Thanks for sharing your update! The Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series looks like a great option for off-grid power. I love that it has a massive capacity, fast recharging, and is waterproof. It seems like a reliable choice for outdoor adventures or home backup power.
We have a very similar system and have lived totally off-grid for nearly 9 years. With only a little more panel capacity we run a normal front-loader washing machine as well as two large fridges and an electric kettle during the day. A lot has to do with when you do things . On a sunny day, once the batteries are charged, the panels are idling, might as well use that power for washing, kettle, slow cooker and so on. One can do a lot with little just by adjusting one's life style a little.
.Awesome......very cool. I too think we could run more stuff but still working on adding comforts. Lol. People suggest wind turbines often to us, but our battery bank is often fully charged mid day, so no need for it. Glad to hear your system is treating you well for all them years.
@@OffgridwithJayandJen build a custom water tank with a ton of insulation get around r50-60. Make the tank 500 gallons and put a single or double water heater coil inside it. Once that things heated itll stay hot for a very long time. Like a few days. And you can shower or bath from it for a long time.
@@OffgridwithJayandJen a wind turbine is mainly usefull if you live a place where you get periods with very little solar , like here in Denmark in certain periods of winter , then one can charge the batteries with a vindturbine but i have learned a few lessons if you are gonna do the work of raising a tower or mounting it on a buliding make sure to get a model that actually produces power so its worth putting in the work of raising it, the most costeffetive turbines about 4-500$ i have found that actually produces the power they are rated for is the istabreeze series 1500w and 2000w models they have a very good pma good blades strong hub and housing but they have a few problems that can be fixed ( tendency to collect water in the pma housing over time ) drill a hole in the bottom and use a good sealent on the ends of housing, ,, so if you know somone that wants a turbine warn them about the 500w 1000w china turbines at the 200$ prizerange they are utter nonsence,, there are a 400w one that is good but there are so many low output copys
This is awesome information. I appreciate you sharing it. We get tons of win up here at our cabin and my goal is to have a turbine by next winter to help with our gloomy winter months. I will try to Google the model you were referring to. If you get a chance and see this, please share a link to the one you like best....It would surely be helpful to people, including myself. Thanks Kim
I would insulate the battery shed with like 3 inches of foam, the inverter and the solar charge controllers should generate enough heat to keep it below freezing, if not add a DC heater ,the dc heater will dry up the moisture and keep the battery relatively warm. Good job on your set up
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jay! First for being realistic! Second for calling out the BS that so many people buy into with unrealistic, unattainable off grid homesteads. 90% of us are everyday folks like you and Jen and we are striving for simplicity, sustainability and tranquility. So many people are bamboozled by the glitz and glam of unrealistic off grid channels on YT. I don't get it. I appreciate channels like you and Jen because I can learn and apply it to what's realistic for me. Thank you! Love y'all! ❤️🇺🇸❤️ Side note: have you two though about burying one of those caged IBC totes to act as a cistern? I saw a guy in Ohio bury something similar, utilizing a small 12 volt pump. Of course the lines above ground would still need winterized and insulated. Just a thought. Y'all take care! 😊
Love it my friend......appreciate you being here and GETTING it, lol. Nothing wrong with fancy if that's what you want.....but in most eyes simple is what we are looking for like you said. We do have a few of the IBC totes we are using around the property for water. would love to bury one close to the cabin. Check out our video about rain catchment we put out a few weeks ago. the setup we did is just temporary but part of the long term water plan. Best wishes
@@OffgridwithJayandJen Amen sista friend. I saw the rain catchment vid. You guys did an awesome job on that too....as per usual! 😀 Often times in my life I find primitive and rudimentary are the shortest and least resistant routes from point A to B....also less headaches. 😀 BTW the solar set up is amazing IMO...practical and AFFORDABLE! Y'all take care! ❤️🇺🇸❤️
@@silvursprings as soon as you put an expensive "off-grid" system you are no longer off-grid because the idea is also for the stuff to be easy to disassemble and moved to a new location if need be not to require a dozen of professional tradesmen to put everything back on. I think a lot of tradesmen on YT who already have workshops with expensive kit have switched to off-grid theme to attract more audience but their DIY is not really DIY. It's more to make you jealous and add tools you can get around. Once everyone has corded electric tools then they came up with cordless and people keep updating.
I know the video is 2 years old but I appreciate it nonetheless. I enjoyed your sheer honesty and expressing your views on simple way of living without having to break the bank. I am relatively new to solar and still learning about controllers, wiring setups, inverters, amps, watt, direction, roof or no roof, and lifepo4 vs acid. I took the beginner's and more expensive route due to my lack of experience so I bought some solar generators like bluetti and just hooked up a few solar panels for now. I'm still learning but I have about 1200w of solar panels, 3000w bluetti solar generator and 1500w vtoman solar generator. I also bought a prefabricated mini 200w, 40ah, inverter and control kit just to get the hang of wiring and setup for future expansion. Power is good from mid March until late September for normal consumption but I don't have enough power during the other months. The system barely charges during November until February. Like basically 10-20w/hr. If anyone is reading this, I'm open for suggestions and recommendations. I live on Gulf islands in BC. Stay free and be healthy!
Jay and Jen, Simple and efficient =effective. Your approach to this whole effort has been a fun thing to watch and very informative. Some of the “architectural digest” off grid properties are amazing but have to be outlandishly expensive. Yours is what most people would aspire to. Great job.
I like how Jay get straight into the Costing of building the system unlike other, making the costing a mystery. it pisses me off for someone who wanted to build the system to save money, as it is an important information. Thank You for not shy of revealing the costing for the system. Supporting your work.
Nice system guys. Your absolutely right about some of the big expensive systems. We have a 2 kw system at our off grid cabin and it runs our well, fridge, freezer, lights fans and even and ac unit for 4-5 hours. Over the last 3 years I think it has come close to paying for itself. Keep up the great work!
@@ghosthunter152 usually 4-5 hours is good enough to keep my cabin cool enough. But I can also run the ac a little longer with generator and charge the batteries at the same time.
It is amazing how two of you did so much. The saw mill is expensive, but saved you a lot in the long run. There are now lithium batteries with built in heaters, or you could insulate the shed well and put a heater in it, or as you said in the house itself with the wood heat. I use the self heating batteries on my camper, but rarely camp in weather below 20° F. My brother could not get power for a couple years to a house they built in the Oxarks, and they ran an old wash machine off a fairly small generator and and used a solar hot box to provide heat to a small clothes dryer to tumble the clothes. Snow melts on a wood stove for water. When no snow, I have no idea other than bigger tanks to store more water.
SPOT ON! I've thought the same with all those expensive oversized solar deployments. I'm building my off-grid home with just 200W solar, two Renogy Lithium 100Ah 12V batteries, one MPPT charge controller, one 2000W Inverter, and with that I haven't used once the generator while using my 1800W miter saw, circular saw, drillers, battery chargers, vacuum, etc. during this whole warm season. I think that with 1600Watts in Solar energy in Ottawa area is enough for a small home, specially because in Summer will heat water with the excess energy comming from the PV solar panels, and in winter time with an heat exchanger from the stove, and some propane backup...
There are floating electric water heaters. Pit one in a tank or barrel and keep it full of snow for winter water. If it is outside just wrap your container with insulation. In Canada that is how we kept the cattle trough clear in the winter in my younger years.
Im in the southern US. Off grid 5 years .similar set up. 800 aph panels. Two got destroyed in shipment or I'd have 1000 amh. I use 2- 200amh renogy batteries. Will definitely add asp. Good job. Solar works.
Awesome.....glad to hear your system is taking good care of you. We bought our batteries from Amazon on prime day and they were discounted quite a bit, keep an eye out for it. Best wishes
Where your batteries live is important. In Michigan it gets very cold. You might think going down. Below 3 feet should be above freezing. Cover the hole with foam and keep the shed as is.
Another Awesome video y'all. We appreciate the breakdown and realistic view on the system. Just like you said, some other channels almost make you feel bad if you don't have the latest greatest 20K system. Keep going and sharing. Thanx again... Be Safe!!
Very good information. Myself being a electrician I have a good understanding of this system but folks who don't have the training I have. This is excellent
Thanks Bryan.....glad you enjoyed the video. I have a little.bit of electrical knowledge with my day to day, but primarily just tracking down shorts and replacing the part.....not a licensed electrician by far. Thanks for watching
New subscriber here and I just wanted to thank you for sharing this solar experience as well as being so real about what it's capable of. Looking forward to more of your content.
Awesome....welcome Lisa. We try and keep things real here so hope you enjoy our channel and find some videos you are interested in. Lots of playlists if you want to narrow it down a bit. Thank you for watching and subbing.
Thanks Jay. This off grid solar system is perfectly matched with HICOOLER technology which provide almost free air cooling. That is good for hot and sunny location.
Thanks for great video! 👍 When building next expanse for the Solar system, after the batteries, use a ground mount system to east- west with 30-40 degree angle both sides. (Will generate mid day production and also will help with snow sliding down during winter) P.S. You can buy solar clamp mid and end clamp tops and then use screws to fix them to the wood frame that you can make yourself according to the PV panels. 😉
Yes. All for self-installed PV. Your battery temperatures can be managed. I think you should give the shed a little ventilation. Think about some things I've found out from living in N. PA. 1 or 2 inch foil backed foam insulation is easy to cut and put up. You mentioned using bubble foil. Check the manufacturers website. What's very cool is by providing just a 5/8" dead air space you can get up to a R22. So a sheet applied either side of a frame has worked very well up here. I did my farmhouse window frame in a bathroom that my dad added a couple of shelves. There was like 2" between the shelf outside wall. And it was cold in the winter. I cut the back out and put a layer of bubble foil. Made a 5/8" frame and staped another sheet to it. Then layered it with cedar closet tongue and groove. Now the back of the shelf is room temperature. Lost a very little bit of depth. With a little creative work you could vent the inverter into an insulated battery box to give them a bit of heat. A 12 or 24 volt thermostat controlled pc fan could be used for a vent . Nice install by the way!
