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271. Posted: 17 Feb 2015 13:51 - Off-Grid Living / Final off-grid wiring
...le draw??? a 300 watt morningstar would suffice here. but with the 1kw beach has some future proofing for sure. run a small microwave with that thing. 3) and as I've seen/noted many times. most solar systems that people are happy with, use 1 amp storage at 12v to 1 volt charging (or better). so your 235v vs 370a. beachman if you get a chance I'd toss in another panel...
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272. Posted: 17 Feb 2015 09:07 - Off-Grid Living / Final off-grid wiring
Hi all. I have been trying to put together this solar set up and I need some final assistance. I have researched this thing, gone to the NAWS forum, and everywhere else. My next step is professional help (some say I really need this i...
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273. Posted: 16 Feb 2015 18:02 - Cabin Construction / On demand water heaters...again.
... separate wash house building that has a waterless composting toilet, sink, shower, propane freezer and storage cabinet. This summer I want to install a 12 VDC water pump with a dedicated battery and solar panel and an on-demand propane water heater. It is important that the heater be safe, efficient and reliable. I will be drawing raw lake water from about 10 feet de...
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274. Posted: 16 Feb 2015 17:02 - Nature / Julie brought it up......natural bug repelent
...th. by the pine forest. Yikes. but get back to the fields by the creek with all the birds and wasp nests. When the flycatcher is nesting I drive back with the truck and park by their nest under the solar panel rack. One day there were at least a dozen horse/deer flies just zooming around the truck and banging into the windows. I sat there. Flash. Dark shadow. Zip. Fi...
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275. Posted: 13 Feb 2015 17:01 - Off-Grid Living / Solar planning for the future
...ow it turns out. sell your lead acid batteries. quick as you can. get a LFP battery. I struggle to imagine 10 years without having to do any maintenance on my battery pack. why to just ignore your solar system for years. (but changing the seasonal panel angle up north here). wow. anyway. future planning. my next step is a LFP battery pack. (note. i'm back to u...
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276. Posted: 11 Feb 2015 07:50 - Off-Grid Living / Battery + Solar Charger + Inverter
...ed to use it. Questions... Should I get a specific type of battery? I don't really need a deep cycle marine battery, but was also considering other applications. Was thinking about getting a solar charger for it too. Looked on amazon and there are many options. Should I buy the one with the largest number of Watts that I'm willing to pay? I see many with 5W, 8W and a fe...
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277. Posted: 8 Feb 2015 14:18 - General Forum / Simple Pumps(tm) info / experience wanted
...r, other for laundry, bathing etc caught from downspouts. Also stored in another underground container. And a DC pump to push the water in your cabin/plumbing The drinking one could be filled from a solar livestock well set up running on its own solar panels (no grid power at all) to the underground holding tank.
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278. Posted: 7 Feb 2015 16:58 - General Forum / Power Inverter Trouble
I've had my solar set up running for about 2 years now. I have the 45W Harbor Freight panels and they charge 1 12V deep cycle battery. The original inverter that came with the ...
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279. Posted: 5 Feb 2015 15:29 - Off-Grid Living / Rookie Solar ? (Battery to Panel Ratio)
Hey Gents; Been around for a while, reading learning and building. I have been running an off-grid solar system for two years at our cottage, currently running a 12v system with 4x100 watt panels a 30amp CC and 1500w PS Inverter. We are utilizing the 12v power for ligh...
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280. Posted: 4 Feb 2015 11:29 - Off-Grid Living / New epsolar mppt solar controller
For those folks with small solar systems. Have a look at the new mppt epsolar "Tracer" controllers. lots of nice features. low price. EPsolar Tracer 1215BN -- it's 1...
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281. Posted: 2 Feb 2015 20:30 - Off-Grid Living / Comparing Sun King 2 to Wakawaka solar lights
...se look really neat. When you said security light I envisioned something like a movement sensor flood light. I wanted something to mount outside the front door of my cabin and being off grid i needed solar powered. I bought one of these from harbor freight: http://www.harborfreight.com/60-led-solar-security-light-69643.html I mounted it above the front door and mounte...
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282. Posted: 1 Feb 2015 11:27 - Off-Grid Living / Fine tuning your off grid solar
Well, this has been the first full winter season for the solar and all was well until late November thru December where heavy dark overcast and rain was the norm and so the solar took a pretty good hit which brings us to recharg...
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283. Posted: 30 Jan 2015 21:42 - Off-Grid Living / off grid learning center
...rn what it is like to live off the grid. Basically we want to have an off the grid learning center where people can come and spend a few nights living this way, and being able to see up close how the solar panels work, how a wind generator works and understand how and why they can live somewhere, and need very little from the outside world. How they can grow their own ...
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284. Posted: 24 Jan 2015 10:42 - General Forum / Simple Pumps(tm) info / experience wanted
I am installing a solar livestock well system I bought from http://www.solarpumps.com/ it gets installed in April. Its a 2 panel array. Flip switch, water runs, no storage ...
