Thanks for sharing! It sounds like you got your money's worth over the last 14 years. Just a heads up: solar has completely changed in the last 3 years. The cost of a 48 volt system has dropped dramatically. So has the cost of solar panels. The new all-in-one units (charge controller/ inverter/mppt) are a breeze to install. I'm not suggesting you upgrade, just that the the amortization has dropped dramatically especially with the 30% tax credit. Lithium iron phosphate battery cost is dropping also. It's still a sizable upfront cost, but to your point: if you put that cost towards your own system you gain a lot of Independence. In 2024 (if you do the work yourself), a 10kw array, 12kw all-in-one inverter & 30kwh battery bank can be set up for around $16K. You are living proof the solar power is definitely worth it.
Great points! I've noticed that solar costs have come way down and today, if I were to build a new system I'd base it on 48v for sure and with the real-estate on the roof that I have I'd probably take my 1830 watts of solar and nearly double it! However, at this time I have pretty much all I need though more on the ground would be nice...maybe that's what I should do! Upgrade my ground mount system to some modern panels for more winter charging :) Cheers!
Over here in South Africa we have power failures all the time called "load shedding". I built a small solar system just for my 2 small fridges and freezer. Worth it, yes, even saved food from going off.
OK I wish there were two 'I love this comment' emoticons to hit! Amen brother! Love my Old Forester (specially Statesman) and well, I love my 1911's too (notice the plural there)...you'll find I carry it all the time but few seem to notice it unless it's sitting on the wood slab table, or wood chopping block cookie table next to me ;) Which is where it usually is when I'm relaxing in the cabin! Cheers!
Me either and I enjoyed it , cos I,m a half off grid guy to but want new panels what is the best and most powerful brand to buy , as with batteries, tell me please, want system that can easily handle 10 kWh at 240v per day , as avg use
Honestly, I never look at complete systems but rather components. What I do is look at what I want to power and for how long and I start with the batteries. Get all the battery power you need for 3 to 5 days and then look at solar panels and get what will charge them up completely on the average day of sunshine :)
I've been running off-grid solar for five years. One thing I will say is that, the equipment keeps getting better every year. It is also getting cheaper which I really appreciate. These new units like the EG4 6000XP make much easier now too. You barely have to think about it any more.
Hey Ol'man! We started at home in 2017 with taking all of the 120v loads off grid and as of 2019 we are 100% off the power grid. Our next home is going to be 100% off grid, water and power.
As far as for a house, if you can do a DYI system you will save a lot of money. It doesn't have to cost $80,000. In addition in a house you can be spending over $300 dollars a month on an electric bill maybe more, and on a DYI system you don't have to have a full scale system. It is scalable. I started my system because we have power outages at least a few times a year. Instead of buying a generator I bought 6kws of solar panels with 10kw of LiFePO4 batteries and an off grid inverter. I ran it everyday for part of my house. Batteries have 10 year life cycle. It made sense to me so instead of buying a generator and fuel so I could use it only during power outages I can use it to cut down on my monthly electric bill and it is ready to go during an outage. I have since doubled my storage capacity and added a hybrid mini split that can run on DC from three of my additional solar panels during the day, instead o0f the heat pump. That has drastically cut my electric bill. So if you live in a house you just have to think outside of the box, and be willing to roll up your sleeves so you can be independent, and self sufficient Hats off to you, you're doing it. And I'll raise a glass to you !
And one last thing. I love the fact that I can fix my own system instead of having to depend on someone else, and give them my money. I can fix any part of my system. I designed it and installed it. There's something about that fact that gives me a lot of satisfaction.
I have heard about those new minisplits that can run directly off solar panels and those have got to be the best thing going! I live where there is cheap power, few outages and tons of sun so on one hand, solar works great but on the other cost per kwh is cheaper than most places (I live very near hydroelectric that powers most of the west coast). Cheers!
Here in Ozzie they wanted $60k a pole including wire, I needed 4 poles. I designed my system for leaving acid have since changed to lifepo4, simple system and setup, second hand solar panels. New inverter etc, no genset but we are in OZ rural. I run freezer and fridge, washing machine etc my system I split 4 ways so lots of redundancy. No bills happy wallet. We collect rain Water, more than enough, we're on septic, once again no bills. Really happy
Great info Marine, my Wife and I are new to the off grid thing and I’m glad to hear your experience has been good. I’m a Hollywood Marine from 1979 living in Wisconsin since we left California in 1994 with an off grid place in northern Wisconsin now. Keep up the info and Semper Fi.
Welcome aboard! and Semper Fi! I also went to MRCD, just a little after you in '86 (turned 21 in bootcamp) who'd ya serve with? I ended up at LeJeune in 2nd LAV/LAI Bn for the duration.
@@TheOldJarhead I turned 19 in boot, I was a 120 day reservist,but did my Artillery training at Camp Las Pulgas in Pendleton with Delta Battery 11th Marines, 1st Marine Division and my reserve unit was X Ray battery 14th Marines. I wanted to be a Cop but still wanted to serve my Country, they took the Hostages in Iran while I was on Bootcamp leave, but you know how that went..
Excellent. 8 years out of those AGM batteries is great effort, the little details you identified and stuck to made that possible. Looks like a great little spot you got there. Well done and cheers from Thailand.
Great talk! Ive been using solar at my little off grid cabin for 4 years now and I love it! I started out with a harbor freight 100 watt solar kit ,now I have upgraded to 2 300 watt renogy solar setups and 2 harbor freight set ups ,some powering my cabin and some powering my other buildings. I want to go bigger lol. Thanks for the good info . Semper Fi !
Always enjoy your straight to the point no nonsense videos. Scalability is also what I like… start off with the essentials and upgrade as the need, money, or interest arises.
I spent 15k for 500 amp hours of lifepo4 48v batteries 13.5k watts of solar and 2 6500 watt 48v inverters running split phase 240v. I have not touched the grid in months! So yeah it’s worth it for your house the prices have gotten so low and 48 volt systems can be had for very reasonable pricing.
36 years ago it was $50,000 to go with grid tie. My first system was $400 Now i have 1.2 KW of collection, 8 L16's and a nice 6 kilowat propane generator
Yeah I've been running a harbor freight $300 solar setup to run all my ponds pumps UV sterilizers and air pumps for 2 years now. Best money I ever spent. This is very educational video thank you for sharing. I like the fact that how you have your system so you can replace each piece of equipment when necessary
I have lived in several countries whilst working overseas and I know what we have is due to those who served...no Sir, it is we who owe the appreciation.
I installed a solar system in my Sprinter van. 300 amp hours of lithium with 400 watts of solar panels on my roof. It runs my fridge and a separate freezer 24/7/365. Also a 2000 watt inverter/charger for 120 volt stuff and all my 12 volt stuff. I have never ran out of power except when I accidentally left the solar breaker off when I was working on it. It took a month for the batteries to drain. I also use my van when the power goes out in my home instead of a generator.
Nice, straight talk is welcome. I have a little self-taught, scalable training wheels system. Just upgraded to Victron charge controller which seems to work well.
Great video ! I've been 10 years with a cheap simple 12v system & we all know 12.6 is a full charge so i set mine to cut out at 12.1 , I have led acid 12v on my shop system & even though they say they go into deep cycle at 11 i try to keep them above 12.1 , Like you said just add & improve as you go :)
Hey, thanks for tuning in and dropping some wisdom about your 12v setup. Keep up the great work! And yes, longevity in a battery bank seems to come from wisely using (or not overusing) the batteries! Cheers!
Thanks! Enjoy! I plan to try to watch some of yours as well but as you know LOL we spend more time editing and filming than we can watching! I do try though! Cheers!
Nice video. I enjoyed it. I'm not in a cabin, "I wish" but I've built an off grid solar system to power my 10×20 shed including AC (florida). Good luck and remember, you can't have too many batteries, well, within reason of course.
I'm watching you on my phone so I'm not sure but that appears to be a nice looking 1911, I'm going to be going off grid hopefully this year if I find the right property
Good catch ;) It's a Kimber Custom CDP II and my EDC. I'll admit, I love my Kimber's and they seem to take the rough use nicely! Good luck on finding property! I followed some thoughts on property that worked for me like: you want to camp there. You feel at home when you are on it. That sort of thing - along with the obvious (water, timber, flat ground for building and or farming etc. Cheers!
@@TheOldJarhead Kimber makes a fine tool, I have a sawmill that I need to load up on the trailer today, been waiting for warm weather because I will be traveling north from South Carolina, wanted to go to Alaska AKA freedom but haven't been able to convince the wife... I might come up anyway and I will just tell her it's West Virginia because she is German and is not familiar with the country yet 😅 just kidding but I miss America meaning I miss what America was and it ticks me off that I will have to pay the gooberment and lawyers over 10 grand for her to get a green card meanwhile what's going on on our southern border, I have never felt so priced out, pushed out and cast out before by my own dang country where I was born and raised. I kept on texting but deleted it to save any of your time being waisted, sum it all up just another peed off American. I hope you have a wonderful day and a better tomorrow up yander 👍
Amen! Consider the 'Redoubt' of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. While I live in WA which isn't known for it's Freedom Loving Politics I at least live on the dry side which does ;) But ID, MT and WY are all pretty appealing. Might even be better than Alaska in some ways. As for the immigration, my ex was from Canada and it was a nightmare! One time she stayed to long back in Canada and they refused her coming back until she re-applied and waited 90 days (while the kids and I were back home) before they'd let her back. So ya, I get it!
I enjoyed your talk on your long term experience. All great points. I have built a couple systems in my garage/back yard in the country. 12v and 24v with individual quality components and they work great. In the next five or so years we will be building an off grid home over a half mile from utilities were we will live full time. For situations like this where an inspection will be required everything must meet code and the larger size system dictates 48v. Sourcing all the UL listed components and arc fault protection etc is overwhelming or impossible. The all in one units that combine all these things together are the answers for many. I am leery about failures compared to individual components just as you mentioned but will likely good this route. I dream of building a 400sq ft off grid cabin where no jurisdiction is involved and I can build a component system along with rain water storage etc. Keep enjoying that cabin and taking good care of that equipment and it will take care of you.
I got around 14000 into my solar but I built it one piece at a time and 5 years to complete and have backup system I’m of grid no elictric bill water sewer bill I just pay lot rent for spot in the woods in a tiny moble home I made from a old rv
some numbers for others to consider....6 years ago i put a small system (1kw all in one inverter charger) 500s solar and 2kw battery storage to run my garage lights and a small pellet stove. 5 years ago i retired and found the time to DIY a larger system in my garage taking it off grid. 4 years ago i installed a small system in my house separate from the grid power. 5 years ago i maxed out a pre-built system of 6kw split phase inverter with 24kw storage and 3.5kw panels. It provides about 80% of my electricity thru the year. It is all paid for and at the time my money was sitting in savings making no interest. Now electricity is more expensive and less reliable so i consider the money well spent. I have peace of mind and more control of my life. All in i have spent just over 17k which is less than what a good used car would cost, for me this is a better use of my money. I would do it all over again the journey has been educational, fun and beneficial for me.
Great points! Specially on interest! I often argue money in a savings account is just a losing proposition today! Interest doesn't even remotely keep up with inflation and buying solar power today WILL pay off tomorrow. Thanks for sharing!
I did mine differently, I am on grid and put in 1kw solar panels, 5kwh LiFePO4 batteries @ 24v, 60A charge controller and a Sigineer 6kw split phase inverter. I run all my continuous loads through that and let the grid run the refrigerator, freezer and well pump. If it goes out I can run everything off the inverter. I went from $125 a month to $50 a month power bill with a $3000 investment.
Not a bad return. You've got a little less storage cap than I do (208AH vs 360AH) and a little less than half the solar panels I've got but you're doing well with it. Cheers.