Thanks, I'm a huge fan of the bubble foilas well. Like you said if you leave a dead air space between layers it really creates a clean and effective space. I'm wishing I had insulted the shed before installing everything, but like you said I didn't want it to get too hot in the summer.....so I left it very open air and planned to insulate the batteries. Thanks for watching
This is such a great informative video. This helps me out a lot. We’re considering building our own off grid cabin to live in full time and I have been looking into solar. I like your thoughts on using propane because I feel the same way. You still have to buy the propane. What if you can’t buy propane?
Thanks Jeff, I completely agree. Sure no system is flawless, but to buy an appliance where the initial investment is high only to buy fuel to run it doesn't make much sense
Look into wood gasification. This is how we'll need to create combustable gas if Nat/Propane is not available. Its inefficient and dirty, but its gas that will burn similar to propane when the Sun drops a nut directly at us, or these communists/luciferians in control of the big toys flip the switch. Same goes for BITCOIN FYI. How are you or anyone gonna do anything with bitcoin when there is no electricity as even solar systems will fry in an EMP, regardless of who its from, Man or the Sun or 'the aliens' as they sure want you to buy into that myth.
@@campcreekhill8933 I think about that more and more these days. I mean we use a lot of gas around here for building tasks and putting up firewood. If I were to cut back and only use what I have in reserve I think I could cut firewood for a year or two. But only run the chainsaw. No more luxury of riding the side by side around the property. Would like to slowly upgrade all my tools to battery power, but they are not in the budget at the moment. Like I mentioned in the video I have not had to use the generator to charge my solar but once, and they was just as a precautionary
@@OffgridwithJayandJen I think if we ever get to the stage where we can’t buy propane or gasoline then we have got a few more issues to worry about than just that!
thank you, i've had a single used panel, 230 watts, on my trailer for a couple of years, with a PMC controller. i upgraded to a MPPT and now it is fully charged by 0930 in the morning. as you indicated, refrigeration is our biggest concern, but we now have no concerns regarding our lights (LED) and powered vent (MaxxAir) and the fridge keeps things cold. in our case, the cost was about $350 Canadian.
That's awesome, glad to hear you can get away with less even. I'm not an expert so I'm not sure if we could have gotten away with half the batteries and half the panels, but so far so good. Glad yours is working good as well. Thanks for watching
Hey Everyone....Thanks for all the Support and comments here on this Video. I'm sure it has helped someone in some way. If you want to see how we have started our journey and built this Off Grid Cabin check out our Timelapse videos to catch you up. Here is a couple of our more popular videos.....ruclips.net/video/ssRh3qPgRQU/видео.html or ruclips.net/video/VvnUkWU7mMw/видео.html
I will be checking all of them out. We are seniors now, but followed "Mother Earth News" many years ago and intended to build an underground house, however off grid was not practical back then, remote work didn't exist, and kids came along, and... and, we are seniors now. 🙄
Afterthought, you can add a tiny 12V fan to blow air around your interior tanks to ensure the air inside and the water containers are exchanging heat. That would keep the entire interior equalized.
Great to see what you are doing! I was using 6 Trojan AGM deep cycle 305AH batteries with 2 BZ 500 watt mppt charge controllers and a Xantrex 1800 watt pure sine inverter. Batteries lasted about 6 years. Now doing EcoFlow delta pros. Love being off grid! Glad you are enjoying it too!
Brother the biggest advantage I have found with the hybrid all-in-one systems are that when charging batteries any surplus power being created by the panels can be transferred directly to the inverter therefore during the day you are only charging batteries regardless of your power use the batteries do not get tapped until sundown this bypass mode is extremely efficient and extends battery life substantially in lead acid batteries due to their cycle life
Thank you, great video! I'm disabled and trying to fullfill a dream I've had for many years of starting a homestead, and have been trying to see what my options are... I really appreciate your realism, I don't expect to live a life of on grid luxury but some say that a refrigerator is too much for a solar panel array... It's nice to know that not every naysayer is true
Hey my friend.....don't let the dream killers stop ya. I had a master electrician and generator business owner both tell me solar was a waste of time and I would never be able to run a cabin on it.....well my system has taken very good care of us. I'm sure at some point we will have 10 days of poor weather and I will have to charge the batteries with the generator but not daily like I was told. So far so good.
If you have the space, bigger residential panels are always cheaper per watt. My new 445W bifacial panels were $245 each delivered. 4 of those would be the same price as ten 100W panels and produce about double the power.
Very Cool....do you have a link you could share??? I'm Sure at some Point we will Be upgrading the system and Panels and will Likely go that route. I Actually Bought these Panels when the Pandemic put a short Supply on larger Solar Panels so this was what I could get when I needed them....Glad to know that there are better and cheaper options out there though. Best wishes
@@OffgridwithJayandJen I got them from a semi-local place. If you can't find a supplier near you then you can get good deals from signature solar, watts247, and santan solar. Especially if you buy a pallet worth when signature solar has a free pallet shipping sale.
Saw an off grid house in Portugal where they had the driveway cemented and it angled to feed a cistern underground. It increase how much water they caught. I would also run some drains to catch the water out gf the shed and panels. Feed it too to the cisterns.
I'm off grid to.. I recently bought a fridge/freezer cooler... it is awesome.. I set it to -4 and it runs of 2 12v lead acid batteries.. the cost of solar is very cheap... depending on the batteries you go with.. I save money by running a generator for electric cooking devices.
Nice set up! I have a basement apartment for my son all the lighting is 12v dc I just bought led camper lights. Using 400w of panels with 200 AH battery bank. Its been going for almost 5 years and it literally trickle charges all day. He forgets and leaves lights on still no strain on the batteries.Problem with most people using solar is they try to power too much efficient appliances is the key. If you start a system with a stressful load on your bank it will be an uphill battle and the batteries will not last as long. Great honest info in this video!
Love the simple setup. Do yourself a favor and get a low voltage disconnect. Will save your batteries if you aren’t around for an extended cloudy period.
Impressed, you did the research, made the purchases, and installed the system. I've researched for the last couple of months trying to figure the best route to implement a solar sys at my cabin. I've priced every option from kits to individual device purchase. You did great, and had the guts to move forward. Loved the informative video.
Thanks LL....really appreciate it. These all in one systems you ee often make solar easier for newbies like us. If I didn't want to force myself to learn they make a lot of sense and hook up easier. Will prowse reviews them often.
We have been on sloar power only(48v system) for 1 1/2 yrs now. Had some issues in the beginning, but all in all, are happy with it now. We do have quite a bit more $ in our system but with our requirements that's ok. Without any more issues it will pay for itself in 3 1/2 more yrs. Power goes out pretty often out here in the Big Bend area, again last night, but not for us. Good video you have done, informative and straight forward. Well done.
Very nice BE.....good to hear others having good success too with solar. Nothing wrong with building a system to your needs.....it is actually the best way lol.
Good setup you have there, I'm new to this and it's hard to figure out where to start, but I chose an all in one power bank from bluetti 200p and I'm happy with the solution, I have two 370w panels that I have intend to set up as a kind of fence along the terrace 50 degrees. I have an extra battery for the power bank that I can connect if I'm out in the field, otherwise the power bank runs my fridge and freezer just fine.
When I spent winters in the upper peninsula, I always replaced my lead acid car battery for a deep cycle marine battery and never had any issues with starting the car.. even at negative 30°... Although turning car lights on for a minute before starting doesn't hurt either... My small solar system uses 3 lead acid batteries, about 360 amp hours. And 200 watts of solar.. the system runs my propane furnace, lights, fans, my frig runs on propane. More than adequate for my travel trailer. It also runs my garage lighting.. my place is also up north Michigan... I'm torn between battery types,,
Dear sir I have my lead acid battery and have them for 8 year and they still working well so don't listern to negative people as long and you have what you want from South Africa
That’s because you haven’t been stupid with your batteries. I’m going to guess the issue is people drain them down to 0 and then charge them back up and lead acid batteries can’t cope with that people struggle to research properly and then blame the technology.
Have a similar setup at the cabin, but kept it at 12v with 2 banks of 500w of panels and 2 of the same charge controlers that you are using. I know 24v is more efficient, but if one of my charge controlers die, I'm still producing power.
Bought my entire system used from an auction and a solar company that sells used/repossessed panels. Roughly $12k for 6kw in panels, 2000ah batteries, 12kw inverters, qty 2 250 midnight solar chargers, all wiring, breakers/ boxes, and the structures holding the panels. There are so many options, just have to be willing hunt.
First, thanks for your videos. Brother add more roof collecting space. add a garage/ shop. Even a carport style structure to dry lumber with only 3 walls. Then go get a 800 gl. tank. with 3 or 4 800 gl tanks you will always have water . Have you thought about building a roof covering above your solar panels to protect from snow/rain. You could use clear plastic/ fiberglass. I mean you have enough tress to frame a 12,000sq ft house. Certain pine trees grow to 100 feet in 10 years, I would plant a few of those. Congrats ,Looks like you have a great piece of land . Trees are a great resource , they keep replacing themselves !
Lots of projects in the coming years my friend.....funding and time are what keeps us at a moderate pace. We have been at it for two years now and doing this part time until we can transition full time.....steady as it goes. 😊
Moving the solar system closer to the house would help improve power loss do to wire length resistance. My rule of thumb is anything under 100 feet to the item using power is good. Amazing system. I may build it's clone. Insulting the battery shed like you would with a house may help retain heat in winter. I noticed a use difference in my storage shed after insulating it.
