looking into doing this for a few years now and have been totally overwhelmed by the books advice videos etc all telling you different things!
I have some of my own 'food sources' so to speak but I'm limited to what I can grow etc. I try and recycle water and everything else I use and try to buy as little as possible from shops and places.
Then I found this guy! And in the UK!! I am now so very optimistic and enthusiastic again! I'm now looking for some land where I can start with my 'shed' and gradually turn my life around and live the life I've wanted to for so many years! To be as self sufficient as possible.....a lot of hard work ahead I think but I have the passion and determination which I hope will help me get there!!
Thankyou thankyou thankyou!! 👩🌾🐔
Thank you sir. You've helped me understand systems I've been aware of. Your narrative is most helpful!
I've plannned for a long time now to buy some land and go off grid the same as you have, i've found your videos extremely useful in educating me on the Dos, Don'ts and solutions to problems i hadn't acknowledged before. Thank you and keep up the good work!
this is useful and informative - really glad people like yourself take the time to make videos like this.
I am 3 minutes in watching this... And it is one of the best videos I have ever seen in you tube. Thank you for the information. Living the similar lifestyle so all the information is well received . I like the style and I like the no nonsense... Good job well done
Covid 19 talk so much sense and integrity Thank you very much. I also like to fix or create and feel blessed that a fifty year career in metal bashing gives me a feel for what might be possible from a collection of unlikely components.
Again many thanks Stay home stay safe look forward.
Excellent Maximus😂
No idea how I ended up here. Have no interest in living off grid, but my god I could listen to you talk about it for hours. Top work
Been dragged up with this in a not to dissimilar fashion, so can endorse 100% mate
BRAVO!!! You are simply BRILLIANT! Succinct and fundamental explanations for the flippin’ acronyms at last! Thank you SO MUCH!
very well explained a perfect way to illustrate in basic no nonsense terms , i'm sure it will help many people , well done
Thank you!
Thank you so much for these videos, Max. At this point, it seems unlikely i will ever be as independent as you but your videos are non-the-less inspiring and educational. As soon as I get paid I'll try and give you some beer money to go some way to acknowledging the great stuff you do.
I think lovely man you are going to become invaluable to me. You give me hope that I can back to England. Thankfully I'v already done 4 years on land in portugal.
Excellent video. You make it so much easier to understand. Thank you very much.
Be careful out there, there's a panther roaming the area at 6:15
Great video by the way (y)
You're brilliant you know. I only discovered your channel today and you have given me answers to heaps of things that have been worrying me about when I get the solar/wind hybrid system and heaps of other things that you have better ways of doing. You really should be a lecturer as I have followed everything so far (my late father was a marine engineer and I was the token boy in the family so some stuff I had a grasp of but others were way over my head...thanks).
And now I want a bread maker whatever it does Lol! It just seems like one of the best ways to use extra solar...of course there's probably heaps of things like that....it's my stomach speaking Lol!
Your videos are a treat! Well-done to you my Viking friend!
I've heard of inverter generators, but did not realise the economic aspect of them, with variable engine speeds. Very informative, thanks.
The 89% battery explanation is very useful to know, that explains why mine charges quickly via a split charge relay in the campervan. It can go from showing 12v to 12.4v in about 40 mins (90amp alternator) but running it for an hour sat doesn't seem to add much. I need solar on my roof to maintain my battery instead of the foldaway thing I have which is only 40 warts and a faff to get out and hook up. Its out now as the sun is shining today (East Anglia area) and its putting something in which saves running the engine for a change but it won't be much that goes in, an amp or two at best. Good video, thank you for your time and effort.
Its just like when I uased to have actual lessons at school, well presented, but I got distracted by an animal outside the classroom (cat at 6:19)!
ha ha i saw that too lol
Yes me too, and had to rewind!!, :)
Dyslexics are us! The cat, me too!
Excellent information!
Very cool mate ... thanks for that. I can certainly understand that you haven't the time to design or provide step by step instructions for systems ... but equally what you do provide is just as valuable for those who want to avoid pitfalls you've discovered. I for one would love to see some of the stuff ... the gassifier for example. It wouldn't need to be running, just showing us and explaining how you built it would be fascinating. As MarktheOddJob mentions in his comment ... even though many of us are unlikely to ever rebuild a tractor engine, we enjoy seeing you doing it and we learn a bit more along the way.
