What items do you use and love? What are your favorite off the grid systems and tricks?

nobody928
nobody928 Solar Expert Posts: 62 ✭✭✭✭
in Off Grid Solar & Battery Systems #1
I love using my doemetic propane fridge. Its dorm sized and reasonable to run. About 15 dollars a month in propane. I also love the camco wave 6 and my, mr heater lil buddy propane heater. Also my woodburning stove heats my whole home to over 100 degrees sometimes rather too quickly.

I am proud of the water system I put together. I use a recycled 300 gallon water container from a soda factory to store my water. From there I have vinyl tubing running to my flojet 12v water pump then to my portable on demand propane water heater. I have a hot shower system now in my off grid mobile home.

I really like my 12volt led tv dvd (axcess brand) and my sanyo rechargeable batteries that in turn run my babies swing, some led lighting, some small fans and radios, lots of electronics.

What do you use that makes off grid life easier?

Any soloutions for laundry? :roll:
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  • Blackcherry04
    Blackcherry04 Solar Expert Posts: 2,490 ✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: What items do you use and love? What are your favorite off the grid systems and tric

    Mule powered Washing Machine


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    http://amishamerica.com/mule-powered-washing-machine/
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  • H2SO4_guy
    H2SO4_guy Solar Expert Posts: 213 ✭✭✭
    #3
    Re: What items do you use and love? What are your favorite off the grid systems and tric

    LED lights! I run them off a car battery that would not start a car anymore but runs some of my interior lighting just fine. I bought it for $7.00 and can scrap it for about $8.00 or so, so how can I go wrong? I know you're not supposed to run a car type battery, but I have been running home lighting on it for 6 months. If I need more light I can flip on 120 volt stuff and have many more lumins. It also offers a backup so if I get an inverter failure I'm covered.

    I also have a battery charger for charging NiCad and NIMH batteries that will run from 120 volts or 12 volts. I charge them off of the old car battery too and it works great for me. That way I get all of my flashlights and headlamp-type LED stuff working just fine.

    Skip
    12K asst panels charging through Midnite Classic 150's, powering Exeltechs and Outback VFX-3648 inverter at 12 and 48 volts.  2080 AH @ 48 VDC of Panasonic Stationary batteries (2 strings of 1040 AH each) purchased for slightly over scrap, installed August 2013.  Outback PSX-240X for 220 volt duties.  No genny usage since 2014. 
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  • RandomJoe
    RandomJoe Solar Expert Posts: 472 ✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: What items do you use and love? What are your favorite off the grid systems and tric

    I'm not living completely off-grid, but do have a few nifty battery- (and solar-) operated devices.

    One of the most surprising to some is the stereo. I have a nice home stereo but rarely use it. Instead I have a car stereo sitting on my desk wired to some bookshelf speakers. I rarely listen to broadcast radio, but it can play CDs (audio or MP3), has a line in jack - currently wired to one of my computers, and most importantly has bluetooth in it to connect to the cell phone. Works as a very nice speakerphone, plays any audio I have on the phone. (Yay, I can be lazy - kick back in the easy chair and chat with friends / family almost as if they're in the room with me! ;) )

    My battery charger is also 12V, very handy in the car or in the house. Also a 3-way lighter outlet socket assembly to plug in USB adapters for charging the phone or tablet. (Or anything else with a lighter plug, though I use PowerPoles on anything I can manage to modify.)

    During the summer I love my 9000 BTU mini-split. It won't keep the whole house refrigerated, but it can keep the office comfortable and sometimes even a little cool with power straight from the solar panels. I run it and keep the main house unit disabled while on peak billing hours. Would really like to upgrade to an inverter model (heat pump too) that I could run a bit more at lower wattage settings but can't justify the cost while the current one is still running fine.
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  • rich
    rich Solar Expert Posts: 62 ✭✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: What items do you use and love? What are your favorite off the grid systems and tric

    wind-up radios....
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  • stephendv
    stephendv Solar Expert Posts: 1,571 ✭✭
    #6
    Re: What items do you use and love? What are your favorite off the grid systems and tric

    Mini-split AC with heat pump. Essential for summer and am now using it during winter when the forecast is for clear weather the next day, I leave it on overnight to keep the house above 19C. With this usage the batteries start the day at 75-85% SoC.
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  • bill von novak
    bill von novak Solar Expert Posts: 891 ✭✭✭✭
    #7
    Re: What items do you use and love? What are your favorite off the grid systems and tric
    nobody928 wrote: »
    What items do you use and love? What are your favorite off the grid systems and tricks?

    I have a few plastic boxes of parts that I can use to put together solar power systems quickly. I often build small systems for kid's science fairs, ham radio festivals, and events in remote locations. A few years back I built a 600 watt system at Burning Man. It charged two T105's and gave us lights at night (and air conditioning for me for an hour a day or so, which was nice.)
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  • Surfpath
    Surfpath Solar Expert Posts: 468 ✭✭✭
    #8
    Re: What items do you use and love? What are your favorite off the grid systems and tric

    My eccotemp LPG L-5 water heater.
    It's one of those $99 camping portable units, but we have plumbed it into the house. It is enough to run one shower at a time, and after 18 months of use I can say that it works well.

    Cons: Shower time is limited to about 12 minutes at a time (after that it automatically turns the flame off - a safety feature I believe). Also when the gas tank gets low shower time gets progressively shorter. It's not perfect, but I am impressed with how well it's done. I have it mounted in a little semi protected vented box so it doesn't get rained on or flame out. One 20lb tank = roughly 2.2 months of 2 showers a day. Did I mention $99.
    Outback Flexpower 1 (FM80, VFX3048E-230v, Mate, FlexNetDC) 2,730watts of "Grid-type" PV, 370 AmpHrs Trojan RE-B's, Honda 2000 watt genny, 100% off grid.
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  • SolInvictus
    SolInvictus Solar Expert Posts: 138 ✭
    #9
    Re: What items do you use and love? What are your favorite off the grid systems and tric

    Using a refrigerator/freezer on a timer as a load based charge controller for a 120 W and two 135 W photovoltaic panels. It saved me from buying a second charge controller as I expanded my PV array over the years. The PV panels are connected to the battery array through diodes and fuses which came from my collection.
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