Nice....appreciate the nice comment. Believe it or not, the shed is only 40 feet from the cabin, and about 50 feet from the main AC panel in the cabin. I made sure to convert the power to AC at the shed to help with the distance it has to travel, as I have heard DC power travels poorly compared to AC. If I could go back, I would definitely insulate the shed properly. Honestly, when I built this system I figured I would have upgraded by now and I would redo the whole set up better, but 3 years later and I have not found a reason to do so. I do struggle a bit in the winter months, but the other 9 months It does great. Just make sure you have lots of sunshine in a good location, in the woods with 4 or 5 hours won't cut it. Best wishes
will prose was my inspiration. I have 3 100 watt panels running to 3 800whr deep cycle. I have a older 30 amp controller and an over powered inverter. runs my residential fridge and deep freeze. full size appliances. I'm on grid so I have a 6 amp maintenance charger hold its charge.
Very cool setup, the nice thing about doing it this way is you can add more battery power as needed or if something goes wrong you can identify it and fix it on your own . All solar power systems have their pros and cons. Either build it yourself or plug n play . This is how i want to live my retirement years...off grid
I'm glad you get it MV......I could have easily bought a power station to do what we wanted....but I wanted to learn and have flexibility.....like you said buddy. 😊
I'm looking at land in the U.P. right now and most of it will require me to put together something like this for power. Even with more panels and a larger system it's still way cheaper than having power poles and lines ran.
For sure it will be. Even getting a cabin or power pole hooked up in a neighborhood can cost you more than this system.....add half a mile or more to that power line run and you are saving big time.
We have an off grid cottage in the UP. I want to replace the propane refrigerator with electric to reduce the fire risk. Another cabin on the lake burned to the ground. It was thought it was started by the refrigerator. I am glad this video was up as it gives me some ideas of what we will need.
Very cool Tim, I went back and forth for a year trying to justify buying a propane fridge....but just couldn't do it. Glad we spent the money they way we did on our solar and bought a simple fridge. This way if the fridge craps out we just buy another one, lol. People have mentioned using little deep chest freezers too on a system this size, so that's good to know too for reserves. Best wishes
@@OffgridwithJayandJen We never use our place in winter so the solar does not need to be quite as big. What size/model refrigerator do you now have? I was thinking of an apartment size fridge.
10.4 cubic foot magic chef....bought it at home depot. 330 dollars. It has never drawn over 150 watts. Mostly runs at 70 watts on occasion to cool it off.
On the water problem for winter I had a diesel truck that had a block warmer, not sure how much juice it would draw but at 20degrees below my truck would start like it was summer time. maybe even a dipstick oil warmer both are fairly cheap. Just to keep it from freezing on you. Enjoy your videos :) keep em coming God blessings to you both !!
I agree you don't need all the bling to make solar work for a person. At our cabin in Clare County Michigan during the winter we melted snow for our water just for dishes and bathing, flushing our toilet. We had a well but once we closed it up for winter we took drinking water and used snow.
AGM's are the way to go. The price alone is worth it. Your tin on the backside of the panels will generate quite a bit of water when it's raining. My system is running in Alaska with limited daylight in winter and on spongy ground(muskeg) with solid ground many feet below the surface. This means that all my buildings must be on stilts or as we say it here "pilings". Water is the one thing we here don't have to worry about because we get 275" of rain each year and have a year round creek running across our back property line. The good thing is we get to run hydro power when the sun is not up. Hope you have started your chainsaw milling for your out buildings.
I want to thank you for this encouraging video report on your solar system. I am also put off by the high ticket systems featured by some RUclipsrs. They are out of our price range. I live in western Pennsylvania and am installing a solar system similar to yours. I am putting in 1200 watts of solar panels on the roof of our woodshed, which is about 2 feet from the corner of our house where the electric service panel is located. I have a 60 A MPPT solar charge controller, 200 AH of 24 V LiFePo4 batteries, and a 2500 W inverter, hardwired to an interlocked breaker in our service panel. I intend to use this system for backup power for our water pump, refrigerator, cell phones, router, radios and a few lights. I hope to double the size of our battery bank later this year. Thanks again.
I think this is the best comment I have read in a good while.....im happy to see others going for it. If you have good sun exposure you will be very happy and impressed with what you can power with that simple set up. Let us know how it goes. 👍
Batteries to the house ! MPPT controller Looks good ! Some fridges use very little electric power ! Alpicool I knew some people that had 3 60 watt panel and a regular lead acid battery for storage. They raised a family with that much power ! Wood fire stove ! Use led lights ! Laptop ! Done ! Rich Solar has some nice stuff ! Keep telling people !
Thank you so much for making this video! My family and I are looking into solar for our future off grid cabins, we’ll be living in tiny cabins together on the same property and I think this type of set up would be close to what we want to do! Super informative, appreciate it!
So glad I Could Help. I'm working on doing another update for our system soon and will try to show it again in even more detail with a two year update. Thanks for watching.
Thanks Jay!!! That was awesome!!! You did a great service to all that think they can't... you both are so inspiring. Love you both... I'm so so so happy for your new bedroom you have... I bet your bodies feel so much better now with sleeping in a real bed!! Keep up the good work you two favorite people!
lots of Love my friend......thank you for sticking with us and all your support along the way. That bed is so cozy I missed getting a video out last week....I snoozed right through it, lol
I'd consider putting what's known as a chine$e diesel air heater or diesel parking heater in your battery shed. They are around $120 and come as a standalone little cabinet that can run on 12-24 volts DC and has an exhaust pipe which the heat from can be used to keep your solar panels defrosted instead of just being wasted. It's basically a 3000btu on idle or 30,000 btu heater on high that I would run on idle most of the winter, and maybe on high for a couple hours a day when it's below freezing or super cold. I used one to heat a greenhouse that size in Michigan and it was more than adequate and cost effective. I'm a huge fan of diesel air/parking heaters, I have 5 and heat my vehicle, my unheated and uninsulated front porch, my garage, a greenhouse, and my travel trailer. You could get by running just a liter of diesel a day and it would make a huge difference by keeping your batteries warm and since the cabinet style is standalone and modular it gives you a backup heat source for any purpose... For example-I heated my 2 story house for 2 days with a couple of these heaters when my furnace took a crap in an ice storm.
I will certainly do some research into those diesel Heaters. Thanks PI, appreciate your thoughtful comment and sharing your personal experiences with then. 👍
I have seed starting mats in between my lifepo4 battery's as a backup on a thermostat controlled plug as a backup if I wasn't home and heat went off. Haven't tried it more than testing endpoints but it's a nice peice of mind
Nice....I think those mats are similar to the RV water tank heating mats I plan to use. the keep the temps between 45-68F which seems good. I'll look into the seed mats too, nice work
Speaking of warming up the batteries… The MPPT charger and the inverter emit a lot of heat. If you manage to utilise the warm air coming from them for the batteries, it may help to avoid the thermal mats. First thing coming to mind is to insulate the shed all around and add a dedicated ventilation, which can be covered for winter season. I would also consider relocating the system inside the house to use the heating side-effect. With 8A peak current coming from the panels the losses in additional 20m wiring may be not significant.
One thing I plan on doing is when I get started on mine out of at the property is to add an alternator mount to my bicycle trainer. I’m a cyclist, since when weather is bad I’ll get on it for a minimum of an hour everyday. It’ll be a good way to maintain the bank daily and get some exercise. I have good wind in the valley all winter and spring too so I’m gonna add a small wind generator.
@@OffgridwithJayandJen thanks guys, I’m in a warmer climate as well, so I’m gonna go ahead and spray foam my battery shed and use dry cell deep cycles, with a solar heater set up
THANK YOU! For sharing the reality of what is really needed for a sufficient enough solar system. I agree with Silvursprings comment 100%. True homesteading is all about the simplistic creation and use of basics to maintain a happy, fulfilling, self reliant life.
Awe....thanks Cindy. Glad this video is doing well and people are seeing it. I feel good knowing people can regain some confidence in solar in a moderate style and size. Best wishes my friend
Jay, we watched this at our off grid cabin while eating dinner. We liked :1) your sponsor is relevant to the channel-kudos for that. We will check out the site 2) You relating your solar to what you use. Amazing to see you run a fridge on it with no issue or generator help. 3) your haircut 4) that you did that wiring project all for the dogs. We did not like/ no Jen(we miss Jen). But another great video.
Thank you so much Guys......you are too funny. Jen was teaching classes while I filmed this....otherwise my price is right girl would have been there to point and wave at each piece of equipment, giggle giggle
A few items. If you expand the solar array, consider larger 300-400w panels as they can be bought at around $.65/w vs. the $.96w for the current panels. You will need to reconfig panel wiring to have Voltage and Amperage of mixed panels be nearly equal. I was involved in adding solar to a sailboat and cost (not including batteries which were already in the sailboat) was $650 for 640w or about $1 watt. Used two 320w panels plus 60A MakeSkyBlue Mppt controller for the 12v systems on boat. The EPever you have is more efficient. As far as water from rain barrels, consider an inexpensive inline UV water treatment light to kill bacteria and viruses, The light only comes on when water flows to house
Very nice, I like the idea of larger panels, but I was a total newbie a year otlr two ago so I bought the smaller panels and they worked well. About a year ago I was looking for larger 300 watt panels and they were sold out every where I looked online, so I stuck with the 100 watt panels just cuz I could get them. I will certainly look into the UV light for the water line. Thank you for the tips
@@OffgridwithJayandJen A 55w UV light water treatment tube setup costs about $100 from Vevor (for example) and can treat 12 gals min flow and runs on 120v AC. Hook it up to come on when your water pump comes on (if you use one with rain barrels), or have a separate on/off switch if you use a manual pump. Best not to run 24/7 due to electric use and bulb burning out. There are lower wattage versions in the $50 range but they are rated at like 5 watts and can handle just 1 gal min.
