The one thing from holding me up to being as self sufficient as possible is electrical. I have good water, food/ livestock, etc. I've researched solar and it seems so expensive. Any tips from people that have done it? Is it possible to do on a budget?
Solar on a Budget... or am I chasing a unicorn?
- Thread starter Alexis
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Yes, if and that is a huge if --- you are willing to have solar on during sunny days and only during daylight hours. I.E. no solar energy storage. Still the budget will have to be more costly than being hooked to utility company, in most cases. If you restrict the usage to just critical services and those services can only be powered up during daylight hours, then is is possible.
Well even if you only get a 5vdc or a 12 VDc mini portable solar system costing under $100 you can recharge phones, laptops, 5v and 12 volt lanterns, power packs etc and stay in touch during outages
So I should not expect solar to replace my usage 100%( I was hoping to), unless I choose to shell out major bucks it's going to have to be go the 19th century route for heating and light unless it's a sunny day? That's a huge bummer 
So I should not expect solar to replace my usage 100%( I was hoping to), unless I choose to shell out major bucks it's going to have to be go the 19th century route for heating and light unless it's a sunny day? That's a huge bummer
The beauty of PV or Wind or both is you can take it as far as you want or afford. You start off perhaps with 1 PV kit to charge phones, computers etc, when funds allow you can ghet a bigger charge controller and a deep cycle storage battery which means you can then power LED Lights. You can fairly easily convert from 120Vac in the US to 12vdc by using Liesure / RV kit like microwaves, kettles, coffee makers, 12 volt lighting etc. These days the biggest expense is normally deep cycle liesure batteries which normally run around $130 bucks each and a MODEST domestic system will need three,.
Heating by PV solar is never a good idea, its energy hungry unlike lighting or powering goods, Wood or multifuel stoves are still the cheapest way of staying warm especially if you get the stove made out of recycled propane gas bottles, or a factory made stove with a water heating coil fitted.
Can I suggest two books you should get and read a bit
Do it Yourself 12 volt SOLAR POWER by Michel Daniek isbn 978-1-85623-072-8
Preparing for Off-Grid Survival by Nicholas Hyde isbn 978- 1- 47769- 220-2
I was able to get 250w panels for 100.00 each, but that was only with buying a pallet of 20. The inverters start at 500 for a decent sized one and then 100AH batteries are about 200 ea. The racks to mount panels and wiring and connectors add up in cost really quickly too. I’m fine with the one time expense but knowing the batteries will need to be replaced in about 5 years is depressing.... so, the main reason I’m doing this is for a backup system in case the grid goes down and propane for the generator isn’t easily available. Cost wise it dosent make sense.
Brent, will you share your source for the solar equipment? That pallet of panels is a good price, depending on the type.
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I'm running my 1,700 sq ft house and 2 shops completely on solar. I have a large refrigerator in the house, small refrigerator/freezer in my fur shed, 2 chest freezers in the shop, standard washer and dryer, central AC and propane furnace. Our main heat is with a Kuma wood stove. With our system there's no difference than if we lived in town. I have a 12 kw Perkins diesel generator for back up, with auto start. When the battery bank drops below 24 volts the generator starts automatically and charges the batteries. I have it set to run for 4 hours or until the battery bank reachs "float".So I should not expect solar to replace my usage 100%( I was hoping to), unless I choose to shell out major bucks it's going to have to be go the 19th century route for heating and light unless it's a sunny day? That's a huge bummer
Over a 12 month period the generator runs an average of 3.5 hours per day. I buy off-road diesel, so fuel for the generator is pretty reasonable.
We get a lot of wind during Fall, winter and spring. I'm planing on adding a 1.5 kw wind generator to my system someday.
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I'm running my 1,700 sq ft house and 2 shops completely on solar. I have a large refrigerator in the house, small refrigerator/freezer in my fur shed, 2 chest freezers in the shop, standard washer and dryer, central AC and propane furnace. Our main heat is with a Kuma wood stove. With our system there's no difference than if we lived in town. I have a 12 kw Perkins diesel generator for back up, with auto start. When the battery bank drops below 24 volts the generator starts automatically and charges the batteries. I have it set to run for 4 hours or until the battery bank reachs "float".So I should not expect solar to replace my usage 100%( I was hoping to), unless I choose to shell out major bucks it's going to have to be go the 19th century route for heating and light unless it's a sunny day? That's a huge bummer
Over a 12 month period the generator runs an average of 3.5 hours per day. I buy off-road diesel, so fuel for the generator is pretty reasonable.
We get a lot of wind during Fall, winter and spring. I'm planing on adding a 1.5 kw wind generator to my system someday.
I place a big demand on my system so I depend on the backup generator to take some of the heavy loads, espicilly during winter. If you have less electric needs then I do, you can easily run your entire home 100% on solar.
Unfortunately I could not access it, without having an EBay account.