Always good to hear the wisdom of a fellow Leatherneck! I'm getting ready to do some similar work so I'll be monitoring this channel for intel...thanks!
Yes sir, no water bills here. 540' well on a Grundfos SQFLEX well pump with 1150 watts of used Solar panels @ $45.00 ea. & genny connection. Got 8 panels & 4 of the BigBattery used Lithiums for the Garage. You must pretty far north judging from the tilt of those panels. Were around 45° Thx for sharing!
I'm above 48° but that means tilting to 63° in the winter (or steeper to shed snow and reflect off of it). Sounds like you did a good job on your system!
40 K views? I'll be expecting my RUclips plaque any day now! LOL Seriously though, thanks for that and I appreciate the shoutouts! One day we'll get together. Cheers!
i spend about 15.000 usd for an all house system... 2 sunsynk 12k inverters ( you may know them as sol-ark) 930 AH life po4 batteries 32 x 550W panels DIY the install , passed inspections use the grid only as backup ( and send them power i cannot use) atm can stay offgrid for about a week without sun... payback was in less than 3 years, and no powerbills for the comming 20 years at minimum.... was it worth it ?... YES, VERY MUCH SO independancy, freed from crazy taxation ( in the EU) and extreme powerbills per KWH ( 0.95 Euro/Kwh at one point)
You need to get a Amp Hour Shunt Meter and stop using Voltage as a SOC. It does not hurt the Lithium to run them to near 0, the BMS already protects them from damage from going too low or high on voltage. That way you can reduce your generator usage even more.
I sure hope you have a sense of humor otherwise you probably won't like this reply LOL but.... A: How to show you didn't watch the entire video - post the above. (@4:33 minutes in I specifically mention SOC and the monitor I put in which, FYI requires a Shunt). Maybe watch at least half the video first ;) B. How to show you don't really understand SOC or Life Cycles of LiFePo4's -- post the above. LiFePo4's do indeed lose life cycles at 100% DoD over 80% or even 50% in fact BigBattery who made these specifically states they get 5000 cycles at 80% vs only 4000 cycles at 100% but going further Victron states that 50% DoD will give you TWICE the life cycles than at 100% Finally, assumptions: You made some in your post but thanks for watching (even if you only watched 3 to 4 minutes) I do appreciate it! After 14 years of having solar power, which I built myself and upgraded myself I'd hope I learned a little ;) but as far as Voltage on batteries vs SoC based on AH ratings and usage, voltage is actually quite a good indicator for a number of reasons: 1. to Clarify, voltage under discharge is NOT going to tell you the real SoC and only after a FLA rests for 24hrs can you really tell SoC and then it's best to use a tester to get SG off each cell. If you want an easy 'quick' gauge of SoC voltage can be used as long as you understand it isn't representative of actual SoC without a rest period. However, it is always better to error on the side of caution than not. Running a battery to 100% is never a good thing, even with LiFePo4's but basing the decision to recharger them on their voltage only means you'll use less of them therefore increase their life -- that's how I got 8 years out of FLA's that were rated to get 3 to 5 and could still get another year or two out of them. In conclusion, yes I have a Shunt and a Bogart Engineering TriMetric battery monitor system which I mentioned in the video actually and I like to use it but I prefer to keep an eye on voltage because I'm used to FLA's and in the winter they have less AH of capacity than in the summer so it's important to know that and something a SoC meter can't compensate for. For example, assuming a battery bank is at 50% in sub zero weather might mean you are closer to 10 or 20% and drastically reducing their cycle life.
Its the freedom, i do all my house, spend almost 20 thousand and have split my house in three parts, so three systems solar panels, mppt inverter etc and have all spare in the house, totally 60 kwh battery's and everything diy, learned tremendous much and i am so happy, here in Indonesia i had almost every day a blackout. Here is everything cheaper so thats whyi am lower in cost but it works already now three and i keep ìt the system not lower the 80 %. I have my own clean water, own chicken, hundreds of fish, big vegetable garden, i need only rice. worker for 12 years to realise this but i am so happy with it, yes its all worth and life gets meaning again. Lower cost but not lower quality i bought all epever aquipment double so replace and repair if possible.
7:15 I also know guys that pay $80,000 for a fancy 4wd, lifted truck. Now, how does that pay for itself? Enjoy the high taxes and insurance. But oh they can show off when driving through town. Solar systems aren’t seen by most people and that’s the way we like to live and what we choose to spend our $80,000 on. We don’t have any sense? It’s a miracle I’ve made it through half a century. Off grid 2 yrs producing 25MWH/yr.
LOL hey, to each their own! I love my solar power and do have a lifted Jeep but I don't drive around showing it off nor my truck. Truthfully, if someone can afford to spend $80k to charge an EV the more power to them, I just see things differently. Cheers!
@@TheOldJarhead I didn’t mention charging an EV, but I plan on that too as soon as I can as I have a lot of excess power in the summertime when I’m driving for work the most.
You might learn that new charge curve is flat. As such it will be a tinker game to get a voltage that will give you that 10-15% on each end. It is possible, just takes a lot more charge time to absorb.
I just got a BLUETTI ac200 max just got it I’m useing it now and my 5000 watt system is my backup and I got a 3000 watt 24 volt system I got bought guessing 12 to 14 inverts they where when I was building system as I upgraded I just keep the inverters for spairs
Great video glad you are happy, I think one of the reasons it becomes addictive for us is because it makes you feel like your your own boss and you are sticking two fingers up to the multibillion conglomerate energy companies etc.
I agree paying premium for solar and batteries is only worth it to have power in outages. I myself built my own system for $15,000 I bought 50 235 watt used Solar panels. 2 5kw all in one Growatt inverters. 64 280ah LFP EVE cells for 4 14.3kw battery banks(13kw each usable in my setup). 52kw usable total. 4 JK BMS's I built my own ground mount and hired a handy man to help. Ordered bulk cables and connectors. disconnects and everything I needed and even another 200 240 amp breaker panel and breakers I would need. Installed it all myself with help from handy man. The grid is my backup power my whole house runs on this. 1.5 years in and I only use grid 2 months a year but have to pay them $10 a month for those other 10 months of non usage. All that for just under $15,000. Batteries are a lot cheaper in price now. EG4 has 14.3kw battery for $3600 now still more than I paid building my own but 1/2 the price of others. 9megawatts free energy so far. I say free because I paid it in full up front. My electric price went from 12 cents to 22 cents in last 3 years. $1980 saved in last 1.5 years. I am adding 2 more battery banks and 5kw more solar and 1 more inverter/charger. $7000 about. that will get me off grid totally.
I have a similar system, slightly less capacity that what you described. Run the whole house, and charge the EV, basically driving for free. Couldn't imagine life without it! In my case my nonuse electric bill is $50, which is a scam, it's driving me nuts. I just need a bigger battery bank to confidently get the service disconnected all together.
Oh definitely -- I have both a Jackery 500 and a Goneo 600 - the jackery is far better of those two - and plan to expand the Jackery with a 100AH 12v LiFePo4 battery and 12v-24v converter -- however, when looking at the Jackery 2000 Plus 6kwh unit with an extra 2kwh battery (to get it close to my system) you're looking at $5900 vs my system with 8.64kwh at $4900 and that includes the inverter/charger and a charge controller and the batteries are far more expensive. I could build it for $2900 if I used some 100AH12v batteries and ran them 2s3p to get 300AH@24v or 7.2kwh -- and that is a significant savings!
Ya, @@TheOldJarheadI would be spending more than that but the Anker F3800, Bluetti AC500, and EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra all offers 240V. I could charge an electric car and with a 2 way DC system could send power back to the house.
All good points but don't forget, most inverters manufactured today have that capability though you'd have to install the wiring (that is the big difference besides convenience and portability IMO).
It's best to calculate your battery backup in Watts since everything you power has a certain wattage drain on your batteries. Voltage & current varies, but wattage is constant. Example of what I'm talking about. Your system is a 24-volt system with a 360 AH battery capacity. That's just over 9 kwh of battery capacity if completely drained. whereas a 48-volt system with the same AH battery will provide twice as many kwh of power. Using wattage is also how you should calculate the amount of battery capacity and amount of solar you will need for an off-grid solar system. Using wattage also makes it easier to calculate your batteries SOC.
Back in 2010 the argument was that Watts rule made it easy in either direction however what was more important was voltage drop and conductor size. What I see today are two camps: the popular camp with newer folks to solar is the watts and kwh camp but they often need to ask about voltage drop and conductor sizes vs the typically older group (and least in my experience) of the Amp camp (hey that rhymes!) What we would do is calculate the watts required to run something and the hours per day we'd need to run it (or planned to) at 120vac and then divide by the system voltage we were designing to get the AH capacity (which then all batteries were rated in vs today with LiFePo4's often rated in both) and then calculate the DC loads in watts and/or kwh's and convert to AH the same way. Next we'd determine the number of autonomous days required and multiple the battery bank AH's by those days to get the total required bank size. Finally, divide that by the size of the batteries required in series and you have the number of batteries required (i.e. if you need 4 batteries to get to 24v and each string of 4 is 220AH and you needed say 550AH of capacity than you needed 3 strings of 4 if that makes sense). Now with the battery bank size determined you would move on to solar array sizing. You take the AH per day needed based on the above, multiple by 1.2 to get a 20% increase since they aren't that efficient, then divide that by the expected hours of sunlight per your areas average and you have how much solar you need to recharge the batteries on an average day. Plug in the solar panels you think you want (by amps) and divide the required amount per hour by the amps of the panels and you get how many panels you need. In other words, ditch the watts ;) go to amps and the math is easy! Oh and now you know the size of breakers, charge controller (s) and conductors required since they are all based on Amps (except CC's which usually list voltage and amperage -- as in Tri-Star 45 MPPT by Morningstar is rated at a max of 45amps). Of course, the math works both ways but using Amps has it's advantages over using watts that I think is very relevant. Not that your way is wrong, I'm not saying that at all, just that using Amps has it's advantages and makes things very easy for someone who understands it and the math :D
@@TheOldJarhead If anything, I think your comment highlights why you SHOULD use watt hours when communicating battery capacity. Just think of it this way, if you told someone you had a battery setup with 220AH of capacity, you also have to give them more information, like the voltage, for them to actually grasp how much energy it can store. And again when you tell them that your peak load is for example, 125A. This is useful information for planning conductor size, but not communicating energy consumption to other people. Meanwhile, if you communicated it to them in watt hours, they know your actual capacity from just that single figure. And not only that, but if for some reason you needed AH for something (which is very unlikely in my experience), you can just divide the watthours by the voltage. Beyond planning/building a system, measuring in energy is just much more useful than measureing in current.
All good points but the funny thing is someone asked me a similar question about a system and only told me watts and watt hours to which I had to ask "at what voltage" because you do need to know that. For me it is always about building the system. Once it's built it doesn't matter but in order to know cable runs, cable sizes on those runs, breaker sizes, charge controllers, batteries etc etc I need to know what voltage they plan to run and with known amperages I can tell them what breakers etc....I agree, watts can be easier in the ways you describe but when planning a system you need to know voltage and amps at least in my opinion :) Cheers!
I don't know about everybody else, but if I ever get a chance 2 go off grid. That's what I'm going to do. I'm currently on grid power. But if I can get off grid, I will use the grid power. As a generator. Because what I've heard do lose power occasionally during a storm. Or winnerstorm. That way, I always have power when everybody else goes to generators
Probably gonna stop looking at those all-in-ones now that i seen this video. I was thinking about getting one but now after watching this I too would rather have a modular system that i know i can put together myself.
Check out systems at places like sunelec dot com or alte and call someone like backwoods solar. Looking at what they put together and asking why can help. It's what I did. Today I love that I chose my components and k ow why 😉
If you start simple and work your way up with money saved every month. Is my advice. I am running multiple inverters..and a battery on each panel with short run of dc cable..do the long runs after its ac..