If you ever looked to replace equipment or install anything bigger go with Victron it’s a bit expensive but it’s great and it’s very expandable so in most cases you can parallel up devices if you want to expand the system which on things like a cheap inverter you simply can’t
This system was built with better equipment in general....names that have treated others well and have done so for us as well.....odd ball brands that are extremely cheap i completely agree with you to stay away from. If you're interested we just did a serious over haul of our system and big upgrade. Videos were posted about a month ago
So glad to hear you're happy with your system! I have already invested in a system just like yours (lead acid, 2x 12v banks in series). Will need the power to then start building the cabin.
This is close to my setup, 1100w of panels and 24v 400ah of deep cycle LA batteries, I'm planning to go fully off-grid very soon as we have had a 700% price increase for electricity in the last 3 years here in the UK, £0.07 to £0.49 a unit with 300% of that in the last 16 weeks alone, and it's going up again in the new year by 50-100% more, plus a charge of £300 a year just to be connected to the grid.
These are Crazy times my friend......Not sure how people are going to be able to afford living. All These price increases and they want us to use more electricity to charge EVs and such......Crazy. I wish you the Best of luck. If you are looking for flawless function and use prolly double the system just to hold us over on those cloudy weeks, But it works very well when we Minimize our use.
We just got a fridge for 1,000. We run it off our solar it is DC. Our RV Fridge second hand just crapped out on us. Hindsight I would have bought it 6 months ago and bought more batteries and more solar. We built an insulated doghouse for our water tanks. Using the 2 inch styrofoam board.works for us .
Love hearing real life info.....in theory we all want things to be perfect. Just not sure if simple will work for that. Let us know how how the DC fridge works out Cheryl
@@OffgridwithJayandJen we will let you know. On the boat we had a cold plate system. Only because we were limited on how many panels we could hold. And batteries. It was only 32 foot. But our golf cart type flooded lasted about 6 years and so did our AGM BATTERIES.
Jay I like how you did your solar system it shows that you can do it cheeper even if it is a temporary fix that it dosent have to ne out of this world expensive. thanks bud.
Thanks for sharing your system! I don't know if it's something that would work for you not knowing your winter climate or the constraints of your power system. But we have a rain catchment system here in Maine and we used a stock tank heater in ours one winter. Fashioned an insulating sleeve for the spigot out of a piece of pool noodle (we only use ours for outside watering- chickens ducks etc) and there were only 1 or 2 of the coldest days of winter that we were not able to get water from it.
Very Nice.....I love hearing tips and suggestions from those Doing it....thank you for the Tip. I'm not sure what the draw on those heaters are, But Will check into it and see if maybe we can incorporate something into the rain catchment system. We do plan to bury our water tank at some point....but not sure if that will be prior to winter or it will have to wait until next year. thanks again.
The Cabin is Wired like a standard House. ALL with a breaker box and AC lights and Appliances. The solar turns the energy into DC battery power.....and the Inverter converts it into the AC so the cabin can use it just like a house. LOTS of other people get caught up on using DC and trying to be efficient, which is great but it makes things confusing and more trouble.....Just build a system to carry your needs
Absolutely love the dual use of your solar stand for storing wood and your great attitude in general. There's so much nonsense talked about solar. Imagine how much you can actually do with just one panel and one battery. Lights, radio, phone, tablet, laptop, portable dvd player etc etc etc. It's probably even good to start with a little and work your way up as you learn more. Too much nonsense said about the whole thing. I love that you have started out with just 1kw. You may find it just does what you need.
Thank you Freya.....really appreciate the kind words. I totally agree with ya on the working your way up. We used and still use a single panel and battery to run our shower house down by camp and it works perfect for running the shower pump and lights year around. It was my first adventure into solar....great way to learn. Best wishes
That’s definitely good, but with things like this if you go expensive with a decent brand it will last a lifetime so it may be worth going a little bit more expensive if it’s a permanent never going to change thing
Make sure you water doesn't get sunshine on it to prevent algea, cover tanks with tarps or whatever you have to prevent the growth, even the opaque containers will grow algea. Not telling you how to live, just a suggestion to prevent tank having green algea. Thanks for solar info and God bless.
LFP is still great, use a resistive heater in your shed! Insulate it, keep it above 40ºF. And even if you don't, just have a temperature cutoff so you cannot discharge or charge below 32ºF. If you cannot be without power when it is freezing, keep your shed heated! Not 70ºF but just 40ºF is fine. Automate it easily.
Nice, thanks. Ya it is nothing fancy, but it does the job and should take care of us for a while. Maybe the technology will come up with something fantastic by the time we need new stuff, lol
Excellent. Well done! I'm a first time viewer. It's so good to see a system that works very well for your needs without selling all of your body parts to do it. My wife and I are retired. We have been living overseas in Portugal for almost a year. We are moving back to the states for the next part of our adventure. We are planning to do something similar to what you have done with an off-grid place of our own. 👍 I'll stay tuned. Thanks!
Awesome glad you enjoyed the video and set up. Sounds like you and the misses living the life and got a plan. Enjoy and appreciate the support, we have our whole journey here at our property for the past few years on a Playlist if you are interested check it out. Thanks guys and best wishes
Jay, have you considered using the 2" ridge blue foam board to line the inside of your solar cabinet? You would make a cube out of the blue foam board that would basically seal the entire cabinet on the inside. You could also place a blue foam ridge board panel set around the outside of the cabinet that would be at least 18" tall with 6" in rhe ground. This fence would keep the snow and cold air from going under the cabinet on the outside of the cabinet and the foam board cube inside would add more isolation on the inside. Many of the RUclips people out west make this shell arrangement around their water collection units to help manage the solar heat like a cooler does. I really like your solar setup.
Hello Jay, Love the solar system set up. Got to figure out some insulation for the building and the water catchment tank especially, maybe a water heater element as a dump load for the water tank..
Very cool......I think our newer updated system would not freeze up far below freezing as well, but my water heater is fairly exposed to the cold, so it causes issues for us.
I USE 3 300 WATT PANELS, a 60 amp mppt charge controller, 6 battle born batteries (7200 watt hours) and a 3,500 watt inverter. I use it to charge my Tesla and get 6 miles of range per hour for ten hours during the day and it runs my refrigerator all night. I insulated and enclosed my battery bank because in the center of Oregon it gets mighty cold (while I hide out in Arizona).
Definitely sounds like you’ve just started off as soon as possible if you’re buying multiples go with high voltage only because I’ve seen people spend a lot of money on 12 V only to have to replace it all because they want to get decent sized inverter
In Finland company is heating Sand with a windmill and solar panels..... NO BATTERIES The sand goes to 600 C and you can heat a building all winter check it out Sand heat Finland
Check out our 2 year update on our solar system here ruclips.net/video/AbWNuEI2dx8/видео.html
Thanks for sharing your update! The Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series looks like a great option for off-grid power. I love that it has a massive capacity, fast recharging, and is waterproof. It seems like a reliable choice for outdoor adventures or home backup power.
We have a very similar system and have lived totally off-grid for nearly 9 years. With only a little more panel capacity we run a normal front-loader washing machine as well as two large fridges and an electric kettle during the day. A lot has to do with when you do things . On a sunny day, once the batteries are charged, the panels are idling, might as well use that power for washing, kettle, slow cooker and so on. One can do a lot with little just by adjusting one's life style a little.
.Awesome......very cool. I too think we could run more stuff but still working on adding comforts. Lol. People suggest wind turbines often to us, but our battery bank is often fully charged mid day, so no need for it. Glad to hear your system is treating you well for all them years.
@@OffgridwithJayandJen build a custom water tank with a ton of insulation get around r50-60. Make the tank 500 gallons and put a single or double water heater coil inside it. Once that things heated itll stay hot for a very long time. Like a few days. And you can shower or bath from it for a long time.
yes excatly why letting good power go to waste
@@OffgridwithJayandJen a wind turbine is mainly usefull if you live a place where you get periods with very little solar , like here in Denmark in certain periods of winter , then one can charge the batteries with a vindturbine but i have learned a few lessons if you are gonna do the work of raising a tower or mounting it on a buliding make sure to get a model that actually produces power so its worth putting in the work of raising it, the most costeffetive turbines about 4-500$ i have found that actually produces the power they are rated for is the istabreeze series 1500w and 2000w models they have a very good pma good blades strong hub and housing but they have a few problems that can be fixed ( tendency to collect water in the pma housing over time ) drill a hole in the bottom and use a good sealent on the ends of housing, ,, so if you know somone that wants a turbine warn them about the 500w 1000w china turbines at the 200$ prizerange they are utter nonsence,, there are a 400w one that is good but there are so many low output copys
This is awesome information. I appreciate you sharing it. We get tons of win up here at our cabin and my goal is to have a turbine by next winter to help with our gloomy winter months. I will try to Google the model you were referring to. If you get a chance and see this, please share a link to the one you like best....It would surely be helpful to people, including myself. Thanks Kim
I would insulate the battery shed with like 3 inches of foam, the inverter and the solar charge controllers should generate enough heat to keep it below freezing, if not add a DC heater ,the dc heater will dry up the moisture and keep the battery relatively warm. Good job on your set up
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jay! First for being realistic! Second for calling out the BS that so many people buy into with unrealistic, unattainable off grid homesteads. 90% of us are everyday folks like you and Jen and we are striving for simplicity, sustainability and tranquility. So many people are bamboozled by the glitz and glam of unrealistic off grid channels on YT. I don't get it. I appreciate channels like you and Jen because I can learn and apply it to what's realistic for me. Thank you! Love y'all! ❤️🇺🇸❤️ Side note: have you two though about burying one of those caged IBC totes to act as a cistern? I saw a guy in Ohio bury something similar, utilizing a small 12 volt pump. Of course the lines above ground would still need winterized and insulated. Just a thought. Y'all take care! 😊
Love it my friend......appreciate you being here and GETTING it, lol. Nothing wrong with fancy if that's what you want.....but in most eyes simple is what we are looking for like you said. We do have a few of the IBC totes we are using around the property for water. would love to bury one close to the cabin. Check out our video about rain catchment we put out a few weeks ago. the setup we did is just temporary but part of the long term water plan. Best wishes
@@OffgridwithJayandJen Amen sista friend. I saw the rain catchment vid. You guys did an awesome job on that too....as per usual! 😀 Often times in my life I find primitive and rudimentary are the shortest and least resistant routes from point A to B....also less headaches. 😀 BTW the solar set up is amazing IMO...practical and AFFORDABLE! Y'all take care! ❤️🇺🇸❤️
@@silvursprings woot woot 😊😊😊
Couldn’t have said it better. Right to the point. Jay and Jen are doing a great job. Simplicity at its best.
