Looking for off-grid system advice

[RustyRascal]

I live in the SE us and looking for advice on getting off the grid. My intention is to use solor panels, batteries and generator back up. Probably 48 volt system. 6 volt batteries. anyone with comments on this type system would be appreciated.

[RustyRascal]

i am sorry. i live in the SE USA area.

[SunEagle]

Hello RustyRascal and welcome to Solar Panel Talk

I am sure someone will come by and help you with your request. I would suggest the first thing you do is determine you daily watt hours usage. From that figure a system can be sized.

[J.P.M.]

First advice: Look before you leap. Then look again. Off grid living is probably a lot different than you think. It takes money up front and work all along the way.

First comment: It'll cost you about an order of magnitude more to supply electricity via off grid PV than via grid power. Then there's the required system maint., and battery replacement hassles.

Are you aware of those issues ?

Unless there is absolutely no other choice (as opposed to a confusion between absolute need and simply a want), an off grid lifestyle is usually/often attempted by those with more time and money than knowledge of what's required. Many such folks become disillusioned once they wake up to reality that their faith in the media and what those with skin in the game have told them may not have been completely candid.

[Sunking]

Understand anything you take off grid is going to cost you 5 to 10 times more than buying from th ePOCO and also makes you a heavy polluter.

So why you do you want to pay a fortune and pollute?

[organic farmer]

I live in the SE us and looking for advice on getting off the grid. My intention is to use solor panels, batteries and generator back up. Probably 48 volt system. 6 volt batteries. anyone with comments on this type system would be appreciated.

I live in rural New England. We have 986 townships in this state, roughly half of them have grid power, the other half do not. My township has grid power to about 1/4 of the parcels, though it is not reliable. Like it would be in the cities.

A lot of people go to off-grid power systems as a method of getting reliable power in their homes. Most homes around here all have generators, for when the grid goes down. You really do not want to be here in February when the grid goes down for a week. Running generators will cost a lot in fuel over the course of a year. So some of us go to solar and/or wind power. Solar and/or wind power reduces how much you have to spend on fuel. Nothing is as cheap as grid power. But living in a city has much higher Cost-Of-Living so it likely evens out.

I have on-grid neighbors who routinely spend as much as $100/month on fuel for their generators. Even those who are on-grid will end up paying for their electricity one way or another.

I have 4400 watts of photovoltaic panels, a 48vdc battery-bank with 600ah of capacity.

The only ones that get screwed really hard are those who go grid-tied net-metering, they seem to pay the most for their power. Along with paying 1/3 to 1/2 more for their system, they still have to run generators when the grid goes down every month.

[J.P.M.]

I live in rural New England. We have 986 townships in this state, roughly half of them have grid power, the other half do not. My township has grid power to about 1/4 of the parcels, though it is not reliable. Like it would be in the cities.

A lot of people go to off-grid power systems as a method of getting reliable power in their homes. Most homes around here all have generators, for when the grid goes down. You really do not want to be here in February when the grid goes down for a week. Running generators will cost a lot in fuel over the course of a year. So some of us go to solar and/or wind power. Solar and/or wind power reduces how much you have to spend on fuel. Nothing is as cheap as grid power. But living in a city has much higher Cost-Of-Living so it likely evens out.

I have on-grid neighbors who routinely spend as much as $100/month on fuel for their generators. Even those who are on-grid will end up paying for their electricity one way or another.

I have 4400 watts of photovoltaic panels, a 48vdc battery-bank with 600ah of capacity.

The only ones that get screwed really hard are those who go grid-tied net-metering, they seem to pay the most for their power. Along with paying 1/3 to 1/2 more for their system, they still have to run generators when the grid goes down every month.

Or, depending on priorities, one can live in a more rural area and have reliable power. You seem to wear crappy electrical service like a badge of honor. My guess is that service that poor in other areas would have customers acting like barbarians at the gate. I'm a fan of a lifestyle that includes less reliance on the outside world, but I'm not sure I'd choose to live in a place where I knew, a priori, that grid power was as unreliable as you seem to be saying it is in your area. I know, I know, you see moose every time you look out the window and bears crap on your lawn instead of the neighbor's dog, but some folks have different priorities - like the benefit of reliable power that is a sign of civilization. I'll agree on one point though: If I had to pay up to $100/mo. for generator fuel, I'd not bother with PV/net metering since any array would be useless in a power outage that required a generator.

Pay your money, take your choice, country or city or anywhere in between and hail the freedom to choose. But without making this sound like a value judgement, I'm not sure how many folks in N. America would choose such a place to call home as you do based on modern conveniences that most seem to take for granted. You are probably atypical.in that respect.

Almost forgot, you being a retired Dolphin, my guess is you're about as self reliant as they come and probably take what others may call adversity as just another situation to deal with. For better or worse, others probably aren't as case hardened by life's experiences as you may have been, even other Down Easters.

Respectfully,

[organic farmer]

Or, depending on priorities, one can live in a more rural area and have reliable power. You seem to wear crappy electrical service like a badge of honor. My guess is that service that poor in other areas would have customers acting like barbarians at the gate. I'm a fan of a lifestyle that includes less reliance on the outside world, but I'm not sure I'd choose to live in a place where I knew, a priori, that grid power was as unreliable as you seem to be saying it is in your area. I know, I know, you see moose every time you look out the window and bears crap on your lawn instead of the neighbor's dog, but some folks have different priorities - like the benefit of reliable power that is a sign of civilization. I'll agree on one point though: If I had to pay up to $100/mo. for generator fuel, I'd not bother with PV/net metering since any array would be useless in a power outage that required a generator.

Pay your money, take your choice, country or city or anywhere in between and hail the freedom to choose. But without making this sound like a value judgement, I'm not sure how many folks in N. America would choose such a place to call home as you do based on modern conveniences that most seem to take for granted. You are probably atypical.in that respect.

Respectfully,

I am on a 20-year military pension. I am a native of California, I used to own an apartment complex there. But my pension is way too low to live out there anymore. So that does limit where I can live.

When I retired I had a set of criteria for where to settle, but that criteria did not list grid power. We love the weather here, how low the Cost-Of-Living is overall and the local culture of strong personal Independence. This is also the oldest state, with the highest percentage of retirees. People that migrate here when they retire; I think they want to get away from the expensive 'conveniences', there is no cable, very few Starbucks and virtually no cellphone towers or wifi. I compiled a complete listing of all townships and less than half have pavement in them. Every winter when the rivers and lakes freeze over, we drive on them, just a part of the local culture.

[J.P.M.]

I am on a 20-year military pension. I am a native of California, I used to own an apartment complex there. But my pension is way too low to live out there anymore. So that does limit where I can live.

When I retired I had a set of criteria for where to settle, but that criteria did not list grid power. We love the weather here, how low the Cost-Of-Living is overall and the local culture of strong personal Independence. This is also the oldest state, with the highest percentage of retirees. People that migrate here when they retire; I think they want to get away from the expensive 'conveniences', there is no cable, very few Starbucks and virtually no cellphone towers or wifi. I compiled a complete listing of all townships and less than half have pavement in them. Every winter when the rivers and lakes freeze over, we drive on them, just a part of the local culture.

Like I wrote, pay your money, take your choice and hail the freedom to make that choice.

Respectfully,