Thanks, it's good to know that's some people out there enjoying this stuff! The gasifier may well get it's own video at some point - stay tuned :-)
Wow I learned a lot! Thanks for sharing this information!
Perfect explanation, made much clearer than any other RUclips video I’ve seen to date... and it is in plain English. It would be nice to see the big diesel generator you mention and how it all links up.
Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge with us and helping us to avoid making the same costly mistakes.
You now have yet another subscriber... Cheers
Good job man, thanks.
You are inspirational my friend. If you wrote a I’d buy it for sure. Cheers
This video has been immensely helpful. Thank you so much.
Thank you
Thank you for your video, wow, you really are a weath of knowledge. Much appreciated
Great video mate! Well done!
running a washing machine off a ups. i love it.
Fascinating stuff, the whole series has been really interesting to watch so many thanks.
Wonderfull simple explanation! I am quite a bit into electronics, and sometimes struggling with how to explain to someone else. Great video again, will share it with some friends over here. For the off grid living, love this way youre living. Here in Holland you almost won't find it. Due to lak of space and to much regulations. Cheers ;-)
Love the clipboard, makes you much more authoritative!
I enjoy all of your videos even though I live in London and am unlikely to be able to live off grid or rebuild a tractor engine in the foreseeable future. I do love my Series 2 though.
Anyway, keep up the good work.
Just owing a Series get you plenty of cool points in my book! Thanks for the feedback
It looks like a I'm about to move into a yurt (which is currently full of sheep shit). Excited and maybe more nervous than i expected. Looking forward to messing about with getting a power supply, if only for a few leds. Thanks for the inspiration and straighforwardness, you are a good teacher. :)
Another informative video Max. I thought I knew most stuff about batteries, chargers and solar, but I learned a few things from this 😀
While I’m not off grid, I use this stuff in vehicles etc and it’s good to know more and therefore get better life from batteries etc.
Love the idea of living like this and videos like this help alot good job :)
Another great video Max, what I know about solar power is very basic, possibly postage stamp material, your explanation of the alternate options for charging, and the differences between the controller and inverter types may well have brought me up to the realms of a postcard. (A big improvement for me.) ;)
I have a few small panels sculling about, to run a single led bulb in a remote woodshed for example and another to charge a car battery which runs an exhaust fan to keep the poly tunnel from going into meltdown by sucking hot air out.
Unfortunately I can't really afford any kind of proper solar array, a single panel would be expensive let alone the batteries and controllers, etc., but when I can get a system together I now feel a lot more confident in understanding the further reading I would need to do to design a basic system.
Thank you vey much for your time Max, these videos will help many of us who find these concepts a little too unfamiliar.
You're a star Sir. (y)
Kane
Thanks for the feedback. If you're really skint try keeping an eye out on ebay and the like for broken panels, these are very cheap panels damaged in storms etc with broken glass. They don't work as well but even 60% of a 250w panel is a fair amount of power.
Just found your channel and it's great! Thank you so much for taking the time to share all this information with us. You're literally living the dream! I think it's great that you're not putting pressure on yourself to be completely off grid 100% of the time. I can see that it works so well and that you are very happy. I have vehicle envy ;) Enjoy the Spring!
Great video stay safe and happy
brilliantly explained....
I'm a new subscriber, what excellent video , i like the way you try to simplify everything into layman's terms ,looking forward to more of your work :-) :-)
Blimey even I understood most of that. Thanks. 👍🏼
Thanks for your videos man!
thank you for the info. very well explained.
Great video, super informative.
Thank you.
Great videos!
Impressive..... thank you.
Your a very knowledgeable man, thanks for your videos, your experience helps a lot
Very useful thanks
A brilliant basic explanation of the basic important points concerning a solar battery system. The explanation on the multi stage charging of batteries was spot on especially concerning bulk vs. absorption charging. Kicking in the bulk charge with the big generator and then switching to the mini generator is a useful concept that most people miss. A little more detail on your smart meter use and function would be nice , but overall well done video.
great video, good job
A brilliant explanation for beginners, I am just learning myself, to cut a long story short I divorced and ended up keeping a run down urban semi, not my ideal thing, I would love to live more off the land like you.
However, I am trying to make the best of what I have available and my tiny monthly wage which keeps getting smaller with inflation.