@@silvursprings as soon as you put an expensive "off-grid" system you are no longer off-grid because the idea is also for the stuff to be easy to disassemble and moved to a new location if need be not to require a dozen of professional tradesmen to put everything back on. I think a lot of tradesmen on YT who already have workshops with expensive kit have switched to off-grid theme to attract more audience but their DIY is not really DIY. It's more to make you jealous and add tools you can get around. Once everyone has corded electric tools then they came up with cordless and people keep updating.
22 years off the grid in Hawaii. Simple system, simple needs. Propane for most appliances. Water from the roof.
Yes...yes....and yes. Totally agree
I loved the simplicity of your approach.
Congratulations
I know the video is 2 years old but I appreciate it nonetheless. I enjoyed your sheer honesty and expressing your views on simple way of living without having to break the bank.
I am relatively new to solar and still learning about controllers, wiring setups, inverters, amps, watt, direction, roof or no roof, and lifepo4 vs acid.
I took the beginner's and more expensive route due to my lack of experience so I bought some solar generators like bluetti and just hooked up a few solar panels for now.
I'm still learning but I have about 1200w of solar panels, 3000w bluetti solar generator and 1500w vtoman solar generator. I also bought a prefabricated mini 200w, 40ah, inverter and control kit just to get the hang of wiring and setup for future expansion. Power is good from mid March until late September for normal consumption but I don't have enough power during the other months. The system barely charges during November until February. Like basically 10-20w/hr.
If anyone is reading this, I'm open for suggestions and recommendations. I live on Gulf islands in BC.
Stay free and be healthy!
Jay and Jen, Simple and efficient =effective. Your approach to this whole effort has been a fun thing to watch and very informative. Some of the “architectural digest” off grid properties are amazing but have to be outlandishly expensive. Yours is what most people would aspire to. Great job.
Thank you......fancy is nice if the pay check is there.....but the average person has limitations. thank you for your kindness
I like how Jay get straight into the Costing of building the system unlike other, making the costing a mystery. it pisses me off for someone who wanted to build the system to save money, as it is an important information. Thank You for not shy of revealing the costing for the system. Supporting your work.
I hate that too Lawrence.....makes no sense to not talk about price.
Nice system guys. Your absolutely right about some of the big expensive systems. We have a 2 kw system at our off grid cabin and it runs our well, fridge, freezer, lights fans and even and ac unit for 4-5 hours. Over the last 3 years I think it has come close to paying for itself. Keep up the great work!
Very cool.....I sit with my jaw dropped to the floor when I see some of these systems.
So it runs for 4-5 hours, then what? Everything off for hours until your batteries charge?
@@ghosthunter152 usually 4-5 hours is good enough to keep my cabin cool enough. But I can also run the ac a little longer with generator and charge the batteries at the same time.
It is amazing how two of you did so much. The saw mill is expensive, but saved you a lot in the long run. There are now lithium batteries with built in heaters, or you could insulate the shed well and put a heater in it, or as you said in the house itself with the wood heat. I use the self heating batteries on my camper, but rarely camp in weather below 20° F. My brother could not get power for a couple years to a house they built in the Oxarks, and they ran an old wash machine off a fairly small generator and and used a solar hot box to provide heat to a small clothes dryer to tumble the clothes. Snow melts on a wood stove for water. When no snow, I have no idea other than bigger tanks to store more water.
Thanks kenneth.....ya the sawmill was a good investment, I have a video about it coming out soon so keep an eye out for that. Best wishes
That’s fantastic love your setup, just got done setting up an off grid garage with 6 solar panels producing 1,200 watts of power and love it.
I’m vicariously excited for you!!!!! One day I’ll be on board myself!
It is exciting to know you have built something that is self sustaining in a way. Very satisfying
😊👍
SPOT ON! I've thought the same with all those expensive oversized solar deployments. I'm building my off-grid home with just 200W solar, two Renogy Lithium 100Ah 12V batteries, one MPPT charge controller, one 2000W Inverter, and with that I haven't used once the generator while using my 1800W miter saw, circular saw, drillers, battery chargers, vacuum, etc. during this whole warm season. I think that with 1600Watts in Solar energy in Ottawa area is enough for a small home, specially because in Summer will heat water with the excess energy comming from the PV solar panels, and in winter time with an heat exchanger from the stove, and some propane backup...
Hi Jay & Jen I think you are both the most honest people regarding the ups and downs of achieving your Off Grid Dreams. Keep up the great work.😀👍
Thanks Liam....hope some can learn from our journey and sharing it. 😊
There are floating electric water heaters. Pit one in a tank or barrel and keep it full of snow for winter water. If it is outside just wrap your container with insulation. In Canada that is how we kept the cattle trough clear in the winter in my younger years.
Smart....will look into that. Thanks 😊
Thanks for the info Jason, It gives us on-grid peeps hope that we can do this if we put our effort and dollars toward it.
Thanks Trudee..... you might even be able to get away with less if you wanted. Just depends on your needs. Best wishes my friend
Im in the southern US.
Off grid 5 years .similar set up.
800 aph panels. Two got destroyed in shipment or I'd have 1000 amh.
I use 2- 200amh renogy batteries.
Will definitely add asp.
Good job.
Solar works.
Awesome.....glad to hear your system is taking good care of you. We bought our batteries from Amazon on prime day and they were discounted quite a bit, keep an eye out for it. Best wishes
I love the honesty and care you put into what you do. So happy you guys keep doing RUclips.
Thank You Corey......Sharing Real life, Hoping it helps and encourages others. Best wishes
Where your batteries live is important. In Michigan it gets very cold. You might think going down. Below 3 feet should be above freezing. Cover the hole with foam and keep the shed as is.
Another Awesome video y'all. We appreciate the breakdown and realistic view on the system. Just like you said, some other channels almost make you feel bad if you don't have the latest greatest 20K system. Keep going and sharing. Thanx again... Be Safe!!
Thanks guys.....you keep it up too. Hope you are finding the time to work on the cabin...Best wishes
Very good information. Myself being a electrician I have a good understanding of this system but folks who don't have the training I have. This is excellent
Thanks Bryan.....glad you enjoyed the video. I have a little.bit of electrical knowledge with my day to day, but primarily just tracking down shorts and replacing the part.....not a licensed electrician by far. Thanks for watching
New subscriber here and I just wanted to thank you for sharing this solar experience as well as being so real about what it's capable of. Looking forward to more of your content.
Awesome....welcome Lisa. We try and keep things real here so hope you enjoy our channel and find some videos you are interested in. Lots of playlists if you want to narrow it down a bit. Thank you for watching and subbing.
Thanks Jay. This off grid solar system is perfectly matched with HICOOLER technology which provide almost free air cooling. That is good for hot and sunny location.
Thanks for great video! 👍 When building next expanse for the Solar system, after the batteries, use a ground mount system to east- west with 30-40 degree angle both sides. (Will generate mid day production and also will help with snow sliding down during winter)
P.S. You can buy solar clamp mid and end clamp tops and then use screws to fix them to the wood frame that you can make yourself according to the PV panels. 😉
Nice....sounds awesome
Yes. All for self-installed PV. Your battery temperatures can be managed. I think you should give the shed a little ventilation.
Think about some things I've found out from living in N. PA.
1 or 2 inch foil backed foam insulation is easy to cut and put up.
You mentioned using bubble foil. Check the manufacturers website. What's very cool is by providing just a 5/8" dead air space you can get up to a R22. So a sheet applied either side of a frame has worked very well up here. I did my farmhouse window frame in a bathroom that my dad added a couple of shelves. There was like 2" between the shelf outside wall. And it was cold in the winter. I cut the back out and put a layer of bubble foil. Made a 5/8" frame and staped another sheet to it. Then layered it with cedar closet tongue and groove. Now the back of the shelf is room temperature. Lost a very little bit of depth. With a little creative work you could vent the inverter into an insulated battery box to give them a bit of heat.
A 12 or 24 volt thermostat controlled pc fan could be used for a vent .
Nice install by the way!
Thanks, I'm a huge fan of the bubble foilas well. Like you said if you leave a dead air space between layers it really creates a clean and effective space. I'm wishing I had insulted the shed before installing everything, but like you said I didn't want it to get too hot in the summer.....so I left it very open air and planned to insulate the batteries. Thanks for watching
This is such a great informative video. This helps me out a lot. We’re considering building our own off grid cabin to live in full time and I have been looking into solar. I like your thoughts on using propane because I feel the same way. You still have to buy the propane. What if you can’t buy propane?
Thanks Jeff, I completely agree. Sure no system is flawless, but to buy an appliance where the initial investment is high only to buy fuel to run it doesn't make much sense
Look into wood gasification. This is how we'll need to create combustable gas if Nat/Propane is not available. Its inefficient and dirty, but its gas that will burn similar to propane when the Sun drops a nut directly at us, or these communists/luciferians in control of the big toys flip the switch.
Same goes for BITCOIN FYI. How are you or anyone gonna do anything with bitcoin when there is no electricity as even solar systems will fry in an EMP, regardless of who its from, Man or the Sun or 'the aliens' as they sure want you to buy into that myth.
