# Off grid beginner, first question of many



## dwfendley (Dec 19, 2020)

What would you suggest for an alternate power source for an off grid homestead? I am in south central Arkansas. I am wanting to live off grid to reduce financial obligations. Interested in solar power but know nothing about it. Any help or direction is appreciated.


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## A friendly Sheppard (Dec 20, 2020)

Every off grid power source has its own ups and downs and they will always be different in different climates and regions, I’d ask anyone who is off grid or has some off grid power in your area to get their input on what work or does not. In my experience when you’re doing something that is largely affected by location it’s best to get local’s opinions, especially if they’ve done or tried it themselves. 

A six pack and friendly conversation with the right folks can be a wealth of good info


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## 50ShadesOfDirt (Nov 11, 2018)

We are off-grid, no grid-tie or resulting utility bills at all. Basically, our route there was:

propane tank service (500 or 1000 gallon), _standby_ propane generator w/ auto-start capability (largest KW output you can afford)
inverter-charger/mppt ... at least a 24v inverter with charging function, and at least 24v mppt
solar panels
battery bank ...Lithium (LiFePo4)
If you hit the solar forums, listed at the top of this forum, you'll see all kinds of "sizing" examples, and reasoning for the above list. All can be scaled to your financial and/or power needs (small or large gennie, small 12v system or larger 24v or largest 48v system).

With the propane service and standby generator in place first, before anything else, you can power up everything needed to build or work out at your spread. No power company needed; ever. This then becomes part of your total solar energy system.

Adding in the inverter/mppt/battery-bank lets you run the generator less often, or for heavy loads. Anytime the gennie runs, the battery bank gets charged, and is a buffer between your needs and the gennie needing to run all the time.

Adding in the solar panels lets you run the gennie least of all; more solar, less propane. However, the gennie is there if weather blocks the solar.

Without knowing anything about your site needs (you need a master plan of what will go where), place all of this in a protected/insulated shed, w/ gennie right outside of it, and ultimately, the solar panels on a south-facing wall at the right angles, and everything will cable together with the least amount of wiring.

Hope this helps!


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

I am on solar power. We have two neighbors who tried to mix solar and wind. One of them has his windmills set at the same level as the nearby treetop, he can not get any power from his windmills. The other guy has his windmill set about 80feet higher than all the treetops nearby, and he gets plenty of power from his windmill.


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## 50ShadesOfDirt (Nov 11, 2018)

The one thing we don't yet do on our homestead is wind, due to a number of factors ... iffy-ness of most wind turbines for the home market, tower cost/complexity, and so on. It's still on my ponder list, as we have plenty of 30mph or stronger days, and I'd say the % of calm days in a given year is in the 25% range, so there's always something blowing.

I have to test anything at a small scale before I get all in on it, but the tower means I won't be testing 100' in the air. I'm hoping to put in a fence-mounted darius or such, so that, if wind is blowing, it adds to remote power provided by small remote solar panels for the fence electronics (electric fence wire, etc.)

If I'm not doing wind, I might be leaving a power source untapped ...


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## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

We have very successfully applied solar at our homestead with excellent results. The key is to have a plan BEFORE you start buying stuff. Itemize what needs to be run and add up the watts. My rule of thumb is to have 2X the watts of solar panels for the largest single load you have.

I would recommend skipping 12V completely, and go to either 24 or 48V. Let the size of your loads dictate your voltage. Don't buy expensive 12V solar panels. They have the highest dollar/watt ratio. Shop for high-voltage grid-tie panels that you can pick up locally. The best quality panels I've bought were used grid-ties off of Craigslist. When you buy locally, you aren't paying for the very expensive shipping.

Get a high quality MPPT charge controller and sine-wave inverter, not those Ebay deals. With MPPT, you can wire panels in series for high voltage to the controller. Look for the brands Magnum, Midnight, Outback, Schneider, and MorningStar. These companies make tier one products designed to be hard-wired into your electrical panel. They are designed to be split-phase 120/240VAC units that have build in generator charging. They don't have NEMA plugs. My XW+ 6848 can run my 1hp well pump 8 hours a day.

A good starter system for you could be four 250W grid-tie panels feeding at least a 40A charge controller to a 24V battery bank made of four 6V golf-cart batteries. Connect that to a Conext 4024 inverter, and you'd be well-poised to be fully autonomous.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

A friendly Sheppard said:


> Every off grid power source has its own ups and downs and they will always be different in different climates and regions,


Thing most people get backwards with solar is starting with how many panels they can afford. Go the otherway. Determine your load requirements, How much load, How much power do you need. THen decide is solar can be afforded.


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