I have had some sort of offgrid/or other since 2006 I even run a web server hosting a renewable energy site. I don't get 100% of my power from it but all the network gear, the website and about 40% of the reat of my power comes from renewables
Okay. At the end you mentioned about only draining your batteries a certain amount. The fact is, yes that is very true with lead acid, but with the new lithium, you can really use them and nearly abuse them, and they will still work great and last 10 years. With lithium, a better practice to extend the life is to cycle is between 10%-90%, maximizing capacity yet not pushing the battery too hard. Same thing goes with your phone or electric car. Your battery meter is your new friend to manage the system.
Actually all LiFePo4 manufacturers say different. They all show cycle lives increased with optimum usage between 30-70% So while it's true you can get 10 years with 90 to 100% DoD you can get 30 with half that 😉 and since I have 14 years I to this system I look forward to hopefully never replace my batteries again 😀
The thing is, you didn't have to buy all the components new. If you search you will find good used panels, discounts on new inverters and charger controllers and batteries.. I just bought victron equipment on eBay where my offer was accepted and i got an additional eBay plus discount. I saved about 30-40% off the cheapest retail price. Save goes for the 12kw transformer inverter i also bought last night. Don't just go and buy, do research and save
14 years ago the 'used market' wasn't what it is today and Victron was perhaps a whisper in the future. I for one, don't prefer to buy used though I know plenty do, I like my warranties :D But it's true today, you can buy a lot of used solar equipment and might be good to go and save tons of money. My experience with used, however, is buyer beware. I should also add that in those days the trick was to buy Non UL rated panels if not a 'permitted job'. Appreciate the comment!
My grand father was a very early 1900s electrican - I live in the rural deep south - solar does not work well for us - the humidity is generally high humidity defuses the sun light so the UV light does not strike solar panels directly - Solar panels only put out 20% of there rated power at noon day on clear sun days down here, that is rare - Im on the grid and use a hybrid system after huricanes and ice storms my power can be knocked out a long time - In rural america most did not have grid power till the 1950s or so - Many had 32 volt DC farm light plants - a home was powered by a set of 16 cells - wheen i was a kid my grandfather and uncles refered to some homes as having farm power - Batterys were sized to provide enough power to run all the appliances in a house for 6 days then spend one day running the generator all day to charge the house batterys - Stationary batterys for homes often had a acid strength of 1.195 - modern golf cart batterys use the stronger acid of 1.275 strength - With the weaker 1.195 acid house batterys were expected to last at least 60 yrs being 50% discharged over 6 days and 85% charged on the 7th day - Down here sence fridges and freezers along with fans run a lot duriing summer - The rural homes that had farm light plants had 20 kw battery banks - Thats just some interesting history - battery plates dont rot and swell with weaker acid also they dont easily sulfate - Its not difficult to desulfate leas acid battery - they were equalized every 10th charge that desulfated them -
@@TheOldJarheadyou can raise it up on the net and read about it - they have data on hybrid farm light plants going back to 1890 or so - Also most rural towns used 32,64, or 110 volts DC - towns generally charged power house battery's two in the morning and two hours in the evening - The French quarter in new Orleans had a power house on bourbon street that was a 110 volt DC hybrid plant - It supplied the French quarter homes for decades - AC power was to expensive for most up till around the 1950s so most homes in the French quarter were on 110 volts DC - hybrid plants burned 1/6 to 1/10th the fuel of the continues running generator in a AC plant - so the power from DC plants was far cheaper because of fuel and maintenance in DC power plants -
Luxpower 6000xp inverter - $1500 EG4 PowerPro 14.3k battery - $3800. Discontinued 400w solar panels - $100 each. It's getting cheaper by the month if you look around !
Absolutely! My new Sungoldpower 4k inverter/charger runs around $1k and does more than I need! My 8.6kwh battery bank (with BMS) was $3600 give ir take and that was kast year. Times have changed and continue to.
I'm fairly self-sufficient but am still connected to the grid, mostly because I have an electric vehicle and even though I can what you'd call trickle charging it from solar is possible I normally charge off the grid using my 80 amp charger. Which draws approximately 19.2 kwh of power, and my maximum inverter output when I have them all turned on is just 13.2 kw. And I have roughly the same in solar output. So I can use my 240 volt 30 amp charger on a very sunny day to charge my truck uses roughly 7.2 kwh of power but normally if I charge my vehicle with solar I'll just use my 120 volt charger which only draws 2.4 kwh of power from my system. So, for the most part, my grid is my homes backup with my 11kwh generac as my secondary and my electric vehicle as my final backup since it has a 131 kwh battery and a 9.6 kwh built in inverter system that can power my home for several days. Even with all this, I have no guarantees what will still be available to me after a major EMP.
Have you looked at EMP Shield? I've put them in my vehicles, my sawmill and my tractor and have them to install in my solar power components and well pump setup. I also bought them all myself (they didn't give them to me). If you haven't checked them out, consider it, here's a link tinyurl.com/4mh5p5us -- for me, as a Marine who used to be an NBC NCO a time or two, these seem to be the best system made for both Lightening protection as well as EMP protection and they are used by the military in places as well as a number of 1st responders vehicles. I believe, with them, we'll still have power after an EMP if we have our own systems :D (not much point if connected to the grid without solar and battery backup etc etc other than vehicles)... Either way, sounds like a well thought out system! Cheers!
Small Ranch n Home here in the High Desert of Southern California near Big Bear Lake Mountain Resorts Community 1350 Sq Foot Renovation and 40' Spartan Motorcoach for a Bunkhouse and My own well. Small 2 Inverter System with 25K Battery Banks of 4 280ah Lithium Iron Phosphate and 4 RENOGY 200AH AGM for Battery Bank #2. Easy Simple Set Up - Semper Fi @ Indian Creek Ranch
In your case with power to far away, yes it's really the only way except for possible wind energy as you said. In my case I have ongrid power for my weekend getaway. I had it installed for less than $2k underground 200ft from the road. My bill is only about $26-$30 a month. To me it's worth having it compared to solar and the so called freedom of not having a bill every month. Like most people we have a backup generator just incase but hardly use it. So basically my electric bill per year is about $400. With the convenience of having a 200amp service , I can only imagine what it would cost to match that in solar.
Where I live my electric bill is $13/month delivery charges when I don't use any electric. $.08/kwh in winter and $.12/kwh in summer. An average size home uses 30 kwh/ day times that by an average 30 day month comes to 900 kwh a month. That would be $72 plus delivery in winter and over $100 plus delivery in the summer. I have an electric truck and until recently I had to charge that off the grid because my solar wouldn't handle charging it. Now I even charge my truck off my solar. My grid is my main backup with an 11 kw generac generator backing it up.
We use about twice that in power but it's cheaper here too (I think around $0.05) but we have a big home in town. Our cabin? No idea since we never brought in utility power :D
The technology I started working on will put the individual in full control of their own energy needs but it's tough to get a business up and running as the equipment I need to just get started cost an arm and a leg. All that one needs for this technology to work is plain unprocessed water. Now the technology is actually very old having first attempted to make it to the marketplace in 1968 but those that sell energy and the governments they control have always moved to shut the technology down when they get wind of it attempting to free the many people they enslave. Just imagine, no more paying for fossil fuels, and no more paying for energy. Now would this not improve your quality of life? And the best part of this technology is when it is being used you would be cleaning the air that we breath.
Yeah, I must purchase a 4th axis CNC mill and each time I get to the point were I start to make progress some sort of emergency takes all of my funds, smh. This time around I somehow owed in taxes which took an entire paycheck away from me. The cheapest I have found thus far used are around $30k and I just can't seem to be able to save any money so that I might be able start actually producing something. I'll keep trying as us poor folks truly need this technology.@@TheOldJarhead
Thanks, I'll keep at it as this technology is too important to stop now. Just hope my funds stabilize so that I can get the remaining things needed to kick this off.@@TheOldJarhead
Nice 1911. I have a pair of Kimber customs, very nice. I still just carry my old simple Blackhawk. I'm really enjoying the off grid power "lessons". Cheers !!
I have a Blackhawk and my favorite, an early model Vaquero :D I also have 3 Kimbers :) Custom TLE II (the 1st I bought), Custom CDP II and then a birthday present to myself maybe 5 years back, a Kimber Micro 9 in Desert Tan (for summer CCW. On the solar, I've been wanting to do some vids on my setup and only wish I'd done videos when I was building it all! LOL but at least I can share what I've done and learned over the years in hopes of helping others!
I think considering the Return on Investment (ROI) solely in dollars is short-sighted, although it is the common way solar sizing and selling is done. I think Quality of Experience should be as important, or more important, in the decision-making process. Like when people buy a nicer car that takes you there faster or more comfortably, or a stronger truck that has more towing or hauling capacity, not limiting oneself to the cheapest thing that will get you or the load from point A to point B. I think the same approach should be common for solar and backup builds. Buy a decent truck, not a moped. That's the way I did my build: I designed, permitted, and installed my suburban grid-tied solar with battey backup system, using solar electricians only to do the electrical conduiting and connections, partially because I'm not qualified to do that part but mostly so I wouldn't void all my equipment warranties by doing the electrical myself. I knew going into the build that it would probably take me 20 years to get my ROI, but I wasn't building for ROI: I was building for the satisfaction of NOT paying the local utility for electricity (and, in fact, having them owe ME money at the end of each year), and NOT having my house go dark during grid faliures. Now, I don't have a lot of money, so I wasn't just throwing unlimited dollars at stuff, but I was trying to get the best Quality of Experience for budget. Which I did: I put in a Sol-Ark 15k inverter, 19.2kW 48v HomeGrid Stack'd ESS, and a modest 5.525kW of roof-mounted hi-quality pv panels. Hi-quality equipment that can't be shut off by anyone but me, with an inverter beefy enough to power my whole house--no critical loads panel--so when the grid goes down nothing goes down in my house. The Sol-Ark 15k powers a 4-ton HVAC and a house full of electric appliances except for a gas tankless water heater and the gas furnace part of the HVAC. Powers all it, no problem. The only time I use the grid is during the winter months--and then only a little compared to my pre-solar years. The system also allows me to use my pellet stoves to heat the house for cheaper than using my gas furnace. The only thing I'd change, having now done solar, is I would have put in 3-4 more kW of panels, and maybe 5-10kW more of battery. But no complaints. Four power outages in the neighborhood in the last year, no power failures at my house. Every day I walk by all my equipment, super happy with the quality of performance it gives me. No power outages, and after the first eleven months the grid utility, PGE, actually owes me money for the year. They pay up once a year. They'll owe me even more next year. The value of driving a nice truck of a system instead of a cheap car of a system that bogs down going uphill: priceless.
@@TheOldJarheadYes! Great bang for the buck! Funny thing is, the way electric price is going up so fast in my city, and the unexpected ~$200/mo I'm saving on my gas bill in the winter months by using my pellet stoves (free electric for the blowers, augers, and control boards/sensors helps) instead of the gas furnace, I might actually get my money investment back before I die. Thanks for the great videos.
I'd have to do some checking on that as it's changed over the years. I used to run the generator a lot (4 hrs a day in the winter of 2013/2014) before I got the 2nd set of solar panels but now I don't need to run it at all except maybe after several days. It runs on propane also.
Yes as well as what equipment I run as I run the genny when I use big saws like my table saw or miter saw. I don't have to but I like keeping my batteries topped off ;) I now have enough battery power to run without the generator for at least 5 days if I'm not being too conservative with power and a week if I keep it down to 45AH over night and have no solar charging. However, it's spring and until the fall I'll typically not run into that issue so it's likely I won't need the genny until November or December now...I'll run it anyway to keep it lubed etc.