So what is the contingency if you can’t buy gasoline either?
@@campcreekhill8933 I think about that more and more these days. I mean we use a lot of gas around here for building tasks and putting up firewood. If I were to cut back and only use what I have in reserve I think I could cut firewood for a year or two. But only run the chainsaw. No more luxury of riding the side by side around the property. Would like to slowly upgrade all my tools to battery power, but they are not in the budget at the moment. Like I mentioned in the video I have not had to use the generator to charge my solar but once, and they was just as a precautionary
@@OffgridwithJayandJen I think if we ever get to the stage where we can’t buy propane or gasoline then we have got a few more issues to worry about than just that!
thank you, i've had a single used panel, 230 watts, on my trailer for a couple of years, with a PMC controller. i upgraded to a MPPT and now it is fully charged by 0930 in the morning. as you indicated, refrigeration is our biggest concern, but we now have no concerns regarding our lights (LED) and powered vent (MaxxAir) and the fridge keeps things cold. in our case, the cost was about $350 Canadian.
That's awesome, glad to hear you can get away with less even. I'm not an expert so I'm not sure if we could have gotten away with half the batteries and half the panels, but so far so good. Glad yours is working good as well. Thanks for watching
Your doing an amazing job, Jay. Keep up the good work. We look forward to watching each week.
Thanks for keeping me going......appreciate ya
I have a solar installation company in Jamaica, your system is good as long as it covers your needs, that's a good build and I like it
Very nice, cool to hear it from someone who works in the business. Thanks for watching and best wishes
Hey Everyone....Thanks for all the Support and comments here on this Video. I'm sure it has helped someone in some way. If you want to see how we have started our journey and built this Off Grid Cabin check out our Timelapse videos to catch you up. Here is a couple of our more popular videos.....ruclips.net/video/ssRh3qPgRQU/видео.html or ruclips.net/video/VvnUkWU7mMw/видео.html
I will be checking all of them out. We are seniors now, but followed "Mother Earth News" many years ago and intended to build an underground house, however off grid was not practical back then, remote work didn't exist, and kids came along, and... and, we are seniors now. 🙄
@Kenneth G. Jr thank you my friend.....life sneaks up on us all.....crazy fun stuff, lol
All that water is a heat load mass. You should put it inside. Then you can help normalize your interior temps AND have water that's not frozen.
Afterthought, you can add a tiny 12V fan to blow air around your interior tanks to ensure the air inside and the water containers are exchanging heat. That would keep the entire interior equalized.
Great to see what you are doing! I was using 6 Trojan AGM deep cycle 305AH batteries with 2 BZ 500 watt mppt charge controllers and a Xantrex 1800 watt pure sine inverter. Batteries lasted about 6 years. Now doing EcoFlow delta pros. Love being off grid! Glad you are enjoying it too!
Awesome, glad to hear your old system took care of for 6 years. Hope the eco flow systems last a long time for you.
Brother the biggest advantage I have found with the hybrid all-in-one systems are that when charging batteries any surplus power being created by the panels can be transferred directly to the inverter therefore during the day you are only charging batteries regardless of your power use the batteries do not get tapped until sundown this bypass mode is extremely efficient and extends battery life substantially in lead acid batteries due to their cycle life
Thank you, great video! I'm disabled and trying to fullfill a dream I've had for many years of starting a homestead, and have been trying to see what my options are... I really appreciate your realism, I don't expect to live a life of on grid luxury but some say that a refrigerator is too much for a solar panel array... It's nice to know that not every naysayer is true
Hey my friend.....don't let the dream killers stop ya. I had a master electrician and generator business owner both tell me solar was a waste of time and I would never be able to run a cabin on it.....well my system has taken very good care of us. I'm sure at some point we will have 10 days of poor weather and I will have to charge the batteries with the generator but not daily like I was told. So far so good.
If you have the space, bigger residential panels are always cheaper per watt. My new 445W bifacial panels were $245 each delivered. 4 of those would be the same price as ten 100W panels and produce about double the power.
Very Cool....do you have a link you could share??? I'm Sure at some Point we will Be upgrading the system and Panels and will Likely go that route. I Actually Bought these Panels when the Pandemic put a short Supply on larger Solar Panels so this was what I could get when I needed them....Glad to know that there are better and cheaper options out there though. Best wishes
@@OffgridwithJayandJen I got them from a semi-local place. If you can't find a supplier near you then you can get good deals from signature solar, watts247, and santan solar. Especially if you buy a pallet worth when signature solar has a free pallet shipping sale.
@@niktak1114 Very Nice....Good for everyone to know. Thanks for Sharing
Thank you for sharing, you are true people in true life and you have accomplished so much by you own.
Thank you for your kindness my friend.
Saw an off grid house in Portugal where they had the driveway cemented and it angled to feed a cistern underground. It increase how much water they caught. I would also run some drains to catch the water out gf the shed and panels. Feed it too to the cisterns.
I'm off grid to.. I recently bought a fridge/freezer cooler... it is awesome.. I set it to -4 and it runs of 2 12v lead acid batteries.. the cost of solar is very cheap... depending on the batteries you go with.. I save money by running a generator for electric cooking devices.
Nice....good work bud
Nice set up! I have a basement apartment for my son all the lighting is 12v dc I just bought led camper lights. Using 400w of panels with 200 AH battery bank. Its been going for almost 5 years and it literally trickle charges all day. He forgets and leaves lights on still no strain on the batteries.Problem with most people using solar is they try to power too much efficient appliances is the key. If you start a system with a stressful load on your bank it will be an uphill battle and the batteries will not last as long. Great honest info in this video!
That is great to hear, I totally agree with you in all regards. Led lights and energy efficient appliances are key.
Love the simple setup. Do yourself a favor and get a low voltage disconnect. Will save your batteries if you aren’t around for an extended cloudy period.
Great idea.....thanks BFG
Impressed, you did the research, made the purchases, and installed the system. I've researched for the last couple of months trying to figure the best route to implement a solar sys at my cabin. I've priced every option from kits to individual device purchase. You did great, and had the guts to move forward. Loved the informative video.
Thanks LL....really appreciate it. These all in one systems you ee often make solar easier for newbies like us. If I didn't want to force myself to learn they make a lot of sense and hook up easier. Will prowse reviews them often.
We have been on sloar power only(48v system) for 1 1/2 yrs now. Had some issues in the beginning, but all in all, are happy with it now. We do have quite a bit more $ in our system but with our requirements that's ok. Without any more issues it will pay for itself in 3 1/2 more yrs. Power goes out pretty often out here in the Big Bend area, again last night, but not for us. Good video you have done, informative and straight forward. Well done.
Very nice BE.....good to hear others having good success too with solar. Nothing wrong with building a system to your needs.....it is actually the best way lol.
Good setup you have there, I'm new to this and it's hard to figure out where to start, but I chose an all in one power bank from bluetti 200p and I'm happy with the solution, I have two 370w panels that I have intend to set up as a kind of fence along the terrace 50 degrees. I have an extra battery for the power bank that I can connect if I'm out in the field, otherwise the power bank runs my fridge and freezer just fine.
Sweet.....we considered doing the same. I really only built this system to learn and it was fairly affordable at the time
When I spent winters in the upper peninsula, I always replaced my lead acid car battery for a deep cycle marine battery and never had any issues with starting the car.. even at negative 30°... Although turning car lights on for a minute before starting doesn't hurt either... My small solar system uses 3 lead acid batteries, about 360 amp hours. And 200 watts of solar.. the system runs my propane furnace, lights, fans, my frig runs on propane. More than adequate for my travel trailer. It also runs my garage lighting.. my place is also up north Michigan... I'm torn between battery types,,
It is a hard choice, but it is amazing how little solar we need if we keep.it simple right. Best wishes
off grid since 1982 in northern Ca. have propane gennie for winter charging…2 hrs a day when raining
you could always upgrade the wattage with used panels. its possible to get 250 watt panels for 50.00 each
Dear sir I have my lead acid battery and have them for 8 year and they still working well so don't listern to negative people as long and you have what you want from South Africa
I love this William. Thank you for letting me know. I'm hoping for a similar experience. Best wishes my friend
That’s because you haven’t been stupid with your batteries. I’m going to guess the issue is people drain them down to 0 and then charge them back up and lead acid batteries can’t cope with that people struggle to research properly and then blame the technology.
Have a similar setup at the cabin, but kept it at 12v with 2 banks of 500w of panels and 2 of the same charge controlers that you are using. I know 24v is more efficient, but if one of my charge controlers die, I'm still producing power.
I have something similar set up not too. I just did a two year video about it. Great minds 👍
Bought my entire system used from an auction and a solar company that sells used/repossessed panels. Roughly $12k for 6kw in panels, 2000ah batteries, 12kw inverters, qty 2 250 midnight solar chargers, all wiring, breakers/ boxes, and the structures holding
the panels. There are so many options, just have to be willing hunt.
That sounds like my kind of dealing buddy.....awesome work
First, thanks for your videos. Brother add more roof collecting space. add a garage/ shop. Even a carport style structure to dry lumber with only 3 walls. Then go get a 800 gl. tank. with 3 or 4 800 gl tanks you will always have water . Have you thought about building a roof covering above your solar panels to protect from snow/rain. You could use clear plastic/ fiberglass. I mean you have enough tress to frame a 12,000sq ft house. Certain pine trees grow to 100 feet in 10 years, I would plant a few of those. Congrats ,Looks like you have a great piece of land . Trees are a great resource , they keep replacing themselves !
Lots of projects in the coming years my friend.....funding and time are what keeps us at a moderate pace. We have been at it for two years now and doing this part time until we can transition full time.....steady as it goes. 😊
Moving the solar system closer to the house would help improve power loss do to wire length resistance. My rule of thumb is anything under 100 feet to the item using power is good. Amazing system. I may build it's clone. Insulting the battery shed like you would with a house may help retain heat in winter. I noticed a use difference in my storage shed after insulating it.