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The company is signature solar (signaturesolar.us). I wish I had stayed with them for the whole project. I sourced every component from different companies. Hindsight being 20/20, I think it makes sense to go with a company like this as they will help design the right size for you, ship everything in one load with all hardware and such, and are there with technical assistance during installation and down the road. Yes I saved a little money by doing it a piece at a time but working with experts that know the best and latest products out there has its benefits.
The upside to all this is I’m nearing completion on this first setup. I still have a couple misc pieces on order, (mostly from amazon) and hope to have it up and running by the end of next week. Once I’m complete with this system I will get recommendations and pricing from two solar companies like this one and see how they compare in quality and cost to what I made.
I would love to post pictures of this setup but can’t get them to load here. I’m using a new iPad now and ever since I upgraded from my old one I can’t load pictures anymore. If anyone has any IT tips to help out I would like to share what I’m learning about with this. I’m guessing the pictures have too big of a file size to load on this site?
I will say one other thing about solar though, and I’ve said it before. Solar isn’t economical. In the real world it is a lot cheaper to just buy electricity. As far as having energy security though I think it’s worth the cost. I do have two generators, but they make noise and use fuel. One, I don’t want the noise advertising to others that I’m living comfortably during a disaster and two they need fuel. Even though I will need to replace batteries in 5 years I’m ok with that. Wish I had gone with lithium though. Everything in life is a matter of budget vs wants....
The upside to all this is I’m nearing completion on this first setup. I still have a couple misc pieces on order, (mostly from amazon) and hope to have it up and running by the end of next week. Once I’m complete with this system I will get recommendations and pricing from two solar companies like this one and see how they compare in quality and cost to what I made.
I would love to post pictures of this setup but can’t get them to load here. I’m using a new iPad now and ever since I upgraded from my old one I can’t load pictures anymore. If anyone has any IT tips to help out I would like to share what I’m learning about with this. I’m guessing the pictures have too big of a file size to load on this site?
I will say one other thing about solar though, and I’ve said it before. Solar isn’t economical. In the real world it is a lot cheaper to just buy electricity. As far as having energy security though I think it’s worth the cost. I do have two generators, but they make noise and use fuel. One, I don’t want the noise advertising to others that I’m living comfortably during a disaster and two they need fuel. Even though I will need to replace batteries in 5 years I’m ok with that. Wish I had gone with lithium though. Everything in life is a matter of budget vs wants....
Oh, arctics post about his system having an auto system for the generator kicking on when needed is pretty cool! Just another reason to go with an experienced company. I am curious how much your entire system cost though arctic.
Brent, if my memory serves me, Artic's system was about 4 times more than yours. Very nice system but very expensive too. Just color my jealous of both you. LOL
I still cant get anything to come up for signaturesolar.us
Tried 3 different browsers, could not get it to open either.
signaturesolar.us
signaturesolar.us
I’ve always known that no matter how much or how little you have in life there are always some who have more than you and some with less than you. Ive worked pretty hard to get where I am right now and am content. I guess I just never wanted to work hard enough to become rich, nor cared to be. I am greatful to be able to ‘play’ a little with this experiment though.
Don’t know why that posted the way it did.... the links work though.
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Thanks Doc.
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I've got somewhere around $40 - 50,000 in the entire system. That includes the concrete (10 yards), excavation, crane time, 20'×8" sch 80 pipe for the panel mount, 10×10 foot building to house the generator, inverter, battery bank, 55 gallon fuel tank, tools, spare parts and a work area.
The auto start is just about the most important component in the system. I think it was only a couple hundred $$$. It's programmable through the inverter. I have mine set to start the generator when the battery bank drops below 24 volts and off at float or 4 hours. You would need a generator with an auto choke for it to operate, and electric start of course.
The way our system is designed and configured there's no way to tell that we're "off grid".
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Brent. I forgot to add that my generator is in an insulated building, and I put 2 mufflers on the exhaust system. I can't hear it running from inside the house and can bearly hear it running when I'm outside. Usually it starts around 3 - 4 am.
My system is going to run my fridge, freezer and lights. I will watch the battery usage and decide if I want to add another circuit to it then. Even though I will use it daily and likely cut my electric bill down I’m mostly doing this as an emergency backup system. Even when I finish all three separate systems I don’t plan to disconnect from the grid, but hopefully won’t have a bill much over the 35.00 minimum charge. I agree that if you are off grid having the automatic generator is a must to keep the batteries charged during heavy loads and cloudy days. I am (just a little bit) wishing that I had done a whole system but just didn’t want to hit my savings that hard. Right now I am gearing up to retire completely and big expenses would delay that.
I know about wholesale solar, that's where I've gotten equipment before., thanks
Brent just a word of caution. I have read that it is advisable to have air vent in the room where the batteries are located and charged. There were comments about hydrogen gas being generated during the charge cycle. I have not checked this out, just thought I would pass it along for you to look into.