@@TheOldJarhead I bought a little 800va gen in early 2019, used it for ~30 hours then left it untouched until a few months ago, and it still worked fine. 😀
Good to here. I worked in Telecom for 30 years and we always ran our generators weekly or every other week to 'exercise' them so they would always work when needed so I basically do the same now.
$80,000 for house solar is crazy. If you do it yourself, the parts these days are really cheap, you can get for around or just over $1 per watt. Adding batteries is a big extra cost, but even so, $80,000 sounds like price gouging, or an oversized system.
I agree! Of course, when I started solar was a lot more expensive and those fella's might have done it then but recently a lot of folks are spending lots of $$$ building solar to charge EV's and those need a ton of power. Doesn't seem cost effective to me but DIY will help. Cheers!
A "cycle" is not simply a discharge and recharge. Discharging from 100% to 50% and charging back to 100% is one half cycle. So if batteries are good for 6000 cycles down to 20% state of charge, and you only use half that much change (100-60% instead of 100-20%) you should, in theory, get 12,000 or more of those partial cycles. 12,000 days is 32 years. The assumption here is that there is no time related deterioration of the batteries that is in addition to the cycle related wear. I don't know if that's an issue or not. But I bet you get at least 20 years from those lithium iron phosphate batteries.. So, so much better than lead acid. Light, maintenance free, almost constant voltage over most of the discharge, and spectacular lifetime. FWIW, when made a voltage VS charge curve for my home brew 24 volt LFP battery, at 24.0 volts it was at less than 10% full. The voltage held above 25 volts down to about 18% state of charge, and then fell off rapidly. It would probaby be better if your generator kicked on at about 25 volts.
True -- and Life Cycles are higher at 80% vs 100% but I have to imagine if that's the case than life cycles would even be higher at 50% but I've not seen anything that tells me that, just based on stuff I've seen from 100% vs 80%
Here's a good example of what I'm talking about: Victron's LFP-Smart range says: CYCLE LIFE (capacity ≥ 80% of nominal) 80% DoD 2500 cycles 70% DoD 3000 cycles 50% DoD 5000 cycles Notice that big increase at 50% This is what I'm looking for. Now BigBattery where I got my 24v Mules from tells me 4000 cycles at 100% and 5000 cycles at 80% so I target 50% or higher but so far haven't seen them drop below about 65%
I don't know. I had chiller for 24 years.Didn't have enough to run it for everything in my house.But it did make my $149 bill.Only go to 35 bucks a month. All year around and never went up. I mean, I really didn't have that much solar to make it to bill gold on that much.But I was more alert to what I was using so I didn't plug the microwave.The dryer no nonsense says central appliances that I wasn't using and I saved a ton of money. And now I don't get to power copies since I started a fire on my house and I blame it on my batteries. Which was not true, especially my daughter smelt it when she was cooking and it didn't come from the batteries are anything like this because she was cooking right above the batteries on a little electric cooker called a microwave. Actually, the batteries were in a still table. Of course, they just connected to a meter last year because I wasn't using a powerful last 3 Years and shortly after they connect to this connected to the power from the house or the meter house catches on fire from the power given a surge from the power line and people call it in but to dismiss all those calls. Of course, after all, my brothers got burnt up. I stood power and ultimately stood solar panels and lights till coming out at night. And the power company line was disconnected from the house, so I still had power of some sort. Just running a few lights. It didn't destroy all my generators, or should I say? Inverters, because I just first got a generator December of last year. So I can get more light in the house.But it's not a very big generator in two Thousand watts.
The power companies don't pay nearly enough for me to send my excess solar power back to them. I have a propane hot water heater with an electric water heater connected in series with it. So excess power is diverted into my electric hot water heater, which limits the propane used to heat my water. I also will often trickle charge my electric vehicle from my solar on really sunny days. This is much more beneficial than selling my excess power back to the power company.
Agreed! Here they pay back in Wholesale prices which means you darn near have to send double what you use to break even. In my mind, that's not worth it but you're setup sounds very well thought out! Kudos!
Small world! My grandfather was a church deacon there for a long time, Stanley Joe Manley -- so if you know any Manley's or Robinson's they might be cousin's. We moved to that area some time in the 1700's I guess or at least to SC in 1741 and then moved west from there so could be early 1800's and I guess I have family there abouts still. We came from Ireland and have that typical Irish trait: 3 brothers lived in the area but one was a drunk so the other two changed their name from Manly to Manley and disowned the 3rd...to this day we have family that doesn't speak to each other lol -- bloody Irish!
Mostly due to efficiency of the system. While I do use 12v things like fans and stereo, the 24v system (and really 48v is even better) allows for longer and smaller cable runs with less voltage drop and lower amperage. For example, a 12v system like mine would put out double the AMPS I now put out and require much more expensive conductors (wires) - and again, more voltage drop. 12v works for some, specially smaller systems in smaller spaces but for the best, most efficient builds today I'd opt for at least 24v like I have now or even 48v (I think that's better) and I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see 96v systems in the future. Higher voltage means lower amperage over the conductors (less heat, less risk), less voltage drop over longer distances and smaller wiring inside components as well as less heat. All in all it's better to go higher voltage/lower amperage and use a conversion puck of DC to DC converter to power 12v items. Cheers!
@@TheOldJarhead I asked because I used to drive 18 wheeler, I power a 120 volt refrigerator (by inverter). I am looking to build a barn home and use solar mostly but be on grid backup. Thanks for info
No problem! That also makes a lot of sense. I have one of those 'Big Rig' 12v inverters I used for my cabin back in 2010 and still hang onto it as it could come in handy but look into at least 24v or 48v for your barn build! You'll thank me later :) Cheers!
what people need to realize is, in ww2 we had rationing. each regular civilian was allowed 4 gallons of gas per week max to get to work. this was later deemed excessive and lowered to 2 gallons per week. its not that there was an immediate 'German style' shortage of gas, but the gov wanted to keep the price as low as possible by requiring everyone to car pool or take the bus. if you were unemployed you basically couldnt buy gas for personal use lol. there is nothing different today than there was back then in terms of national resource security. what are people with gas generators going to do in the middle of winter if something like a near peer conflict in the pacific boils over and stuff goes all bad. there is no way the gov can easily ration your solar panels lol. this is not some farfetched scenario, there are people alive today who lived through it. a lot of people off grid without solar might be effectively forced to move into the city due to war time rationing.
The numbers are ridiculous,i dont know who or why,or how can pay 80k for a power system for a house.I built my own power system based on Victron energy components,with 15kw worth of lifepo4 from ampleness bateries,and it cost me 12k euros.I have 5.6kw worth of power of solar panels,and bifacial nonetheless.They produce in full sun minimum 5600 watts,but i saw as much as 6200 watts too,becouse of reflected light on their back(ground mounted).What i built has a 5000 watts inverter from Victron,and it runs our whole house.No propane stove,everything electric,we got air conditioners too,fridge.freezer,wash machine,my hot water is a boiler with an 1700 watt heating element.And everything works.True,on winter,we use some power from the grid(about 50%) to supply,depended on the weather.If it sunny,we dont need anything from grid or generator.I guess for 80k You can have one that covers winter 100% too,but why? it doesnt worth it...
If you enjoyed this video, check this one out next! ☀⬛🔋💡 studio.ruclips.net/user/videooC_yacKxuaQ/edit Thanks for watching!
Thanks for sharing! It sounds like you got your money's worth over the last 14 years.
Just a heads up: solar has completely changed in the last 3 years. The cost of a 48 volt system has dropped dramatically. So has the cost of solar panels. The new all-in-one units (charge controller/ inverter/mppt) are a breeze to install. I'm not suggesting you upgrade, just that the the amortization has dropped dramatically especially with the 30% tax credit.
Lithium iron phosphate battery cost is dropping also.
It's still a sizable upfront cost, but to your point: if you put that cost towards your own system you gain a lot of Independence.
In 2024 (if you do the work yourself), a 10kw array, 12kw all-in-one inverter & 30kwh battery bank can be set up for around $16K.
You are living proof the solar power is definitely worth it.
Great points! I've noticed that solar costs have come way down and today, if I were to build a new system I'd base it on 48v for sure and with the real-estate on the roof that I have I'd probably take my 1830 watts of solar and nearly double it! However, at this time I have pretty much all I need though more on the ground would be nice...maybe that's what I should do! Upgrade my ground mount system to some modern panels for more winter charging :) Cheers!
Thumbs up for getting straight to the point, then afterwards going I to details.
Thanks!
Over here in South Africa we have power failures all the time called "load shedding". I built a small solar system just for my 2 small fridges and freezer. Worth it, yes, even saved food from going off.
That's such a smart solution to deal with power outages!
Thought the elephant in the room was the Old Forester and 1911 😂. Never seen this channel before…so…so far so good 😂🤣😅
OK I wish there were two 'I love this comment' emoticons to hit! Amen brother! Love my Old Forester (specially Statesman) and well, I love my 1911's too (notice the plural there)...you'll find I carry it all the time but few seem to notice it unless it's sitting on the wood slab table, or wood chopping block cookie table next to me ;) Which is where it usually is when I'm relaxing in the cabin! Cheers!
Me either and I enjoyed it , cos I,m a half off grid guy to but want new panels what is the best and most powerful brand to buy , as with batteries, tell me please, want system that can easily handle 10 kWh at 240v per day , as avg use
Honestly, I never look at complete systems but rather components. What I do is look at what I want to power and for how long and I start with the batteries. Get all the battery power you need for 3 to 5 days and then look at solar panels and get what will charge them up completely on the average day of sunshine :)
And I enjoyed seeing the coleman coffee maker on the stove. ^5
@jiminsav those things are awesome! Had one since 2002!
I've been running off-grid solar for five years. One thing I will say is that, the equipment keeps getting better every year. It is also getting cheaper which I really appreciate. These new units like the EG4 6000XP make much easier now too. You barely have to think about it any more.
Yes very true! The technology is advancing fast!
Hey Ol'man! We started at home in 2017 with taking all of the 120v loads off grid and as of 2019 we are 100% off the power grid. Our next home is going to be 100% off grid, water and power.
That's amazing progress! Keep up the great work!
35 years ago I went off grid PV and never looked back. Finished with lead acid batteries last year and went LiFePo4.
Right on! My neighbor went off grid in '79 and had a very small system but made it work. He's still there (at 81) and still off grid :)
As far as for a house, if you can do a DYI system you will save a lot of money. It doesn't have to cost $80,000. In addition in a house you can be spending over $300 dollars a month on an electric bill maybe more, and on a DYI system you don't have to have a full scale system. It is scalable. I started my system because we have power outages at least a few times a year. Instead of buying a generator I bought 6kws of solar panels with 10kw of LiFePO4 batteries and an off grid inverter. I ran it everyday for part of my house. Batteries have 10 year life cycle. It made sense to me so instead of buying a generator and fuel so I could use it only during power outages I can use it to cut down on my monthly electric bill and it is ready to go during an outage. I have since doubled my storage capacity and added a hybrid mini split that can run on DC from three of my additional solar panels during the day, instead o0f the heat pump. That has drastically cut my electric bill. So if you live in a house you just have to think outside of the box, and be willing to roll up your sleeves so you can be independent, and self sufficient
Hats off to you, you're doing it. And I'll raise a glass to you !
And one last thing. I love the fact that I can fix my own system instead of having to depend on someone else, and give them my money. I can fix any part of my system. I designed it and installed it. There's something about that fact that gives me a lot of satisfaction.
I have heard about those new minisplits that can run directly off solar panels and those have got to be the best thing going! I live where there is cheap power, few outages and tons of sun so on one hand, solar works great but on the other cost per kwh is cheaper than most places (I live very near hydroelectric that powers most of the west coast). Cheers!
