Off Grid on a Budget: Redesigning My System for Half the Price
This Video is from the Youtube channel: “Off-Grid with Curtis Stone”.
Curtis is one of the world’s most highly sought-after small farming educators. His book, The Urban Farmer, offers a new way to think about farming𑁋 one where quality of life and profitability coexist. Today, Curtis spends most of his time building his 40-acre off-grid homestead in British Columbia. He leverages his relationships with other experts to bring diverse content into the homes of gardeners and aspiring small farmers from around the world. Learn more at FromTheField.TV.
I love me some off-grid deals!
me to but i use 60 kwh a day ;(
There’s a guy in Knoxville who has a solar warehouse w good deals. Advertises on FBM and lots of people have said good things!
The better production in winter is to do the the panels being colder.
If you have a moving water source with a decent height change, a micro hydro system would be a great option. It would produce power 24/7/365.
Mmm yes but no depends on your demographic here we got winter months
have to build it underground in canada. difficulty level x1000
We have a seasonal creek in the winter and spring, lots of sun in the summer and fall…. it’s going to be a unique situation for everyone. Thanks so much!!
3500kw system 49kw tubular 48v 925 amp lead acid batteries honda si7000 gen propane/ electric fridge propane stove on demand hot water 5 small deep freezers. We were pretty frugal burned 200l of gas for gen per year mostly in winter but some use in summer when hot and cloudy or smoked in. 6000 watt inverter
This was very helpful. I’m on my way to designing a similar system. Would you choose the same batteries today? I’m definitely looking into the micro hydro system since I have a spring on my property that runs year round.
Ha ha, the windmill system you have brings back memories. I remember disassembling the tower from a residence in GF a number of years ago. It was originally a antenna tower for a ham radio operator.
Very Good Total Explanations On Your Off Grid System & Great Recommendations For Others Starting Their New Trek Towards Self Sustainability!!! PS I’m A Designer + Builder Of Custom Off Grid Full Homes To Ranches Sized Systems Here In North Texas, w/Over 35 Years Of Hands On Experience In ALL The Construction + Union Building Trades… We Just Finished A 20+ Acre Ranch Job, It Has 4500+sgft Custom Home, 3)- 60’x30′ Garages-Shops Buildings, Multiple 5ton Heat-Pump A/Cs, Water Well, Swimming Pool, 50Amp TESLA Charger, ETC Pre-Existing… 2+ Years Ago We Started w/Building A Solar Field Of 4) Sets Of 3)-525 watt Solar Panels That Also Tilt North to South, In Winter We Run 33* Here = About 6.5kw Of Solar Power, Then We Built A Dedicated 10’x16″ Metal Solar Shed, Spray Foamed Inside, Installed Both New Westing-House 10k-btu Wall Heat-Pump Unit + A 12kw Gas/Propane Gen Inside. We Installed 2-New 200Amp Panels Inside Shed, w/The Main Metered Power Pole Being Within 30′ Of Shed We Pulled All Grid-Tied Power To The Incoming Panel Direct Off Meter & Then All Off-Grid Power Goes Back To Existing Main Power Distribution Panel At Pole, Thus Just Creating A Grid In- Solar Out Power Loop… We Can Now Do All Switching From Inside Solar Shed, Incoming Grid Power Only Powers Inverters To “Back-Up” Solar Power + Charging Batteries! We Have 3)-15kw Sol-Ark Inverters + 4)- Six Pack Racks Of EG4-LLs = 122.88KW Of Batteries…The Full Ranch System Has Been Running GREAT For Over A Year Now On FREE SUN POWER! Total Costs In About $75,000 + Only Had To Be Switched Back To Using Full Grid Power “Two-Weeks” This Year Due To Inverter Failures & Warrantied Replacements? Thanks 👍👍😜🤣😁😎🌞🌞
If you have extra electrical capacity use it to pump water up hill into a large container. When the sun goes down then run a micro-hydro system off the water. It’s a battery.
Honestly, BRILLIANT!
Hi Curtis, i ‘m following your videos and love all of them. Would it be possible for us somehow to get offgrid to my family of 3 women and a baby ( mom 62 yr old, daughter 28 yr old, daughter 27 yr old and newborn baby)? We own a townhouse in city of Ontario with small backyard. I am working, one of my daughters a single mother and another daughter is on ODSP. What would you suggest us in our situation? How we can survive in what is coming?