Nice....appreciate the nice comment. Believe it or not, the shed is only 40 feet from the cabin, and about 50 feet from the main AC panel in the cabin. I made sure to convert the power to AC at the shed to help with the distance it has to travel, as I have heard DC power travels poorly compared to AC. If I could go back, I would definitely insulate the shed properly. Honestly, when I built this system I figured I would have upgraded by now and I would redo the whole set up better, but 3 years later and I have not found a reason to do so. I do struggle a bit in the winter months, but the other 9 months It does great. Just make sure you have lots of sunshine in a good location, in the woods with 4 or 5 hours won't cut it. Best wishes
will prose was my inspiration. I have 3 100 watt panels running to 3 800whr deep cycle. I have a older 30 amp controller and an over powered inverter. runs my residential fridge and deep freeze. full size appliances. I'm on grid so I have a 6 amp maintenance charger hold its charge.
Very nice.
Thanks for the good thorough review of your affordable system.
My pleasure!
Add on a heated room for your rain catchment. It only has to be heated a little above freezing.
Might have to figure that out. Thanks
Thanks for telling it like it is - the good, bad, and the ugly. I like your frugal ways.
Thanks Philip, making it work.....and on a budget
Thanks for the video. It's great to learn about these systems in a practical realistic way. Beautiful homestead.
Thanks for watching and commenting my friend
Very cool setup, the nice thing about doing it this way is you can add more battery power as needed or if something goes wrong you can identify it and fix it on your own . All solar power systems have their pros and cons. Either build it yourself or plug n play . This is how i want to live my retirement years...off grid
I'm glad you get it MV......I could have easily bought a power station to do what we wanted....but I wanted to learn and have flexibility.....like you said buddy. 😊
I'm looking at land in the U.P. right now and most of it will require me to put together something like this for power.
Even with more panels and a larger system it's still way cheaper than having power poles and lines ran.
For sure it will be. Even getting a cabin or power pole hooked up in a neighborhood can cost you more than this system.....add half a mile or more to that power line run and you are saving big time.
I would have at least one 100 Ah Lifepo4 for backup.
We have an off grid cottage in the UP. I want to replace the propane refrigerator with electric to reduce the fire risk. Another cabin on the lake burned to the ground. It was thought it was started by the refrigerator. I am glad this video was up as it gives me some ideas of what we will need.
Very cool Tim, I went back and forth for a year trying to justify buying a propane fridge....but just couldn't do it. Glad we spent the money they way we did on our solar and bought a simple fridge. This way if the fridge craps out we just buy another one, lol. People have mentioned using little deep chest freezers too on a system this size, so that's good to know too for reserves. Best wishes
@@OffgridwithJayandJen We never use our place in winter so the solar does not need to be quite as big. What size/model refrigerator do you now have? I was thinking of an apartment size fridge.
10.4 cubic foot magic chef....bought it at home depot. 330 dollars. It has never drawn over 150 watts. Mostly runs at 70 watts on occasion to cool it off.
On the water problem for winter I had a diesel truck that had a block warmer, not sure how much juice it would draw but at 20degrees below my truck would start like it was summer time. maybe even a dipstick oil warmer both are fairly cheap. Just to keep it from freezing on you. Enjoy your videos :) keep em coming God blessings to you both !!
That is smart, and a good point.....the old massey ferguson has a block Heater. Maybe similar to something we could use. Thanks
I agree you don't need all the bling to make solar work for a person. At our cabin in Clare County Michigan during the winter we melted snow for our water just for dishes and bathing, flushing our toilet. We had a well but once we closed it up for winter we took drinking water and used snow.
Keeping it Simple has its perks.....😀
AGM's are the way to go. The price alone is worth it. Your tin on the backside of the panels will generate quite a bit of water when it's raining. My system is running in Alaska with limited daylight in winter and on spongy ground(muskeg) with solid ground many feet below the surface. This means that all my buildings must be on stilts or as we say it here "pilings". Water is the one thing we here don't have to worry about because we get 275" of rain each year and have a year round creek running across our back property line. The good thing is we get to run hydro power when the sun is not up. Hope you have started your chainsaw milling for your out buildings.
Agree the AGMs are working very well. WE have a Real Sawmill so no more Chainsaw milling for me
I want to thank you for this encouraging video report on your solar system. I am also put off by the high ticket systems featured by some RUclipsrs. They are out of our price range. I live in western Pennsylvania and am installing a solar system similar to yours. I am putting in 1200 watts of solar panels on the roof of our woodshed, which is about 2 feet from the corner of our house where the electric service panel is located. I have a 60 A MPPT solar charge controller, 200 AH of 24 V LiFePo4 batteries, and a 2500 W inverter, hardwired to an interlocked breaker in our service panel. I intend to use this system for backup power for our water pump, refrigerator, cell phones, router, radios and a few lights. I hope to double the size of our battery bank later this year. Thanks again.
I think this is the best comment I have read in a good while.....im happy to see others going for it. If you have good sun exposure you will be very happy and impressed with what you can power with that simple set up. Let us know how it goes. 👍
Batteries to the house ! MPPT controller Looks good ! Some fridges use very little electric power ! Alpicool I knew some people that had 3 60 watt panel and a regular lead acid battery for storage. They raised a family with that much power ! Wood fire stove ! Use led lights ! Laptop ! Done ! Rich Solar has some nice stuff ! Keep telling people !
Heck ya buddy......it doesn't need to be huge and complicated. Thanks for commenting
Thank you so much for making this video! My family and I are looking into solar for our future off grid cabins, we’ll be living in tiny cabins together on the same property and I think this type of set up would be close to what we want to do! Super informative, appreciate it!
So glad I Could Help. I'm working on doing another update for our system soon and will try to show it again in even more detail with a two year update. Thanks for watching.
Thanks Jay!!! That was awesome!!! You did a great service to all that think they can't... you both are so inspiring. Love you both... I'm so so so happy for your new bedroom you have... I bet your bodies feel so much better now with sleeping in a real bed!! Keep up the good work you two favorite people!
lots of Love my friend......thank you for sticking with us and all your support along the way.
That bed is so cozy I missed getting a video out last week....I snoozed right through it, lol
Thanks Jason you explained the workings and price better than anyone I have watched. So thanks .
Thanks Shirley for being here. Best wishes
I'd consider putting what's known as a
chine$e diesel air heater or diesel parking heater in your battery shed. They are around $120 and come as a standalone little cabinet that can run on 12-24 volts DC and has an exhaust pipe which the heat from can be used to keep your solar panels defrosted instead of just being wasted. It's basically a 3000btu on idle or 30,000 btu heater on high that I would run on idle most of the winter, and maybe on high for a couple hours a day when it's below freezing or super cold. I used one to heat a greenhouse that size in Michigan and it was more than adequate and cost effective. I'm a huge fan of diesel air/parking heaters, I have 5 and heat my vehicle, my unheated and uninsulated front porch, my garage, a greenhouse, and my travel trailer. You could get by running just a liter of diesel a day and it would make a huge difference by keeping your batteries warm and since the cabinet style is standalone and modular it gives you a backup heat source for any purpose... For example-I heated my 2 story house for 2 days with a couple of these heaters when my furnace took a crap in an ice storm.
I will certainly do some research into those diesel Heaters. Thanks PI, appreciate your thoughtful comment and sharing your personal experiences with then. 👍
I have seed starting mats in between my lifepo4 battery's as a backup on a thermostat controlled plug as a backup if I wasn't home and heat went off. Haven't tried it more than testing endpoints but it's a nice peice of mind
Nice....I think those mats are similar to the RV water tank heating mats I plan to use. the keep the temps between 45-68F which seems good. I'll look into the seed mats too, nice work
Speaking of warming up the batteries… The MPPT charger and the inverter emit a lot of heat. If you manage to utilise the warm air coming from them for the batteries, it may help to avoid the thermal mats.
First thing coming to mind is to insulate the shed all around and add a dedicated ventilation, which can be covered for winter season.
I would also consider relocating the system inside the house to use the heating side-effect. With 8A peak current coming from the panels the losses in additional 20m wiring may be not significant.
Ya I was curious if that might work.....will have to see. Thanks
One thing I plan on doing is when I get started on mine out of at the property is to add an alternator mount to my bicycle trainer. I’m a cyclist, since when weather is bad I’ll get on it for a minimum of an hour everyday. It’ll be a good way to maintain the bank daily and get some exercise. I have good wind in the valley all winter and spring too so I’m gonna add a small wind generator.
Great Idea
@@OffgridwithJayandJen thanks guys, I’m in a warmer climate as well, so I’m gonna go ahead and spray foam my battery shed and use dry cell deep cycles, with a solar heater set up
THANK YOU! For sharing the reality of what is really needed for a sufficient enough solar system. I agree with Silvursprings comment 100%. True homesteading is all about the simplistic creation and use of basics to maintain a happy, fulfilling, self reliant life.
Awe....thanks Cindy. Glad this video is doing well and people are seeing it. I feel good knowing people can regain some confidence in solar in a moderate style and size. Best wishes my friend
I like that you have kept your project very simple and practical.
Thanks Roger
😀👍
Jay, we watched this at our off grid cabin while eating dinner.
We liked :1) your sponsor is relevant to the channel-kudos for that. We will check out the site 2) You relating your solar to what you use. Amazing to see you run a fridge on it with no issue or generator help. 3) your haircut 4) that you did that wiring project all for the dogs.
We did not like/ no Jen(we miss Jen). But another great video.