Amen! I agree 100%
Here in Ozzie they wanted $60k a pole including wire, I needed 4 poles.
I designed my system for leaving acid have since changed to lifepo4, simple system and setup, second hand solar panels. New inverter etc, no genset but we are in OZ rural.
I run freezer and fridge, washing machine etc my system I split 4 ways so lots of redundancy. No bills happy wallet.
We collect rain Water, more than enough, we're on septic, once again no bills. Really happy
Nice! Good work!
Great long term review, thanks for the information. Just bought a 4Kw system. See ya!
Thanks and have fun!
Great info Marine, my Wife and I are new to the off grid thing and I’m glad to hear your experience has been good. I’m a Hollywood Marine from 1979 living in Wisconsin since we left California in 1994 with an off grid place in northern Wisconsin now. Keep up the info and Semper Fi.
Welcome aboard! and Semper Fi! I also went to MRCD, just a little after you in '86 (turned 21 in bootcamp) who'd ya serve with? I ended up at LeJeune in 2nd LAV/LAI Bn for the duration.
@@TheOldJarhead I turned 19 in boot, I was a 120 day reservist,but did my Artillery training at Camp Las Pulgas in Pendleton with Delta Battery 11th Marines, 1st Marine Division and my reserve unit was X Ray battery 14th Marines.
I wanted to be a Cop but still wanted to serve my Country, they took the Hostages in Iran while I was on Bootcamp leave, but you know how that went..
@thomashenley2980 Right on! For me, Lybia happened when I was on delayed entry 😉
@@TheOldJarhead I was delayed eatery to had to finish High School.
@@thomashenley2980 Gotcha!
Excellent. 8 years out of those AGM batteries is great effort, the little details you identified and stuck to made that possible.
Looks like a great little spot you got there. Well done and cheers from Thailand.
Thank you very much!
Great talk! Ive been using solar at my little off grid cabin for 4 years now and I love it! I started out with a harbor freight 100 watt solar kit ,now I have upgraded to 2 300 watt renogy solar setups and 2 harbor freight set ups ,some powering my cabin and some powering my other buildings. I want to go bigger lol. Thanks for the good info . Semper Fi !
Thanks and Semper Fi!
Always enjoy your straight to the point no nonsense videos. Scalability is also what I like… start off with the essentials and upgrade as the need, money, or interest arises.
Thanks! Appreciate the feedback!
Currently running a 4kw system at 48v. So far great system but I want to build up to 6kw this year
Nice! The problem with offgrid solar is that we always want more 😉
@@TheOldJarhead yea for sure
Good problem to have though 😀
I spent 15k for 500 amp hours of lifepo4 48v batteries 13.5k watts of solar and 2 6500 watt 48v inverters running split phase 240v. I have not touched the grid in months! So yeah it’s worth it for your house the prices have gotten so low and 48 volt systems can be had for very reasonable pricing.
That's awesome
Can we imagine how far we all could have been if. Jimmy Carter made America start solar powered technology equipment in the 70s.
I am not a fan of Carter or government forcing something
36 years ago it was $50,000 to go with grid tie.
My first system was $400
Now i have 1.2 KW of collection, 8 L16's and a nice 6 kilowat propane generator
Nice! I'm a little over 2.4kw of solar, 6kw generator and 3 120AH 24v LiFePo's :D
@@TheOldJarhead i am at 44.44 degrees latitude
@@georgemckenzie2525 I'm at about 48
Very nice video. This demonstrates that you don't have to spend a fortune to get started using solar power.
I appreciate your kind words. It's all about showing that solar power is accessible to everyone.
Yeah I've been running a harbor freight $300 solar setup to run all my ponds pumps UV sterilizers and air pumps for 2 years now. Best money I ever spent. This is very educational video thank you for sharing. I like the fact that how you have your system so you can replace each piece of equipment when necessary
Awesome! and Thanks!
Thank you for your service!
Much appreciated
I have lived in several countries whilst working overseas and I know what we have is due to those who served...no Sir, it is we who owe the appreciation.
Thank you for that!
Thank you Sir Ms. Kelly
I will be keeping this video for our first in the woods out of Dodge life ahead of us. Jax, Fl
Glad it was helpful! Good luck and enjoy!!!
I installed a solar system in my Sprinter van. 300 amp hours of lithium with 400 watts of solar panels on my roof. It runs my fridge and a separate freezer 24/7/365. Also a 2000 watt inverter/charger for 120 volt stuff and all my 12 volt stuff.
I have never ran out of power except when I accidentally left the solar breaker off when I was working on it. It took a month for the batteries to drain. I also use my van when the power goes out in my home instead of a generator.
That's amazing! Your setup sounds super efficient and reliable.
Nice, straight talk is welcome. I have a little self-taught, scalable training wheels system. Just upgraded to Victron charge controller which seems to work well.
thanks!
Great video ! I've been 10 years with a cheap simple 12v system & we all know 12.6 is a full charge so i set mine to cut out at 12.1 , I have led acid 12v on my shop system & even though they say they go into deep cycle at 11 i try to keep them above 12.1 , Like you said just add & improve as you go :)
Hey, thanks for tuning in and dropping some wisdom about your 12v setup. Keep up the great work! And yes, longevity in a battery bank seems to come from wisely using (or not overusing) the batteries! Cheers!
We are doing the same. Love your roof color chouce also. We just got our cabin dried in. 32'x40' . No bills!
subbed & liked
Congrats on getting the cabin dried in! Just in time too!
Congrats! 6 years here in TN. experimenting with solar 13 years now.😊
Hey, thanks a bunch! It's been a wild ride playing around with solar power for all these years.
Just checked out your channel! Nice! We may have a thing or two in common. Cheers!
Yes we do . Will be watching your channel now subbed .@@TheOldJarhead
Thanks! Enjoy! I plan to try to watch some of yours as well but as you know LOL we spend more time editing and filming than we can watching! I do try though! Cheers!
Nice video. I enjoyed it. I'm not in a cabin, "I wish" but I've built an off grid solar system to power my 10×20 shed including AC (florida). Good luck and remember, you can't have too many batteries, well, within reason of course.
Very cool! No pun intended 😉
I'm watching you on my phone so I'm not sure but that appears to be a nice looking 1911, I'm going to be going off grid hopefully this year if I find the right property
Good catch ;) It's a Kimber Custom CDP II and my EDC. I'll admit, I love my Kimber's and they seem to take the rough use nicely! Good luck on finding property! I followed some thoughts on property that worked for me like: you want to camp there. You feel at home when you are on it. That sort of thing - along with the obvious (water, timber, flat ground for building and or farming etc. Cheers!
@@TheOldJarhead Kimber makes a fine tool, I have a sawmill that I need to load up on the trailer today, been waiting for warm weather because I will be traveling north from South Carolina, wanted to go to Alaska AKA freedom but haven't been able to convince the wife... I might come up anyway and I will just tell her it's West Virginia because she is German and is not familiar with the country yet 😅 just kidding but I miss America meaning I miss what America was and it ticks me off that I will have to pay the gooberment and lawyers over 10 grand for her to get a green card meanwhile what's going on on our southern border, I have never felt so priced out, pushed out and cast out before by my own dang country where I was born and raised. I kept on texting but deleted it to save any of your time being waisted, sum it all up just another peed off American. I hope you have a wonderful day and a better tomorrow up yander 👍
Amen! Consider the 'Redoubt' of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. While I live in WA which isn't known for it's Freedom Loving Politics I at least live on the dry side which does ;) But ID, MT and WY are all pretty appealing. Might even be better than Alaska in some ways. As for the immigration, my ex was from Canada and it was a nightmare! One time she stayed to long back in Canada and they refused her coming back until she re-applied and waited 90 days (while the kids and I were back home) before they'd let her back. So ya, I get it!
I enjoyed your talk on your long term experience. All great points. I have built a couple systems in my garage/back yard in the country. 12v and 24v with individual quality components and they work great. In the next five or so years we will be building an off grid home over a half mile from utilities were we will live full time. For situations like this where an inspection will be required everything must meet code and the larger size system dictates 48v. Sourcing all the UL listed components and arc fault protection etc is overwhelming or impossible. The all in one units that combine all these things together are the answers for many. I am leery about failures compared to individual components just as you mentioned but will likely good this route. I dream of building a 400sq ft off grid cabin where no jurisdiction is involved and I can build a component system along with rain water storage etc.
Keep enjoying that cabin and taking good care of that equipment and it will take care of you.
I hear ya! Fortunately I'm no where near an inspector 😉
I got around 14000 into my solar but I built it one piece at a time and 5 years to complete and have backup system I’m of grid no elictric bill water sewer bill I just pay lot rent for spot in the woods in a tiny moble home I made from a old rv
Nice! Nothing better than no bills (of the power kind)
some numbers for others to consider....6 years ago i put a small system (1kw all in one inverter charger) 500s solar and 2kw battery storage to run my garage lights and a small pellet stove. 5 years ago i retired and found the time to DIY a larger system in my garage taking it off grid. 4 years ago i installed a small system in my house separate from the grid power. 5 years ago i maxed out a pre-built system of 6kw split phase inverter with 24kw storage and 3.5kw panels. It provides about 80% of my electricity thru the year. It is all paid for and at the time my money was sitting in savings making no interest. Now electricity is more expensive and less reliable so i consider the money well spent. I have peace of mind and more control of my life. All in i have spent just over 17k which is less than what a good used car would cost, for me this is a better use of my money. I would do it all over again the journey has been educational, fun and beneficial for me.
Great points! Specially on interest! I often argue money in a savings account is just a losing proposition today! Interest doesn't even remotely keep up with inflation and buying solar power today WILL pay off tomorrow. Thanks for sharing!
@@TheOldJarheadAnd with the federal government still giving a 30% of your solar equipment costs back is better than any savings account.
True, but let's remember, it's really the tax payers ;) The feds don't have money unless they get it from you first ;)
I did mine differently, I am on grid and put in 1kw solar panels, 5kwh LiFePO4 batteries @ 24v, 60A charge controller and a Sigineer 6kw split phase inverter. I run all my continuous loads through that and let the grid run the refrigerator, freezer and well pump. If it goes out I can run everything off the inverter. I went from $125 a month to $50 a month power bill with a $3000 investment.
Not a bad return. You've got a little less storage cap than I do (208AH vs 360AH) and a little less than half the solar panels I've got but you're doing well with it. Cheers.
Always good to hear the wisdom of a fellow Leatherneck! I'm getting ready to do some similar work so I'll be monitoring this channel for intel...thanks!
Semper Fi! Glad you found me. What are you looking to do? Off grid cabin with power, water etc?
Yes sir, no water bills here. 540' well on a Grundfos SQFLEX well pump with 1150 watts of used Solar panels @ $45.00 ea. & genny connection.
Got 8 panels & 4 of the BigBattery used Lithiums for the Garage.
You must pretty far north judging from the tilt of those panels. Were around 45°
Thx for sharing!
I'm above 48° but that means tilting to 63° in the winter (or steeper to shed snow and reflect off of it).
Sounds like you did a good job on your system!
Two gennies - best laid plan for pumping water and for backing up solar "just in cases".
Having a backup plan is always a good idea!
Looks like you are pushing 40 K views, nicely done. I also put your 90° video on my 90° video end screen. See if you notice any spike
40 K views? I'll be expecting my RUclips plaque any day now! LOL Seriously though, thanks for that and I appreciate the shoutouts! One day we'll get together. Cheers!
I live off grid to and Love it
Nice! We love our offgrid Cabin even though we don't live there anymore
i spend about 15.000 usd for an all house system...
2 sunsynk 12k inverters ( you may know them as sol-ark)
930 AH life po4 batteries
32 x 550W panels
DIY the install , passed inspections
use the grid only as backup ( and send them power i cannot use)
atm can stay offgrid for about a week without sun...
payback was in less than 3 years, and no powerbills for the comming 20 years at minimum....
was it worth it ?...
