Off grid living in 2021

Beautiful living.

Appreciate your patience.

Hope you continue to stick around.

originally posted by: Nyiah

originally posted by: HunkaHunka
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

So I'm not planning on making identifiable information public. Suffice it to say that this is in the Mountain West.

Then you SHOULD have deleted your photos' iPhone EXIF data if you expected people to buy your line.

One, nice town.

Two, nice neighborhood. For being "off-grid".

Three, you ain't off-grid by a LONG SHOT. Summer homes don't count.

That and stop being interviewed by the local news in front of your street sign.

It is basically a grid neighborhood that just doesn't have whatever utilities run to it....lots of very close neighbors.

Anywho.....neat place and you are definitely not what I expected to see in the news reports.

Still not off grid, but doesn't really matter....you do you!

How hard is it to operate and maintain a solar power system for a home? I've been tempted to try off-grid living, but I'm pretty useless when it comes to elecronics.

Also, if I were to buy a solar system, complete with batteries and inverter, for a 1,500 sq. ft. house, how much might it cost, assuming I don't use a TV? I would use propane for heating, a refrigerater and freezer.

a reply to: Scapegrace

I've got quite a bit of experience with solar, most of it industrial, but it's easy to scale down to residential.

First, solar (in it's current form) will never return your investment. Oh sure, it's all great...at first, but over time the maintenance costs continually rise as the systems age. Then, if you're honest, the decommissioning costs, assuming you do it legally, can be prohibitively expensive.

I have a buddy who had a cabin which truly was 'off-grid' and he was all gung-ho on solar...until he had it for a while. Then stuff started to break and wear out, despite manufacturers assurances to the contrary. Most of this stuff is not really tested in real world conditions and things like wind, rain, dust, snow, freeze/thaw cycles, sun/UV breakdown, take a heavy toll on the equipment.

We've seen the same thing, just on a larger scale in commercial and industrial applications. Works great at first, but then not so much after it's been in service for a while. Wind based power is even worse. And then there's the whole storage issue which is batteries, inverters, environmentally controlled real estate to house it, and dozens of other considerations which complicate matters. And, it's not like you can find one guy/company who stands behind everything, it's all very compartmentalized and replete with finger pointing, but you're left holding the bag for the money.

Now, maybe some of these things will improve in time, but as it stands right now there isn't really an 'ideal' technology and overall "system".

The other thing you have to remember is there are about 5 different kinds of 'solar' power. Each have their pros and cons, and much of those is dependent on location, service availability, etc. At one end of the spectrum you have static installations which have the lowest maintenance costs, but also the lowest performance. At the other end of the spectrum you have dynamic installations where the photo voltaic panels move with the sun in one, or two, axis'. These have the highest performance, but they also have tons more moving parts and thus more maintenance costs. Then you have solar systems which don't generate power at all, but rather heat, which are more akin to geothermal systems. And lastly you have hybrid systems which are combinations of the above.

The one thing which really shocked me about solar is the effect dust has. The energy provider in the area is Xcel Energy, and they did a prototype test with numerous big solar providers. Simple dust on solar panels reduced solar efficiency by 50% on day one in all but one of the competitors (which was a crazy indoor solution built inside this specially constructed building). So, here again you had off-setting costs of operation. On the one hand you had panels which would lose 50% of their efficiency unless you regularly washed the dust off them ($$$$) vs. high efficiency designs which required you build a dedicated building to house the panels. The bottom line was, the terminology "solar" is far from a generic term due to the different varieties and considerations of systems.

Hope this helps.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Totally agree on how there just isn’t a turn key solution, also the dust.

I rinse my panels off once a month in the summer.

Learning solar means learning a LOT.

Unfortunately, the answer to all of this is “it depends”. There are so many variables that impact solar besides energy requirements.

How much sun can you get? Are there trees or or mountain ridges blocking it, what part of the day, etc.

If you get snow, can you clean your panels? Do you have decent temps where you store your batteries. And now with the Li batteries which are much different from lead acid batteries and AGM, it changes the equation too.

Then you have the type of solar charger, the thing that steps down voltage and increase amps and makes sure your batteries can handle the energy coming in.

There are three different types and they each handle the power from the panels differently. I prefer MPPT. However each one is rated for Max wattage input. So the wattage of your panels added together can’t exceed the rating on the charge controller.

Then you need an inverter to change your 12/24/48 volt DC system into an A/C system that common appliances can use.