The first thing to go after my divorce was the TV, I had to cut back to survive on my own, the next thing to go was the gas boiler, for around 5 years I survived on very little heat, in fact during the winter of 2010 I recorded a lounge temperature of minus 1 degrees.
For five years I had a brand new Dunsley Yorkshire stove sat on a pallet, I had bought the stove but could not afford the flue liner and vermiculite to fit it.
My only form of heat became a stove I desperately welded up from scrap metal one weekend and botched into an old fireplace.
Luckily I have had a homemade solar thermal system since 2002, so hot water between February and October never was much of an issue, immersion heaters were also an option but they had to be run at night on cheap rate.
2012 was interesting, British Gas sent me a letter, up until that point my quarterly gas bills were around about £20 for winter time and around £0.50p for the summer months, I only ever cooked on gas nothing else, and I used camping stoves outside during good summer weather with free gas bottles people gave me.
The letter said that they were introducing standing charges, this was going to make my bills around £90 a year just for the luxury of owning a gas meter, not surprisingly I instructed them to remove the meter from my property ASAP.
For around a year I run a camping stove on the top of my nearly new natural gas cooker, this was not ideal but unfortunately, my cooker was of a type that could not be converted to run on bottled gas.
Eventually, I traded some of my time to do some work for someone, in return, I got a bottled gas type cooker, this was still not ideal because of the gas bottle being indoors next to the cooker, in a former job I used to do gas work, and I even had a ticket at the time so I quite conversant with LPG, so I made up a vented stainless steel housing for the gas bottle to live outside, and using the existing gas piping from the old natural gas system I managed to safely pipe the LPG indoors and use an LPG rated cooker flex.
My journey into off-grid living is still ongoing with so much more to get done as and when time and money allow, I had some roof repairs done, so I managed to fit 8 x 100watt 12-volt panels, but it was then two years or more before anything was done with them.
Although during the roof repairs I fitted the Dunsley Yorkshire and piped it into my old central heating system, which now works a treat.
I eventually made the panels off into two banks of four panels and connected them to a nice thick four core wire armoured cable which I had the pain of dragging through my walls, at the same time I was chopping up some Yew tree for firewood, not the easiest to split, between those two jobs I virtually lost the use of my arms for nearly two weeks such was the strain.
Years ago I remember a TV program which came out with Major Dick Strawbridge, it was called "IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN" those five words certainly are very true.
The PVs on the roof doing nothing were eating away at me, during a crisp cold winter day I managed to light an old incandescent 100watt light bulb quite brightly and draw an impressive arc of the end of the cables.
The feeling cannot be described when you feel the raw power of solar energy, to people who do not appreciate the safest nuclear power plant we have (The Sun) it is hard to explain.
Many years ago I had put a drop of water into my homemade solar thermal panel in a bid to prevent any desoldering of the copper joints to give me time to connect up the plumbing, I was in the loft and the sun came out, I could hear the water start to boil, I foolishly put my hand across the top outlet, the steam gave me quite a burn.
Anyway, I had fitted a nice change over switch to go between grid electricity and my full sine wave inverted which was still sitting in a cardboard box under the bed.
Then last year it happened I found some batteries which were still ok, which I could buy for scrap value a tenner each.
I used an old display freezer tipped horizontally on its side, I figured it would make an ideal battery box, insulated against heat and cold extremes and with a see-through door, I set about wiring it all up with 70mm crossectional area welding cable, crimp on lugs and battery clamps YIKES THE COST! how much a meter!!! I nearly fainted, maybe I should have used flattened copper pipe links like other youtubers.
When I switched it on and put the changeover from grid to home power on and everything worked fine, the feeling was something else, I still need more batteries and panels, but I am working on that.
I already have some panels sat in carboard boxes doing nothing, I chose an electric company called Ebico to supply my electricity at an increased unit rate but with zero standing charge.
My winter electricity bill would usually be around £60 with British Gas, but with being frugal and using solar at times I got it down to £17, my bill for the last three months of last summer was £4.
Yes, I do live frugal, because I live in a town, if I want something frozen, I go and buy it from Lidl or Iceland, I let the supermarkets pay to keep stuff frozen or cold, my small box fridge and box freezer are seldom switched on, I do not drink Tea so no energy boiling kettles, and no energy keeping milk cold.