YES, VERY MUCH SO
independancy, freed from crazy taxation ( in the EU) and extreme powerbills per KWH ( 0.95 Euro/Kwh at one point)
Dude, your setup is legit! Living off the grid like a boss. Keep rocking that solar power!
You need to get a Amp Hour Shunt Meter and stop using Voltage as a SOC. It does not hurt the Lithium to run them to near 0, the BMS already protects them from damage from going too low or high on voltage. That way you can reduce your generator usage even more.
I sure hope you have a sense of humor otherwise you probably won't like this reply LOL but....
A: How to show you didn't watch the entire video - post the above. (@4:33 minutes in I specifically mention SOC and the monitor I put in which, FYI requires a Shunt). Maybe watch at least half the video first ;)
B. How to show you don't really understand SOC or Life Cycles of LiFePo4's -- post the above. LiFePo4's do indeed lose life cycles at 100% DoD over 80% or even 50% in fact BigBattery who made these specifically states they get 5000 cycles at 80% vs only 4000 cycles at 100% but going further Victron states that 50% DoD will give you TWICE the life cycles than at 100%
Finally, assumptions: You made some in your post but thanks for watching (even if you only watched 3 to 4 minutes) I do appreciate it! After 14 years of having solar power, which I built myself and upgraded myself I'd hope I learned a little ;) but as far as Voltage on batteries vs SoC based on AH ratings and usage, voltage is actually quite a good indicator for a number of reasons: 1. to Clarify, voltage under discharge is NOT going to tell you the real SoC and only after a FLA rests for 24hrs can you really tell SoC and then it's best to use a tester to get SG off each cell. If you want an easy 'quick' gauge of SoC voltage can be used as long as you understand it isn't representative of actual SoC without a rest period. However, it is always better to error on the side of caution than not. Running a battery to 100% is never a good thing, even with LiFePo4's but basing the decision to recharger them on their voltage only means you'll use less of them therefore increase their life -- that's how I got 8 years out of FLA's that were rated to get 3 to 5 and could still get another year or two out of them.
In conclusion, yes I have a Shunt and a Bogart Engineering TriMetric battery monitor system which I mentioned in the video actually and I like to use it but I prefer to keep an eye on voltage because I'm used to FLA's and in the winter they have less AH of capacity than in the summer so it's important to know that and something a SoC meter can't compensate for. For example, assuming a battery bank is at 50% in sub zero weather might mean you are closer to 10 or 20% and drastically reducing their cycle life.
Off grid cabin set up. You bet it’s great 👍
Good job
Thanks 👍
Its the freedom, i do all my house, spend almost 20 thousand and have split my house in three parts, so three systems solar panels, mppt inverter etc and have all spare in the house, totally 60 kwh battery's and everything diy, learned tremendous much and i am so happy, here in Indonesia i had almost every day a blackout.
Here is everything cheaper so thats whyi am lower in cost but it works already now three and i keep ìt the system not lower the 80 %.
I have my own clean water, own chicken, hundreds of fish, big vegetable garden, i need only rice.
worker for 12 years to realise this but i am so happy with it, yes its all worth and life gets meaning again.
Lower cost but not lower quality i bought all epever aquipment double so replace and repair if possible.
Awesome! Love to see that set up! Thanks for sharing (and I'm envious about the fish and animals!)
7:15 I also know guys that pay $80,000 for a fancy 4wd, lifted truck. Now, how does that pay for itself? Enjoy the high taxes and insurance. But oh they can show off when driving through town. Solar systems aren’t seen by most people and that’s the way we like to live and what we choose to spend our $80,000 on. We don’t have any sense? It’s a miracle I’ve made it through half a century. Off grid 2 yrs producing 25MWH/yr.
LOL hey, to each their own! I love my solar power and do have a lifted Jeep but I don't drive around showing it off nor my truck. Truthfully, if someone can afford to spend $80k to charge an EV the more power to them, I just see things differently. Cheers!
@@TheOldJarhead I didn’t mention charging an EV, but I plan on that too as soon as I can as I have a lot of excess power in the summertime when I’m driving for work the most.
Excess power of your own is like money in the bank if you can use it so Kudo's!
You might learn that new charge curve is flat. As such it will be a tinker game to get a voltage that will give you that 10-15% on each end. It is possible, just takes a lot more charge time to absorb.
All of my CCs etc are setup for it. Cheers!
I just got a BLUETTI ac200 max just got it I’m useing it now and my 5000 watt system is my backup and I got a 3000 watt 24 volt system I got bought guessing 12 to 14 inverts they where when I was building system as I upgraded I just keep the inverters for spairs
Great video glad you are happy, I think one of the reasons it becomes addictive for us is because it makes you feel like your your own boss and you are sticking two fingers up to the multibillion conglomerate energy companies etc.
Thank you for watching and sharing your thoughts!
I agree paying premium for solar and batteries is only worth it to have power in outages. I myself built my own system for $15,000 I bought 50 235 watt used Solar panels. 2 5kw all in one Growatt inverters. 64 280ah LFP EVE cells for 4 14.3kw battery banks(13kw each usable in my setup). 52kw usable total. 4 JK BMS's I built my own ground mount and hired a handy man to help. Ordered bulk cables and connectors. disconnects and everything I needed and even another 200 240 amp breaker panel and breakers I would need. Installed it all myself with help from handy man. The grid is my backup power my whole house runs on this. 1.5 years in and I only use grid 2 months a year but have to pay them $10 a month for those other 10 months of non usage. All that for just under $15,000. Batteries are a lot cheaper in price now. EG4 has 14.3kw battery for $3600 now still more than I paid building my own but 1/2 the price of others. 9megawatts free energy so far. I say free because I paid it in full up front. My electric price went from 12 cents to 22 cents in last 3 years. $1980 saved in last 1.5 years. I am adding 2 more battery banks and 5kw more solar and 1 more inverter/charger. $7000 about. that will get me off grid totally.
Darn mouse! lol Awesome system! You've gone about it the right way IMO. Cheers!
I have a similar system, slightly less capacity that what you described. Run the whole house, and charge the EV, basically driving for free. Couldn't imagine life without it! In my case my nonuse electric bill is $50, which is a scam, it's driving me nuts. I just need a bigger battery bank to confidently get the service disconnected all together.
That's awesome to hear how your system is working for you! It's amazing how renewable energy solutions can make a big impact on our daily lives.
I use Renogy and battleborns, really am interested in these 480 amp hour batteries I have seen being tested. Love your setup and interesting video.
Thank you!
Been 3 years off grid 18kw 72 48v batts 6 3kw grow watts. Working like a clock!
Nice set up!
Love the set up! I'd like to do it full time. The new systems are plug and play.
Thanks -- they are definitely getting more 'plug and play' but I'm finding the old 'component' type 'DIY' systems are still more cost effective :)
@TheOldJarhead you are likely correct but OUPES, Bluetti, Anker, and EcoFlow all have some very strong systems.
Oh definitely -- I have both a Jackery 500 and a Goneo 600 - the jackery is far better of those two - and plan to expand the Jackery with a 100AH 12v LiFePo4 battery and 12v-24v converter -- however, when looking at the Jackery 2000 Plus 6kwh unit with an extra 2kwh battery (to get it close to my system) you're looking at $5900 vs my system with 8.64kwh at $4900 and that includes the inverter/charger and a charge controller and the batteries are far more expensive. I could build it for $2900 if I used some 100AH12v batteries and ran them 2s3p to get 300AH@24v or 7.2kwh -- and that is a significant savings!
Ya, @@TheOldJarheadI would be spending more than that but the Anker F3800, Bluetti AC500, and EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra all offers 240V. I could charge an electric car and with a 2 way DC system could send power back to the house.
All good points but don't forget, most inverters manufactured today have that capability though you'd have to install the wiring (that is the big difference besides convenience and portability IMO).
I agree with your thoughts about running batts low , dont ,
Thanks! Nice to see someone else is aware of cycle life and what running a battery low does! Cheers!
It's best to calculate your battery backup in Watts since everything you power has a certain wattage drain on your batteries. Voltage & current varies, but wattage is constant.
Example of what I'm talking about. Your system is a 24-volt system with a 360 AH battery capacity. That's just over 9 kwh of battery capacity if completely drained. whereas a 48-volt system with the same AH battery will provide twice as many kwh of power. Using wattage is also how you should calculate the amount of battery capacity and amount of solar you will need for an off-grid solar system. Using wattage also makes it easier to calculate your batteries SOC.
Back in 2010 the argument was that Watts rule made it easy in either direction however what was more important was voltage drop and conductor size. What I see today are two camps: the popular camp with newer folks to solar is the watts and kwh camp but they often need to ask about voltage drop and conductor sizes vs the typically older group (and least in my experience) of the Amp camp (hey that rhymes!) What we would do is calculate the watts required to run something and the hours per day we'd need to run it (or planned to) at 120vac and then divide by the system voltage we were designing to get the AH capacity (which then all batteries were rated in vs today with LiFePo4's often rated in both) and then calculate the DC loads in watts and/or kwh's and convert to AH the same way. Next we'd determine the number of autonomous days required and multiple the battery bank AH's by those days to get the total required bank size. Finally, divide that by the size of the batteries required in series and you have the number of batteries required (i.e. if you need 4 batteries to get to 24v and each string of 4 is 220AH and you needed say 550AH of capacity than you needed 3 strings of 4 if that makes sense).
Now with the battery bank size determined you would move on to solar array sizing.
You take the AH per day needed based on the above, multiple by 1.2 to get a 20% increase since they aren't that efficient, then divide that by the expected hours of sunlight per your areas average and you have how much solar you need to recharge the batteries on an average day. Plug in the solar panels you think you want (by amps) and divide the required amount per hour by the amps of the panels and you get how many panels you need.
In other words, ditch the watts ;) go to amps and the math is easy! Oh and now you know the size of breakers, charge controller (s) and conductors required since they are all based on Amps (except CC's which usually list voltage and amperage -- as in Tri-Star 45 MPPT by Morningstar is rated at a max of 45amps).
Of course, the math works both ways but using Amps has it's advantages over using watts that I think is very relevant. Not that your way is wrong, I'm not saying that at all, just that using Amps has it's advantages and makes things very easy for someone who understands it and the math :D
@@TheOldJarhead If anything, I think your comment highlights why you SHOULD use watt hours when communicating battery capacity. Just think of it this way, if you told someone you had a battery setup with 220AH of capacity, you also have to give them more information, like the voltage, for them to actually grasp how much energy it can store. And again when you tell them that your peak load is for example, 125A. This is useful information for planning conductor size, but not communicating energy consumption to other people.
Meanwhile, if you communicated it to them in watt hours, they know your actual capacity from just that single figure. And not only that, but if for some reason you needed AH for something (which is very unlikely in my experience), you can just divide the watthours by the voltage.
Beyond planning/building a system, measuring in energy is just much more useful than measureing in current.
All good points but the funny thing is someone asked me a similar question about a system and only told me watts and watt hours to which I had to ask "at what voltage" because you do need to know that. For me it is always about building the system. Once it's built it doesn't matter but in order to know cable runs, cable sizes on those runs, breaker sizes, charge controllers, batteries etc etc I need to know what voltage they plan to run and with known amperages I can tell them what breakers etc....I agree, watts can be easier in the ways you describe but when planning a system you need to know voltage and amps at least in my opinion :) Cheers!
I don't know about everybody else, but if I ever get a chance 2 go off grid. That's what I'm going to do. I'm currently on grid power.