All of these details to say, it’s not a DIY project unless you’ve practiced it in smaller ways. Start with the 12v Bible and work your way up from there. Get real familiar with the concepts and the different parts required. Make friends with and learn the secrets of folks who are steeped in it. I’m still learning and rely on old masters of the craft to continue to teach me.

originally posted by: Scapegrace
How hard is it to operate and maintain a solar power system for a home? I've been tempted to try off-grid living, but I'm pretty useless when it comes to elecronics.

Also, if I were to buy a solar system, complete with batteries and inverter, for a 1,500 sq. ft. house, how much might it cost, assuming I don't use a TV? I would use propane for heating, a refrigerater and freezer.

a reply to: HunkaHunka

Have you seen Serdgiam's thread on the subject of electrics and self-sufficiency?

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Your place looks and sounds amazing, you're very blessed - especially with the donkeys and all.

All the best.

a reply to: HunkaHunka
Do you have a bunch of land by chance super vocal trump supporter who happens to also be a federal worker pretty sure those days are numbers red I’m saving up money to buy an tent solar panels etc or maybe an rv gotta find private land or public land that no fed agency goes to

Thanks for the excellent feedback, HunkaHunka and FlyingClayDisk. Maybe I'll go with propane heating, refrigeration, etc., and a utility company for my remaining electricity needs.

a reply to: argentus

I hear ya, definitely not be worth the trouble sometimes. Some people just wanna see if they can get ya. I've been pretty interested in living off the grid the past year or so, and in researching how people get by that way I ended up finding a lot of joy in watching people document their off the grid life on Youtube, hah.

So I like to read the comments to see if anyone has interesting input right, and wouldn't ya know it, I've seen more than a few instances where a completely random person do their absolute best to get the authorities to harass them. Yeah in most cases the authorities can't do anything, but jeezus.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Where power is cheap, you're probably correct, although I have buddies in Montana who are doing as well as us with their systems. Where I live in the Caribbean, our system paid for itself in about 5 years, and thereafter we saved at least $350/month. Yes, the batteries are nearly dead after 10 years, but we can easily replace them for a fraction of the money saved. Our first wind genny died after about six years, and we bought another small 500w unit for about $700. The solar panels will likely last another 10 years.

Along your lines of thinking, I think it's foolish for various political pundits to want to mandate "green"' energy. We will be off coal, oil and other fossil fuels when there is a true and viable replacement. It's like trying to legislate that people will be happy.

On a small scale, if a person is a tinkerer as I am and is willing to do their own installation, solar/wind power can make a huge difference. I have considered the maintenance and tinkering as a part time job that I do along with my regular one. We have had to made sacrifices that perhaps "normal" people wouldn't be willing to, such as 24-volt DC chest-style fridge and freezer, and propane stove. Homemade solar collector for heating the hot tub and also runs into the house hot water heater. Hot tub is currently down. Fridge and freezer are currently off-line while I rework the storage shed. 12-volt diaphragm pump for water pressure and water delivery. Stuff like that.

Getting into solar has never been easier, and there are many choices available depending on the scale of setup you're going for. If you haven't seen any videos from Will Prowse on YouTube, I would recommend checking them out. There are some good links for equipment in there too.

originally posted by: Scapegrace
How hard is it to operate and maintain a solar power system for a home? I've been tempted to try off-grid living, but I'm pretty useless when it comes to elecronics.

Also, if I were to buy a solar system, complete with batteries and inverter, for a 1,500 sq. ft. house, how much might it cost, assuming I don't use a TV? I would use propane for heating, a refrigerater and freezer.

a reply to: WR7701

It's called necro-posting! LOL!

Might be a good topic for a new thread, but I don't think you really want to be extending this particular thread. The OP of this thread was quite the HOOT! (emphasis on "was")

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

First, solar (in it's current form) will never return your investment. Oh sure, it's all great...at first, but over time the maintenance costs continually rise as the systems age. Then, if you're honest, the decommissioning costs, assuming you do it legally, can be prohibitively expensive.

I have to disagree with you on that. The financial ROI on the photovoltaik array that was installed on our old house was six years. We sold it together with the house and it was installed 2009, zero issues, not a single day. ROI for energy and resources is about 2.5 years.

Before I went the way of self employment I was managing power plants and their grid performance. Sure there are faults like broken glass, yes it happens but overall the customers make so much money, you wouldn't believe it. The company would fly in technicians, because it is cheaper for the customer than waiting. I managed power plants that made more money on a average day than most of us do yearly.