Thank you so much Guys......you are too funny. Jen was teaching classes while I filmed this....otherwise my price is right girl would have been there to point and wave at each piece of equipment, giggle giggle
A few items. If you expand the solar array, consider larger 300-400w panels as they can be bought at around $.65/w vs. the $.96w for the current panels. You will need to reconfig panel wiring to have Voltage and Amperage of mixed panels be nearly equal. I was involved in adding solar to a sailboat and cost (not including batteries which were already in the sailboat) was $650 for 640w or about $1 watt. Used two 320w panels plus 60A MakeSkyBlue Mppt controller for the 12v systems on boat. The EPever you have is more efficient. As far as water from rain barrels, consider an inexpensive inline UV water treatment light to kill bacteria and viruses, The light only comes on when water flows to house
Very nice, I like the idea of larger panels, but I was a total newbie a year otlr two ago so I bought the smaller panels and they worked well. About a year ago I was looking for larger 300 watt panels and they were sold out every where I looked online, so I stuck with the 100 watt panels just cuz I could get them. I will certainly look into the UV light for the water line. Thank you for the tips
@@OffgridwithJayandJen A 55w UV light water treatment tube setup costs about $100 from Vevor (for example) and can treat 12 gals min flow and runs on 120v AC. Hook it up to come on when your water pump comes on (if you use one with rain barrels), or have a separate on/off switch if you use a manual pump. Best not to run 24/7 due to electric use and bulb burning out. There are lower wattage versions in the $50 range but they are rated at like 5 watts and can handle just 1 gal min.
If you ever looked to replace equipment or install anything bigger go with Victron it’s a bit expensive but it’s great and it’s very expandable so in most cases you can parallel up devices if you want to expand the system which on things like a cheap inverter you simply can’t
This system was built with better equipment in general....names that have treated others well and have done so for us as well.....odd ball brands that are extremely cheap i completely agree with you to stay away from. If you're interested we just did a serious over haul of our system and big upgrade. Videos were posted about a month ago
So glad to hear you're happy with your system! I have already invested in a system just like yours (lead acid, 2x 12v banks in series). Will need the power to then start building the cabin.
I'm very happy......just make sure your solar panels are in the best spot to get the most sun and you will be good to go
This is close to my setup, 1100w of panels and 24v 400ah of deep cycle LA batteries, I'm planning to go fully off-grid very soon as we have had a 700% price increase for electricity in the last 3 years here in the UK, £0.07 to £0.49 a unit with 300% of that in the last 16 weeks alone, and it's going up again in the new year by 50-100% more, plus a charge of £300 a year just to be connected to the grid.
These are Crazy times my friend......Not sure how people are going to be able to afford living. All These price increases and they want us to use more electricity to charge EVs and such......Crazy. I wish you the Best of luck. If you are looking for flawless function and use prolly double the system just to hold us over on those cloudy weeks, But it works very well when we Minimize our use.
We just got a fridge for 1,000. We run it off our solar it is DC. Our RV Fridge second hand just crapped out on us. Hindsight I would have bought it 6 months ago and bought more batteries and more solar. We built an insulated doghouse for our water tanks. Using the 2 inch styrofoam board.works for us .
Love hearing real life info.....in theory we all want things to be perfect. Just not sure if simple will work for that. Let us know how how the DC fridge works out Cheryl
@@OffgridwithJayandJen we will let you know. On the boat we had a cold plate system. Only because we were limited on how many panels we could hold. And batteries. It was only 32 foot. But our golf cart type flooded lasted about 6 years and so did our AGM BATTERIES.
Jay I like how you did your solar system it shows that you can do it cheeper even if it is a temporary fix that it dosent have to ne out of this world expensive. thanks bud.
Just trying to make it work.....on a budget, lol
Thanks for sharing your system! I don't know if it's something that would work for you not knowing your winter climate or the constraints of your power system. But we have a rain catchment system here in Maine and we used a stock tank heater in ours one winter. Fashioned an insulating sleeve for the spigot out of a piece of pool noodle (we only use ours for outside watering- chickens ducks etc) and there were only 1 or 2 of the coldest days of winter that we were not able to get water from it.
Very Nice.....I love hearing tips and suggestions from those Doing it....thank you for the Tip. I'm not sure what the draw on those heaters are, But Will check into it and see if maybe we can incorporate something into the rain catchment system. We do plan to bury our water tank at some point....but not sure if that will be prior to winter or it will have to wait until next year. thanks again.
I love your commentary . I learned a lot but I’ve Beverly seen how this kind of system run into the house and how it collects to appliances
The Cabin is Wired like a standard House. ALL with a breaker box and AC lights and Appliances. The solar turns the energy into DC battery power.....and the Inverter converts it into the AC so the cabin can use it just like a house. LOTS of other people get caught up on using DC and trying to be efficient, which is great but it makes things confusing and more trouble.....Just build a system to carry your needs
store your batterys in old freezer.Put your heaters on the inside floor,close the lid.
I like that idea.....
Absolutely love the dual use of your solar stand for storing wood and your great attitude in general. There's so much nonsense talked about solar. Imagine how much you can actually do with just one panel and one battery. Lights, radio, phone, tablet, laptop, portable dvd player etc etc etc. It's probably even good to start with a little and work your way up as you learn more. Too much nonsense said about the whole thing. I love that you have started out with just 1kw. You may find it just does what you need.
Thank you Freya.....really appreciate the kind words. I totally agree with ya on the working your way up. We used and still use a single panel and battery to run our shower house down by camp and it works perfect for running the shower pump and lights year around. It was my first adventure into solar....great way to learn. Best wishes
Frugal and functional is exactly how I'd have done it kudos👍✌
Why complicate it. Right???
That’s definitely good, but with things like this if you go expensive with a decent brand it will last a lifetime so it may be worth going a little bit more expensive if it’s a permanent never going to change thing
Only other thing is to let people know that used panels are available, usually about $50 each, we have 15/250 watt used panels. Works just fine.
Nice.....I forgot all about that option
Make sure you water doesn't get sunshine on it to prevent algea, cover tanks with tarps or whatever you have to prevent the growth, even the opaque containers will grow algea. Not telling you how to live, just a suggestion to prevent tank having green algea. Thanks for solar info and God bless.
Good Tips....thanks KS
I love your Solar Power System Update and thank you very much sharing your RUclips!!!❤❤❤👍👍👍
Thank-you.....glad you like it and appreciate your support
LFP is still great, use a resistive heater in your shed! Insulate it, keep it above 40ºF. And even if you don't, just have a temperature cutoff so you cannot discharge or charge below 32ºF. If you cannot be without power when it is freezing, keep your shed heated! Not 70ºF but just 40ºF is fine. Automate it easily.
Ya that sounds perfect
Great beginning system . I started similar system ,But I also tried wind incorporated in. But just went all solar
Nice, thanks. Ya it is nothing fancy, but it does the job and should take care of us for a while. Maybe the technology will come up with something fantastic by the time we need new stuff, lol
Excellent. Well done! I'm a first time viewer. It's so good to see a system that works very well for your needs without selling all of your body parts to do it. My wife and I are retired. We have been living overseas in Portugal for almost a year. We are moving back to the states for the next part of our adventure. We are planning to do something similar to what you have done with an off-grid place of our own. 👍 I'll stay tuned. Thanks!
Awesome glad you enjoyed the video and set up. Sounds like you and the misses living the life and got a plan. Enjoy and appreciate the support, we have our whole journey here at our property for the past few years on a Playlist if you are interested check it out. Thanks guys and best wishes
Jay, have you considered using the 2" ridge blue foam board to line the inside of your solar cabinet? You would make a cube out of the blue foam board that would basically seal the entire cabinet on the inside. You could also place a blue foam ridge board panel set around the outside of the cabinet that would be at least 18" tall with 6" in rhe ground. This fence would keep the snow and cold air from going under the cabinet on the outside of the cabinet and the foam board cube inside would add more isolation on the inside. Many of the RUclips people out west make this shell arrangement around their water collection units to help manage the solar heat like a cooler does. I really like your solar setup.
Hello Jay, Love the solar system set up. Got to figure out some insulation for the building and the water catchment tank especially, maybe a water heater element as a dump load for the water tank..
I sure do....it's on the list, lol
That would be nice. Trying to decide if insulating the whole thing or just the batteries is the best option.
Thanks guys for that recap on your solar !! Very informative for sure , have a great weekend
Thanks buddy....not a super exciting video I guess, lots of yaking, but lots of people ask about this stuff 😀
Very interesting and educational, really helps with understanding how solar system works and costs.
Thanks David
my water catchment has set outside for 3 years now. the only time it freezesis at 5 below. i'm working on a greenhouse to block the cold and wind
Very cool......I think our newer updated system would not freeze up far below freezing as well, but my water heater is fairly exposed to the cold, so it causes issues for us.
Small out lay of panels and plenty of battery with a gen backup. 👍👍👍👍👍
Yup 😊👍
I USE 3 300 WATT PANELS, a 60 amp mppt charge controller, 6 battle born batteries (7200 watt hours) and a 3,500 watt inverter. I use it to charge my Tesla and get 6 miles of range per hour for ten hours during the day and it runs my refrigerator all night. I insulated and enclosed my battery bank because in the center of Oregon it gets mighty cold (while I hide out in Arizona).
Lol. Nice. I was wondering if anyone tried charing electric vehicles on a smaller system. Why not right?
Just set up a 12 volt solar system today and testing it. Learning a lot. I like what u did with yr system!
Thanks Tom.....12 volt system works good, all depends on your needs and wants. Make sure your wires are rated for what you are drawing. Be safe
Definitely sounds like you’ve just started off as soon as possible if you’re buying multiples go with high voltage only because I’ve seen people spend a lot of money on 12 V only to have to replace it all because they want to get decent sized inverter
Having enuff battery till the sun comes back around is key l think. Beautiful, simple instalation. Very nice!
Thanks
In Finland company is heating Sand with a windmill and solar panels..... NO BATTERIES The sand goes to 600 C and you can heat a building all winter check it out Sand heat Finland
Sounds interesting