But if I can get off grid, I will use the grid power. As a generator. Because what I've heard do lose power occasionally during a storm. Or winnerstorm. That way, I always have power when everybody else goes to generators
That's what my generator does for me 😉
Probably gonna stop looking at those all-in-ones now that i seen this video. I was thinking about getting one but now after watching this I too would rather have a modular system that i know i can put together myself.
I think that's the best approach! Cheers
Check out systems at places like sunelec dot com or alte and call someone like backwoods solar. Looking at what they put together and asking why can help. It's what I did. Today I love that I chose my components and k ow why 😉
There is a lot of common sense in what you say Marine, unfortunately common sense is very rare. Great talk.
Thank you sir!
If you start simple and work your way up with money saved every month. Is my advice. I am running multiple inverters..and a battery on each panel with short run of dc cable..do the long runs after its ac..
That works too!
I have had some sort of offgrid/or other since 2006 I even run a web server hosting a renewable energy site. I don't get 100% of my power from it but all the network gear, the website and about 40% of the reat of my power comes from renewables
Awesome
Okay. At the end you mentioned about only draining your batteries a certain amount. The fact is, yes that is very true with lead acid, but with the new lithium, you can really use them and nearly abuse them, and they will still work great and last 10 years. With lithium, a better practice to extend the life is to cycle is between 10%-90%, maximizing capacity yet not pushing the battery too hard.
Same thing goes with your phone or electric car. Your battery meter is your new friend to manage the system.
Actually all LiFePo4 manufacturers say different. They all show cycle lives increased with optimum usage between 30-70% So while it's true you can get 10 years with 90 to 100% DoD you can get 30 with half that 😉 and since I have 14 years I to this system I look forward to hopefully never replace my batteries again 😀
Yeah it's worth it, we have been offgrid too since 2016.
Nice!
The thing is, you didn't have to buy all the components new. If you search you will find good used panels, discounts on new inverters and charger controllers and batteries..
I just bought victron equipment on eBay where my offer was accepted and i got an additional eBay plus discount. I saved about 30-40% off the cheapest retail price. Save goes for the 12kw transformer inverter i also bought last night.
Don't just go and buy, do research and save
14 years ago the 'used market' wasn't what it is today and Victron was perhaps a whisper in the future. I for one, don't prefer to buy used though I know plenty do, I like my warranties :D But it's true today, you can buy a lot of used solar equipment and might be good to go and save tons of money. My experience with used, however, is buyer beware. I should also add that in those days the trick was to buy Non UL rated panels if not a 'permitted job'. Appreciate the comment!
Greetings Sir, thanks for sharing!
Greetings! And thanks for watching!
My grand father was a very early 1900s electrican -
I live in the rural deep south - solar does not work well for us - the humidity is generally high humidity defuses the sun light so the UV light does not strike solar panels directly -
Solar panels only put out 20% of there rated power at noon day on clear sun days down here, that is rare -
Im on the grid and use a hybrid system after huricanes and ice storms my power can be knocked out a long time -
In rural america most did not have grid power till the 1950s or so -
Many had 32 volt DC farm light plants - a home was powered by a set of 16 cells - wheen i was a kid my grandfather and uncles refered to some homes as having farm power -
Batterys were sized to provide enough power to run all the appliances in a house for 6 days then spend one day running the generator all day to charge the house batterys -
Stationary batterys for homes often had a acid strength of 1.195 - modern golf cart batterys use the stronger acid of 1.275 strength -
With the weaker 1.195 acid house batterys were expected to last at least 60 yrs being 50% discharged over 6 days and 85% charged on the 7th day -
Down here sence fridges and freezers along with fans run a lot duriing summer -
The rural homes that had farm light plants had 20 kw battery banks -
Thats just some interesting history - battery plates dont rot and swell with weaker acid also they dont easily sulfate -
Its not difficult to desulfate leas acid battery - they were equalized every 10th charge that desulfated them -
Wow! I love history, so thank you for sharing! I've never heard this before and am intrigued!!!
@@TheOldJarheadyou can raise it up on the net and read about it - they have data on hybrid farm light plants going back to 1890 or so -
Also most rural towns used 32,64, or 110 volts DC - towns generally charged power house battery's two in the morning and two hours in the evening -
The French quarter in new Orleans had a power house on bourbon street that was a 110 volt DC hybrid plant -
It supplied the French quarter homes for decades -
AC power was to expensive for most up till around the 1950s so most homes in the French quarter were on 110 volts DC - hybrid plants burned 1/6 to 1/10th the fuel of the continues running generator in a AC plant - so the power from DC plants was far cheaper because of fuel and maintenance in DC power plants -
@@able880 Thanks I will!
Great job,excellent video
Thank you so much
Luxpower 6000xp inverter - $1500
EG4 PowerPro 14.3k battery - $3800.
Discontinued 400w solar panels - $100 each.
It's getting cheaper by the month if you look around !
Absolutely! My new Sungoldpower 4k inverter/charger runs around $1k and does more than I need! My 8.6kwh battery bank (with BMS) was $3600 give ir take and that was kast year. Times have changed and continue to.
I'm fairly self-sufficient but am still connected to the grid, mostly because I have an electric vehicle and even though I can what you'd call trickle charging it from solar is possible I normally charge off the grid using my 80 amp charger. Which draws approximately 19.2 kwh of power, and my maximum inverter output when I have them all turned on is just 13.2 kw. And I have roughly the same in solar output. So I can use my 240 volt 30 amp charger on a very sunny day to charge my truck uses roughly 7.2 kwh of power but normally if I charge my vehicle with solar I'll just use my 120 volt charger which only draws 2.4 kwh of power from my system. So, for the most part, my grid is my homes backup with my 11kwh generac as my secondary and my electric vehicle as my final backup since it has a 131 kwh battery and a 9.6 kwh built in inverter system that can power my home for several days. Even with all this, I have no guarantees what will still be available to me after a major EMP.
Have you looked at EMP Shield? I've put them in my vehicles, my sawmill and my tractor and have them to install in my solar power components and well pump setup. I also bought them all myself (they didn't give them to me). If you haven't checked them out, consider it, here's a link tinyurl.com/4mh5p5us -- for me, as a Marine who used to be an NBC NCO a time or two, these seem to be the best system made for both Lightening protection as well as EMP protection and they are used by the military in places as well as a number of 1st responders vehicles. I believe, with them, we'll still have power after an EMP if we have our own systems :D (not much point if connected to the grid without solar and battery backup etc etc other than vehicles)... Either way, sounds like a well thought out system! Cheers!
Thanks for the great Video!
My pleasure!
911 & whiskey in the background all your missing is a ham radio for your off grid setup.
true!
Small Ranch n Home here in the High Desert of Southern California near Big Bear Lake Mountain Resorts Community 1350 Sq Foot Renovation and 40' Spartan Motorcoach for a Bunkhouse and My own well. Small 2 Inverter System with 25K Battery Banks of 4 280ah Lithium Iron Phosphate and 4 RENOGY 200AH AGM for Battery Bank #2. Easy Simple Set Up - Semper Fi @ Indian Creek Ranch
Awesome setup! Semper Fi!
Would gasification of a generator be cheaper than a solar system????
I don't think so but would be awesome to have!
I don't think so but would be awesome to have!
From an even older swabby, bravo zulu! I see you speed up the time needed for 911 calls, too, by calling 1911 instead!
lol Semper Fi and yes 1911 is faster 😉
Really good video, simple and clear!
Glad you enjoyed it!
In your case with power to far away, yes it's really the only way except for possible wind energy as you said. In my case I have ongrid power for my weekend getaway. I had it installed for less than $2k underground 200ft from the road. My bill is only about $26-$30 a month. To me it's worth having it compared to solar and the so called freedom of not having a bill every month. Like most people we have a backup generator just incase but hardly use it. So basically my electric bill per year is about $400. With the convenience of having a 200amp service , I can only imagine what it would cost to match that in solar.
Thank you for sharing your experience with your ongrid power setup. It's always interesting to hear different perspectives.
Where I live my electric bill is $13/month delivery charges when I don't use any electric.
$.08/kwh in winter and $.12/kwh in summer. An average size home uses 30 kwh/ day times that by an average 30 day month comes to 900 kwh a month. That would be $72 plus delivery in winter and over $100 plus delivery in the summer. I have an electric truck and until recently I had to charge that off the grid because my solar wouldn't handle charging it. Now I even charge my truck off my solar. My grid is my main backup with an 11 kw generac generator backing it up.
We use about twice that in power but it's cheaper here too (I think around $0.05) but we have a big home in town. Our cabin? No idea since we never brought in utility power :D
it's not that ridiculos to spend 60 or 80k on solar when your local power company says 75k for power to run 600' and lead time is 14 months.
True! 100% agree there.
exactly, our bid was right at 70K from the local utility…. made the decision pretty simple.
That would!
The technology I started working on will put the individual in full control of their own energy needs but it's tough to get a business up and running as the equipment I need to just get started cost an arm and a leg. All that one needs for this technology to work is plain unprocessed water. Now the technology is actually very old having first attempted to make it to the marketplace in 1968 but those that sell energy and the governments they control have always moved to shut the technology down when they get wind of it attempting to free the many people they enslave.
Just imagine, no more paying for fossil fuels, and no more paying for energy. Now would this not improve your quality of life? And the best part of this technology is when it is being used you would be cleaning the air that we breath.
Oh?
Yeah, I must purchase a 4th axis CNC mill and each time I get to the point were I start to make progress some sort of emergency takes all of my funds, smh. This time around I somehow owed in taxes which took an entire paycheck away from me. The cheapest I have found thus far used are around $30k and I just can't seem to be able to save any money so that I might be able start actually producing something.
I'll keep trying as us poor folks truly need this technology.@@TheOldJarhead
Good luck!
Thanks, I'll keep at it as this technology is too important to stop now. Just hope my funds stabilize so that I can get the remaining things needed to kick this off.@@TheOldJarhead
I wish you the best of luck!
awesome video sir
Thanks
Semper Fi Brother!!
Semper Fi!
Good stuff, thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it
Had solar on my truck since 2005/never looked back/12v/240v.choice.
Awesome
Nice 1911. I have a pair of Kimber customs, very nice. I still just carry my old simple Blackhawk.
I'm really enjoying the off grid power "lessons".
Cheers !!
I have a Blackhawk and my favorite, an early model Vaquero :D I also have 3 Kimbers :) Custom TLE II (the 1st I bought), Custom CDP II and then a birthday present to myself maybe 5 years back, a Kimber Micro 9 in Desert Tan (for summer CCW. On the solar, I've been wanting to do some vids on my setup and only wish I'd done videos when I was building it all! LOL but at least I can share what I've done and learned over the years in hopes of helping others!
@@TheOldJarhead You have solar power already?
Since 2010 actually -- hence the video :D
I was commenting on another video, dunno how this comment got here. Nice solar setup you got there.
Gotcha! That happens to me sometimes too! Specially on my phone -- come to think of it, only on my phone. Cheers and thanks!