In winter I tend to hang carrier bags of food that needs to be chilled from an "S" hook under a door canopy.
But when I have lots of spare power in the summer, yes I may run the fridge.
My biggest game changer this year will be my 12volt Fridge I will wire up very soon, already my 12volt system is taking shape with a 12volt socket and a voltmeter in my bedroom, my bedside lamp has 12volt led bulbs in it and a cigar plug replaced the old mains plug.
Using 12volt directly is far better than using the inverter all the time and suffering the power conversion losses.
On a final note, I had my 500watt sander running the other night, for quite some time trying to get planer marks out of a Teak plank I have had sitting around for nearly 30years, it was amazing to think about the fact that earlier that day, the energy running through the sander had started life millions of miles away when lots of heavy Hydrogen nuclei smashed together releasing massive amounts of heat.
The stupidity of not harnessing solar energy to me is just totally insane, but then to a psychopathic, elitist energy fat cat whos only love in life is money and he is not really bothered about the planet not even for the future of his own kids then you can understand why these scumbags downplay the potential of correctly harvested solar energy.
More sunlight energy falls on the planet in two minutes than what the entire energy consumption needs are in a year.
But I do believe the tide is turning, and folk like us are taking a stand against a very corrupt and deleterious system which is failing the whole of mankind be they be rich or poor.
Very interesting story of your journey! I well know the frustration of having projects only part completed due to lack of funds - when I put in the poles for my barn, another 3 years went by before I could afford the wood to join them all together. I have gone the other way with power, I got a very good deal on a secondhand super efficient inverter and most of my lighting, gadgets etc is now 240v, my fridge is an A+ mains fridge. The trouble I had with 12v fridges was that unless you get a very expensive one they tend to be unregulated and just get colder and colder. I agree they are optional items, I went 10 years or so without a fridge and used the same technique as you of letting the shop pay for the cooling!
@@maximusironthumper The Fridge was free, apparently, it works although I have not tried it yet and it was off an expensive hire boat fleet, they changed them routinely regardless of their condition, it is a compressor type, but the insulation never seems to be very thick on boat fridges, maybe it is to save space.
I have kept stuff cool before by leaving water in the sink and using a wet tea towel for a wick to take advantage of evaporative cooling.
A few years back I went walking with a friend, it was a bitterly cold January day, and on returning to his old BMW car the windscreen had frozen and I remember thinking it was going to take ages to get everything warmed up.
To my surprise on turning the key hot air almost immediately blasted out of the blowers, I was puzzled, the car had been sitting about five hours.
It turned out the car had a PCM box, PHASE CHANGE MEDIA, it comprised of a box surrounded by Aerogel insulation and a special Eutectic mix of special salts, Lithium Nitrate and Potassium Nitrate I think it was in the right quantities. The salts in the box melted from waste engine heat and they stayed molten for around four days, on starting the car 45KW of heat is suddenly dumped back into the engine circuit as the salts in the box changed back to a solid.
Ever since that day I have wanted to experiment storing excess solar heat in a PCM, the chemicals of choice, might be either Candle Wax or Sodium Sulphate with some added Sodium Chloride. I am still at the research stage for this though.
Great video as ever. Thanks. I'm learning a lot.
Thank you :)
Really enlightening. Thanks :-)
That man has the hands and forearms of a semi-professional strangler lol..... Great explanation!
Sadly, another dying trade.
Great stuff as usual
Big thank you for this valuable information and your experience.
Thank you for the effort you have put into this video,It was very interesting and easy to understand.
One trick with your fridge freezer if you get a couple of 2liter plastic pop bottles 3/4fill them with water and a cup of salt freeze them and when frozen put them in the fridge it will cut down down the fridge ramping up during the day.the salt water defrost slower than normal I e water. Reg in dublin
You the man!!!💪💪💪👍👍👍
Great stuff.
Great stuff
Great info! 🌟✨🤛
Great video a run though on typical costs, ie battery bank, panels ,inverter etc on the system you have would make a great followup vid tks
Was wondering if wind power would help during dull days, providing the wind was blowing of course, or is the land you are on sheltered.
"My inner engineer" wants to get hold of some of that power that the solar controller is chucking away (Well, in my limited understanding, it's chucking some away).