Good video, I’m in Colorado I have a solar system, I use separately from the grid, to power 2 , 200 gallon hot water heaters with a pump and heat exchanger, also have a separate 200 amp panel with the solar system in case grid is down I can switch over and run house , I guess you could call it a hybrid system, thx Curtis
I’m only halfway through. I enjoy your content, but we have very different perspectives on this topic. Maybe I missed it, but perhaps the most important thing to consider is what can be left out of the system with minimal or no net negative, or perhaps an actual positive outcome. In other words, for someone on a budget, be very strict about what is considered a “need” and look to our ancestors or the old ways of a given location. Recreating on-grid lifestyles and design are definitely going to require bigger investments and sacrifice. For example, a small cabin is easily heated with wood (if sourced on site). Same fire can heat water for bathing, cook, and provide wholesome entertainment and gathering space. Personally, I’ve designed my place to be comfortable with NO electricity, although I do have a little solar (400 watts, not kw) and a couple of generators. If Klaus pulls the plug I’ll pop the corn in my wok and be happy there’s no “smart” device taking up space in the kitchen.
Hi Curtis, this video is amazing, thank you so much. We are in Oregon and looking at going off grid in 2024. My challenge is that I’ve been monitoring our daily usage for 2 years and we are at about 100 kW per day! I’ve arrived at the same rack mount battery system (from Signature Solar). Prices have dropped significantly with 4 racks (120kW storage looking at about $24,500. I already have two 200 amp panels and each panel has a generator backup capability with 9kW generators running off propane. Designing ground arrays that can generate that sort of power is not trivial. Your video added to my understanding – thank you.
cost of batteries are so much more than panels… i’ve moved my panels on my final setup…
i went 45* off to the west, and tested it the other day… was generating juice for almost the entire sun set!
my to be east panels ended up being too far away, but in our household, most juice is used in the evening.
might still add east facing panels tho, but id have to run a new trench to shorten the wires.
This is a great video Curtis. Very practical information for regular people!
depending on the drop and feed pipe you could get 21 kw out of it. How ever it all depends on the tank or feed and the distance it drops. The pipe fails it can take out a building.
Such a great video Curtis-thank you❤️👍 we have a super small system comparing to yours but its been working great as we are minimalists, I guess, and not too far from the civilization🙂 (3,4 kw solar, 16kw batteries, generator back up). We are pretty low tech but still have all we need to live comfortably all year round.
But it is definitely about the lifestyle adjustments we did not mind to make like for instance, not to have a drier but to air dry the clothes instead and so on. The best saved energy is the one you dont have to produce for us as we didnt have the big budget😉 you can also add later when you raise your budget,.that is great about these systems,they can grow with you👍
I would LOVE to see the mechanism you change your solar panel’ s angle with though! When it takes 10 minutes,its great and super practical.
Have a great day Curtis and lovely holidays. Greeting to the whole family from Slovakia❤️
Recently went through this exercise, designed for multi-day coverage battery storage. The cost of batteries far outweighed all other components. Then I scaled way back on the premise that you could start with a system that has full solar production in ideal winter day and top up with generator as needed days that don’t meet that standard. My “little” startup system with one day’s storage ended up having a nice feature: about the same cost for panels as batteries as whole house standby generator. I did upsize the batteries to assume DoD down to 20% and only charged up to 80% with occasional runs higher (you know the need is coming or you’re top balancing). This will take a lifepo battery rated at 4-6 thousand cycles to over 15 thousand, seems worth it (didn’t do the math on that one). As for wind, it’s context, some places do have high wind when it gets gloomy, but that’s not a constant as you point out. Also, consider the following: it takes wind speed A to get the turbine to turn, but it takes wind speed B (significantly higher than A) to get the turbine to generate usable power. Then you have maintenance etc and the potential for broken blades to go flying in high winds. And another thing, long blades (6ft) do create significant noise when they get going in good wind. Can you make them work? Sure, and it could be fun too, but if you’re not looking to have fun tinkering at it, prob not so good… unless your conditions are awesome. One last bit, care should be taken on matching the components. For example, lifepo have optimal charging current and you may end up getting an oversized generator. This means generator doesn’t run at full capacity, and this means efficiency drops rather quickly (way more fuel to charge same batteries at lower current). Running the generator at max to top up batteries appears to be best approach unless you’re looking at generator for minimal backup only. Big caveat: all generators require regular maintenance, lots of oil changes, frequent overhauls (compared to motors of similar capacity) etc.
Ah, bless you, Curtis! In a world full of outright lies, deception, obfuscation and opacity, you give clear, honest, truthful analysis of stuff that’s important!! If you and your family ever make it to Europe, come and stay on our farm in the Pyrenees! Bienvenue!