I think considering the Return on Investment (ROI) solely in dollars is short-sighted, although it is the common way solar sizing and selling is done. I think Quality of Experience should be as important, or more important, in the decision-making process. Like when people buy a nicer car that takes you there faster or more comfortably, or a stronger truck that has more towing or hauling capacity, not limiting oneself to the cheapest thing that will get you or the load from point A to point B. I think the same approach should be common for solar and backup builds. Buy a decent truck, not a moped. That's the way I did my build:
I designed, permitted, and installed my suburban grid-tied solar with battey backup system, using solar electricians only to do the electrical conduiting and connections, partially because I'm not qualified to do that part but mostly so I wouldn't void all my equipment warranties by doing the electrical myself. I knew going into the build that it would probably take me 20 years to get my ROI, but I wasn't building for ROI: I was building for the satisfaction of NOT paying the local utility for electricity (and, in fact, having them owe ME money at the end of each year), and NOT having my house go dark during grid faliures. Now, I don't have a lot of money, so I wasn't just throwing unlimited dollars at stuff, but I was trying to get the best Quality of Experience for budget. Which I did:
I put in a Sol-Ark 15k inverter, 19.2kW 48v HomeGrid Stack'd ESS, and a modest 5.525kW of roof-mounted hi-quality pv panels. Hi-quality equipment that can't be shut off by anyone but me, with an inverter beefy enough to power my whole house--no critical loads panel--so when the grid goes down nothing goes down in my house. The Sol-Ark 15k powers a 4-ton HVAC and a house full of electric appliances except for a gas tankless water heater and the gas furnace part of the HVAC. Powers all it, no problem. The only time I use the grid is during the winter months--and then only a little compared to my pre-solar years. The system also allows me to use my pellet stoves to heat the house for cheaper than using my gas furnace. The only thing I'd change, having now done solar, is I would have put in 3-4 more kW of panels, and maybe 5-10kW more of battery. But no complaints. Four power outages in the neighborhood in the last year, no power failures at my house.
Every day I walk by all my equipment, super happy with the quality of performance it gives me. No power outages, and after the first eleven months the grid utility, PGE, actually owes me money for the year. They pay up once a year. They'll owe me even more next year. The value of driving a nice truck of a system instead of a cheap car of a system that bogs down going uphill: priceless.
Excellent points! I agree. While I couldn't afford a Ferrari, I did buy a subaru WRX. My Solar is much like that. 😉
@@TheOldJarheadYes! Great bang for the buck! Funny thing is, the way electric price is going up so fast in my city, and the unexpected ~$200/mo I'm saving on my gas bill in the winter months by using my pellet stoves (free electric for the blowers, augers, and control boards/sensors helps) instead of the gas furnace, I might actually get my money investment back before I die.
Thanks for the great videos.
lol well I hope so! Thanks!
Thank you !
You're welcome!
How much petrol would you say you buy and hours you run your generator each year?
I'd have to do some checking on that as it's changed over the years. I used to run the generator a lot (4 hrs a day in the winter of 2013/2014) before I got the 2nd set of solar panels but now I don't need to run it at all except maybe after several days. It runs on propane also.
@@TheOldJarhead I guess it depends on how much sun you get during the week.
Yes as well as what equipment I run as I run the genny when I use big saws like my table saw or miter saw. I don't have to but I like keeping my batteries topped off ;) I now have enough battery power to run without the generator for at least 5 days if I'm not being too conservative with power and a week if I keep it down to 45AH over night and have no solar charging. However, it's spring and until the fall I'll typically not run into that issue so it's likely I won't need the genny until November or December now...I'll run it anyway to keep it lubed etc.
@@TheOldJarhead I bought a little 800va gen in early 2019, used it for ~30 hours then left it untouched until a few months ago, and it still worked fine. 😀
Good to here. I worked in Telecom for 30 years and we always ran our generators weekly or every other week to 'exercise' them so they would always work when needed so I basically do the same now.
Is it ok for a lifelong civilian to throw you a big "hoo rah!"? Thanks for sharing your experience (and for you service).
Absolutely! Thank You!
$80,000 for house solar is crazy. If you do it yourself, the parts these days are really cheap, you can get for around or just over $1 per watt. Adding batteries is a big extra cost, but even so, $80,000 sounds like price gouging, or an oversized system.
I agree! Of course, when I started solar was a lot more expensive and those fella's might have done it then but recently a lot of folks are spending lots of $$$ building solar to charge EV's and those need a ton of power. Doesn't seem cost effective to me but DIY will help. Cheers!
A "cycle" is not simply a discharge and recharge. Discharging from 100% to 50% and charging back to 100% is one half cycle. So if batteries are good for 6000 cycles down to 20% state of charge, and you only use half that much change (100-60% instead of 100-20%) you should, in theory, get 12,000 or more of those partial cycles. 12,000 days is 32 years. The assumption here is that there is no time related deterioration of the batteries that is in addition to the cycle related wear. I don't know if that's an issue or not. But I bet you get at least 20 years from those lithium iron phosphate batteries.. So, so much better than lead acid. Light, maintenance free, almost constant voltage over most of the discharge, and spectacular lifetime.
FWIW, when made a voltage VS charge curve for my home brew 24 volt LFP battery, at 24.0 volts it was at less than 10% full. The voltage held above 25 volts down to about 18% state of charge, and then fell off rapidly. It would probaby be better if your generator kicked on at about 25 volts.
Thanks for the detailed replied. I suspected the same on voltages and plan to install a newer AGS for that reason.
Lipo batteries can safely be discharged to 20% without any degradation. That's why I went to Lipo batteries.
True -- and Life Cycles are higher at 80% vs 100% but I have to imagine if that's the case than life cycles would even be higher at 50% but I've not seen anything that tells me that, just based on stuff I've seen from 100% vs 80%
Here's a good example of what I'm talking about:
Victron's LFP-Smart range says:
CYCLE LIFE (capacity ≥ 80% of nominal)
80% DoD 2500 cycles
70% DoD 3000 cycles
50% DoD 5000 cycles
Notice that big increase at 50% This is what I'm looking for. Now BigBattery where I got my 24v Mules from tells me 4000 cycles at 100% and 5000 cycles at 80% so I target 50% or higher but so far haven't seen them drop below about 65%
I’m 50 miles from the nearest pole. Solar is my life.
Wow! That's awesome!
Nice but them aims style inverters eat power the Sun gold LV 6548 are more efficient
I had no problem with my old AIMs and the new SGP seems about the same.
I don't use the charge controller I use midnight classic
Interesting. I've used mine since 2013 on the AIMs and just changed to the Sungoldpower for its LiFePo4 settings
I don't know.
I had chiller for 24 years.Didn't have enough to run it for everything in my house.But it did make my $149 bill.Only go to 35 bucks a month.
All year around and never went up. I mean, I really didn't have that much solar to make it to bill gold on that much.But I was more alert to what I was using so I didn't plug the microwave.The dryer no nonsense says central appliances that I wasn't using and I saved a ton of money. And now I don't get to power copies since I started a fire on my house and I blame it on my batteries. Which was not true, especially my daughter smelt it when she was cooking and it didn't come from the batteries are anything like this because she was cooking right above the batteries on a little electric cooker called a microwave. Actually, the batteries were in a still table.
Of course, they just connected to a meter last year because I wasn't using a powerful last 3 Years and shortly after they connect to this connected to the power from the house or the meter house catches on fire from the power given a surge from the power line and people call it in but to dismiss all those calls. Of course, after all, my brothers got burnt up. I stood power and ultimately stood solar panels and lights till coming out at night. And the power company line was disconnected from the house, so I still had power of some sort. Just running a few lights.
It didn't destroy all my generators, or should I say? Inverters, because I just first got a generator December of last year.
So I can get more light in the house.But it's not a very big generator in two Thousand watts.
I think off grid vs onbgrid there is a difference as well as a small cabin vs a home 😉
Semper fi brother head on a swivel stay strapped
Semper Fi! and 'Always!' Keep you're head down and powder dry brother!
The power companies don't pay nearly enough for me to send my excess solar power back to them. I have a propane hot water heater with an electric water heater connected in series with it. So excess power is diverted into my electric hot water heater, which limits the propane used to heat my water. I also will often trickle charge my electric vehicle from my solar on really sunny days. This is much more beneficial than selling my excess power back to the power company.
Agreed! Here they pay back in Wholesale prices which means you darn near have to send double what you use to break even. In my mind, that's not worth it but you're setup sounds very well thought out! Kudos!
Information was good
Thanks!
So one pole, made from a tree trunk, costs $2500 huh. But the lumber from the tree next to it doesn't cost that much?
Yes, though, that usually includes installing it, and the poles are usually cedar and treated with creosote
From another Jar-head, I too have a small system. I went 48v, with 6K of solar…
Semper Fi!
@@TheOldJarhead USMC (67-71), now loving NE Tennessee……
Nice, I had family from New Market area...but I'm in WA
@@TheOldJarhead I’m 12-miles from New Market. Spent 8-yrs in Spokane. Still miss it, just not the winters…..
Small world! My grandfather was a church deacon there for a long time, Stanley Joe Manley -- so if you know any Manley's or Robinson's they might be cousin's. We moved to that area some time in the 1700's I guess or at least to SC in 1741 and then moved west from there so could be early 1800's and I guess I have family there abouts still. We came from Ireland and have that typical Irish trait: 3 brothers lived in the area but one was a drunk so the other two changed their name from Manly to Manley and disowned the 3rd...to this day we have family that doesn't speak to each other lol -- bloody Irish!
Can burn gasses from outhouse or compost
I'm sure that's possible
Why not using 12v components, many components are available, Led lights?
Mostly due to efficiency of the system. While I do use 12v things like fans and stereo, the 24v system (and really 48v is even better) allows for longer and smaller cable runs with less voltage drop and lower amperage. For example, a 12v system like mine would put out double the AMPS I now put out and require much more expensive conductors (wires) - and again, more voltage drop.
12v works for some, specially smaller systems in smaller spaces but for the best, most efficient builds today I'd opt for at least 24v like I have now or even 48v (I think that's better) and I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see 96v systems in the future. Higher voltage means lower amperage over the conductors (less heat, less risk), less voltage drop over longer distances and smaller wiring inside components as well as less heat. All in all it's better to go higher voltage/lower amperage and use a conversion puck of DC to DC converter to power 12v items. Cheers!
@@TheOldJarhead I asked because I used to drive 18 wheeler, I power a 120 volt refrigerator (by inverter). I am looking to build a barn home and use solar mostly but be on grid backup. Thanks for info
No problem! That also makes a lot of sense. I have one of those 'Big Rig' 12v inverters I used for my cabin back in 2010 and still hang onto it as it could come in handy but look into at least 24v or 48v for your barn build! You'll thank me later :) Cheers!
Semper fi brother
Semper Fi!
Well you would only have to add about 6 to10 400 w panels to your system. I think that'd be a good trade-off. To be driving on Sunshine.😂
For? I have plenty today
what people need to realize is, in ww2 we had rationing. each regular civilian was allowed 4 gallons of gas per week max to get to work. this was later deemed excessive and lowered to 2 gallons per week. its not that there was an immediate 'German style' shortage of gas, but the gov wanted to keep the price as low as possible by requiring everyone to car pool or take the bus. if you were unemployed you basically couldnt buy gas for personal use lol. there is nothing different today than there was back then in terms of national resource security.
what are people with gas generators going to do in the middle of winter if something like a near peer conflict in the pacific boils over and stuff goes all bad. there is no way the gov can easily ration your solar panels lol. this is not some farfetched scenario, there are people alive today who lived through it.
a lot of people off grid without solar might be effectively forced to move into the city due to war time rationing.
Great point -- or they will be forced to live without power. It could happen just as the Covid lockdowns happened. Society is fragile.
The numbers are ridiculous,i dont know who or why,or how can pay 80k for a power system for a house.I built my own power system based on Victron energy components,with 15kw worth of lifepo4 from ampleness bateries,and it cost me 12k euros.I have 5.6kw worth of power of solar panels,and bifacial nonetheless.They produce in full sun minimum 5600 watts,but i saw as much as 6200 watts too,becouse of reflected light on their back(ground mounted).What i built has a 5000 watts inverter from Victron,and it runs our whole house.No propane stove,everything electric,we got air conditioners too,fridge.freezer,wash machine,my hot water is a boiler with an 1700 watt heating element.And everything works.True,on winter,we use some power from the grid(about 50%) to supply,depended on the weather.If it sunny,we dont need anything from grid or generator.I guess for 80k You can have one that covers winter 100% too,but why? it doesnt worth it...
Thanks for sharing your experience and cost-saving tips! It's inspiring to see what can be achieved with some creativity.