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285. Posted: 20 Jan 2015 10:55 - Cabin Construction / Passive solar for small buildings
I'm interested in how people are using passive solar to heat their buildings. I've been experimenting with passive solar as a means of heating my small buildings for three years. Two falls ago I installed six sm...
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286. Posted: 12 Jan 2015 16:47 - Off-Grid Living / Comparing Sun King 2 to Wakawaka solar lights
Mtn. Don suggested a Wakawaka solar light to me when I was trying to get some security lighting at our cabin. When I was looking around for one, I also started reading about the Sun King solar light. ...
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287. Posted: 11 Jan 2015 11:49 - Off-Grid Living / Charge controller info, LFP battery, etc.
My .02. For a solar controller I prefer the morningstars. they use the least idle power. they are air cooled no fan to break down/wear out. they are the #1 selling solar charge controll...
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288. Posted: 11 Jan 2015 06:38 - Off-Grid Living / Charge controller info, LFP battery, etc.
So, I'm looking at the supplies for my solar power and am going to give the installer in Oregon a call to chat about it this week. The LFP battery looks like a great solution. I read the brochures and info at the website but ...
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289. Posted: 7 Jan 2015 22:31 - Cabin Construction / Building legal
...eason I chose to move to Southern Oregon. The climate is really good for me. The loooonnnnggggg, oppressive Texas summers are killing me. Literally. My land has some sunny meadow which is perfect for solar but forested, which is perfect for me! I can go outside and avoid the sun under the trees. Prolonged sun exposure aggravates Lupus, which means I've been living like a bat since...
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290. Posted: 6 Jan 2015 16:39 - Cabin Construction / Building legal
...g over building codes AND products/fixtures for the cabin so I can be legal but also save wattage and money. Lighting is a biggy. The codes require things like bathroom lights and such. I found some solar LED lights (that also come with a cellphone charger and lots of cable for installations) with a 10 watt solar panel. In my mind, that would be perfe...
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291. Posted: 6 Jan 2015 10:47 - Off-Grid Living / off-grid refridgerator...what I do
Julie2. are you talking 1.8 kw of solar panels? and what sized battery pack? To anyone looking to live off grid full time or a reasonable amount thereof. Here's the advice I have posted many times ....
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292. Posted: 5 Jan 2015 21:23 - General Forum / Any members living full time in their cabins
We have lived at our cabin for 13 years, it was 960 sq ft it is now 2700. Had to make room for our grandkids to come and visit. No grid power, 6500 ft elevation, we installed solar panels, wind generator, inverters, back up diesel generator. Some people say that we have it made, but living in the wilderness has it's drawbacks. We do have ...
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293. Posted: 4 Jan 2015 14:17 - Off-Grid Living / Renogy....comedy of errors keeps getting stranger
...pwm to mppt. esp with partial shading. which, really. is everyday. cloud. haze. birds. i have a lot of trees. etc. and on the 400 watts to 235 amp hr. 5 years ago (well 7 actually) when I started my solar research I soon noticed those who were effectively using solar and were "happy" had 1 watt of solar at 1 amp (@12v) storage. After 5 years...
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294. Posted: 4 Jan 2015 13:09 - Off-Grid Living / Renogy....comedy of errors keeps getting stranger
Both sides of this discussion are important to me. I've been looking at solar, both passive and active since the early 70's. Well, my wife and I have built a 16x20 cabin and the plan is to be off grid for many reason. One is as a teaching tool. After pl...
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295. Posted: 4 Jan 2015 09:58 - Off-Grid Living / Renogy....comedy of errors keeps getting stranger
...tiny any more. so I think it's important folks hear that using a lot of small panels is not the best solution when much better large panels are available. not to belabour the point, but I found 500 watts of 48v 250 watt chinese solar panels on sale used for 400 bucks. So for less money I got more input and the panel...
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296. Posted: 3 Jan 2015 23:06 - Off-Grid Living / Renogy....comedy of errors keeps getting stranger
Small systems have some unique problems, IMO. Most solar equipment in geared towards larger systems. I would like to add some solar to our converted (to travel trailer) cargo trailer. I have two batteries similar to groing...
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298. Posted: 3 Jan 2015 05:13 - Off-Grid Living / off-grid refridgerator...what I do
So a regular AC fridge (even a small Energy Star one) really drains the battery bank quickly? I was planning on getting a solar-powered fridge but someone recommended saving the coin and going with a small, regular fridge and using the savings toward extra panels and batts. Now I'm confu...
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299. Posted: 2 Jan 2015 23:14 - Off-Grid Living / What is YOUR Current Off-Grid Power setup ?
I started building my solar power system in my cabin out of necessity to charge the battery that controls my propane refrigerator and it all grew from there! I currently have 2 independent systems: The refrig...
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300. Posted: 2 Jan 2015 20:49 - Off-Grid Living / Quick heat options
What's on the south side of your cabin? Does it get sun? You don't actually need any windows at all in order to use a solar air heating panel. You can just cut two holes through the wall so that the cabin air can cycle out through one hole and get warmed by the panel and...
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