I love the idea of getting a cheap second-hand UPS to use as an inverter... it's one of those things that's obvious once you say it but I'd never had thought of it until you did,
It's great that we can all learn from your mistakes... even though it must have been a pain to make those mistakes in the first place.
I sometimes make use of the excess power by using it to heat water (immersion heater) or pump compressed air into my big receiver. It does rely on me being on the ball enough to turn things on - maybe one day I'll build an automated and optimised system - maybe!
@@maximusironthumper I'm a software developer in my day job.... I could imagine a control system getting very complicated very quickly.... keeping you eyes on things sounds loads easier, even if you do "miss" occasionally.
@@edgeeffect Yes, agreed, Mark's forever telling me how easy it is to automate things - he's not convinced me yet!
wind turbine (mine is '600w' 24v) on a 6m scaffold pole, three guy wires. Its the cost of connecting to batbank, as cable needs to be fat for a long run. Also shitting yourself when a big storm runs through is no fun. On the plus, general day and night trickle feed, with winter peak generation. A dump system a definite requirement, into your water tank?
That´s why driving small stretches with your car is worthless for your battery, it never fully charges and looses a little from it´s original voltage until it won´t charge anymore.
What we really need is a new generation of batteries, that would be able to go down low and still be able to be charged up to workable capacity, over and over again.
Also, exide(and other producers) sells smart chargers for a good price(~100 pounds), that will maintain or trickle -charge your battery after it´s "full", never making it boil. I´ve used one at work for 10 years now, almost every day, without it breaking.
Can't wait to see more
Super interesting!
Great videos. Reminds me of visiting my grandfather back in the 70’s so a step back in time.. Notice you have a hill in the Russian truck video. How about putting IBC containers at the top and bottom of the hill, connect via pipes and then use a solar powered pump to create a water store that you can release at night to recover power from?
Something I have considered from time to time, maybe one day I'll get around to trying it!
Sadly gravity as a force is weak as fuck.
You need many many IBCs to get any decent amount of storage from them.
A car battery like the one in the video will store about 1.5kwh when fully charged.
To get 1.5kwh out of gravity storage you need a whole load of water.
Lets say you have a very generous 50m height difference.
1.5kwh is 5.4MJ
Gpe=mgh
So m=Gpe/gh
So m=5.4e6/9.81*50
m=11000kg or 11 tons.
For a magical 100% efficient system you'd need 11 IBCs to replace 1 tiny car battery.
You ever thought about making a couple wind veins to spin a bank of alternators/generator's because your area has a fair amount of continuous wind power?
Measuring the density of the battery acid is the best way to be sure of the charge level :)
Excellent video...I am looking into solar...
Great ................Thanks
great stuff i really do get it. thanks
Love your video's, do quite a bit of binge watching. Can I ask about charging your lead acid batteries with the generator? Do you disconnect them from the rest of the installation to top the charge up. I've seen some inverters that have a generator or mains input built into them. An internal switch senses voltage on the input and switches to charging the batteries from the generator. My batteries rarely drop below 65% but have never stayed at 100% for long. Just want to stick the generator on every now and then. Thinking about going totally of grid with electricity, standing charge will be costing me more than what I use by April.
Started drinking rainwater a while back, chlorinate it, filter it and boil it. Drank from a puddle once in my twenties after a very heavy cider night and sleeping in a bush and still here so cant be that bad for you.
Take care Chris.
No, the batteries are always connected to the system - whether charging via solar or generator. That way the charge source covers the load(s) plus provides as much charging as the battery needs.
Think about, or research, tying a wind turbine to a big weather balloon and tethering it to your barn. Possibly big heights to be attained, clearing the top of the forest foliage?
Thanks for sharing! Have you ever considered using a Stirling engine? Best regards.
If you've got even a small stream on your land you can also consider making a small water wheel generator. Even if its 100-200w it's 24x7 so worth a lot and much more preferable to wind IMHO. I like solar best of all as it's nor mechanical, water then and last wind...
I
Need approx half to one acre of land for building a pole barn and
siting a Polly tunnel.
Can be rough - wooded (pref) whatever that needs clearing and work say
but not a low lying/flood zone area.. Pembrokeshire - west Wales area is
a main interest but will look/move as far as north Yorkshire too. Cash
buyer if needed at a lower price. A Sustainable living project plot has been a goal for me for a good spell. Workshop build to construct tiny homes too. Thanks.