Can I Live A Hi-Tech Life Using Minimal Solar?
This guest post is from Dave over at A Self Sufficient Life.
Just over 5 years ago I moved to Spain with my partner. We live in a remote area with no chance of ever getting mains electricity so we run our home using solar panels and a back-up generator.
Many people have a lot of misconceptions about using solar to run a home and here I want to talk a little about living in the modern age and what can be achieved with a minimal system that does not cost the earth.
What I want to get out of the way straight away is that if you are thinking of running your home of solar panels as a financial investment then don’t. You will be waiting a long time to see any return on your purchase. Although there are now many more cheap solar panels available then there were when I made my purchase five years ago it would still take a long time to see a monetary return.
That being said I had no choice so the return was not an issue. But, it does give peace of mind that I never have to find money for an electricity bill as those do who live of mains electricity. Here is a little information about just what we use to power our home. You may be quite surprised how minimal it is.
- 1300 Watt Pure Sinewave Inverter
- A bank of 6 2 Volt Deep Cycle Batteries combined to store 560 Amp Hours as a 12 Volt system
- 4 80 Watt solar panels
- Various charge controllers and cut off safeties
Many will look at this as being woefully inadequate. We were unsure if it would be sufficient when we purchased. But never having lived via solar before we took our chances, and more importantly we purchased what we could afford. Solar panels sales have increased significantly since we bought our system and with that prices have fallen so if I actually were to start again from scratch I would be able to buy slightly more than I did 5 years ago.
So, for a minimal investment like I made just what can you expect in real life? It is far from perfect but you can live with a lot of mod cons that we take for granted in our homes, but if you want to live off-grid and live as you once did then a much large system would be preferable, but not necessary. Here is what we can typically run in Spain, where we get a lot of sunshine on an almost daily basis.
We run a laptop for at least 8 hours a day, and often 2. We run household lights which are all energy efficient and none of them consumes more than 8 watts. We watch tv in the evenings, but on a small television (no big plasma screens for us I am afraid). We use DVD players, a wireless router and a satellite box. What we do not do is have either an electric fridge or oven. They would consume too much so we use gas.
We use the washing machine but only ever on a cold cycle. The heating element consumes too much power. Try a wash only on cold, as far as I can tell it works fine at getting anything but the most stubborn of marks out of clothes.
Our lifestyle is very different from what it used to be but you can run regular appliances in your home with a minimal investment of a solar system. Of course the larger the Inverter, the bank of batteries and the number of panels the more appliances you can run, and the more like a regular on-grid home your house will be. But, as you can see, with a few changes to your lifestyle and a conscious effort to never leave any appliance on, even on standby, when not in use, you can actually be free of the electricity companies for a relatively low cost. It is not perfect but I feel much happier knowing that the way I live is not ruled by finding money for bills and that it is amazing how wasteful of electricity I used to be when I never had to consider a cloudy day in to the equation.
This is exactly what I’ve been pondering! Folks keep telling me that starting with a small system is impossible, but I think that most folks aren’t willing to cut back to the bare essentials. How much did you spend to get started with your system?
Starting with a small system then adding to is very possible. You must, however, start with a good size inverter and the largest battery bank you can budget. The reason is that adding batteries later is a bad idea, and poor investment. With the large inverter and batteries, get a generator with the left over funds. Use the system and save money for phase two, where you can add more solar, or wind power for charging!
Interesting post. It brings up a good point about the off-grid lifestyle, namely, that it is a lifestyle, not simply an alternative. One can’t live an indulgent lifestyle off-grid.
My DH and I have been discussing using solar for some of our energy needs, but we just had most of December with no sun whatsoever. I guess my two questions would be, how much sun do you get where you live in Spain and what do you do if you don’t get enough?
Dear Mr.Off Grid Ebert,
I applaud you for sharing your off the grid experience. In todays economy many people are searching for alternative way to survive, many trying to be enviromentally consious or just doing what it takes to survive. Living off the grid does not have to be a difficult process or require huge sacrifices. With a little knowledge anyone can set up the average household to run on a budget and convert the house in phases. If I may share my experience. I live in the northeastern U.S. My young sons and I have been off the grid for over a year. Using a small Briggs and Straton generator 7500 watt and 8 – 120 watt and 8 55 watt solar Panels purchased second hand one at a time. We have been builing a battery bank as our budget allows buying (12 volt deep cycle batteries) . we use an inexpensive sine inverter to run the lights in the house. a $50 basic charge controller and a Iota interface to help keep the battery bank charged when the generator is in use, and a 6 circut power converter (all found on the internet..how to sites). We live a very normal life enjoying hot showers. TV. movies high speed internet and even our hot tub and electric blanket on cold nights….The way we accomplish this is to connect the fuse panel curcuits so everything in our house runs into (3) a home made fuse switch panel everthing 220 (well pump, hot water heater, hot tub, oven) run off the generator when they are needed only 2 things on at any given time. Everything else runs off solar or the generator depending on the weather and battery power availability. We do cook on a small propane burner stove and use a turkey cooker to bake with. Heat is wood and propane as needed. it does come with chalanges at times. If we want hot water, we must not forget to turn on the switch when the generator is on or devert the power as needed to a section of our home. On cold morning someone must go out to turn on the generator and maintain the fuel. My children are now very consious of turning off lights, and if they want to play video games or watch TV; something (zone) must be turned off. With rising fuel cost we are very conscious of how long we run things. All power is turned off when we leave home except for the refridgerator, and alarm system. It has been worth the headaches and we are saving for a propane generator and more batteries. It has been a rewarding and learning experience. And if nothing else has strengthened my bond with my boys as we work together on this project and is rewarding to watch them learn to appriciate many things in life.
You mentioned that you use gas for heating.
Have you considered building a simple water heater for taking showers and wash the dishes?
The simplest, cheapest and more efficient way to do it is by making a thermo-siphon system.
There are many ways to make them, from the simplest form to the more polished ones, but the principle behind them is very simple.
For example, there is a program in Brazil for installing low cost water heaters in low income family homes, and it works great. Usually, all you need is a couple of corrugated PVC sheets, a few hoses and pvc pipes, and a small water tank. Check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rGf_3rLR1M&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPYVYUlxNHY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqGBgzjsuPo&feature=related
By the way, where is Spain do you live?
Luis
Interesting post, but I wouldn’t call this a small system. Living on 4 deep cells, and a single 50watt panel is a small system. We have been able to do this by changing our lifestyle completely.
I have a couple questions but seeing as none of the other questions were answered, I wonder if mine will be.
What is the expected life of your batteries? One of the previous posters mentioned adding batteries later is a bad idea. why? As batteries get older they become less efficient. I would think it a good idea to set up a rotation on your batteries.
2nd question, do you change the pitch of your solar paels to match the angle of the sun?
Last question, do you have a well for your water? Does this become an issue with power drar . (OK, this “Last” question is a compound question) :- )
Thanks
Bob,
People say you shouldn’t do a grid-tied system now and expect to change over to off-grid later because it will require some major changes to your system (charge controller, battery banks…) and if you know you’re going to untie yourself from the grid you might as well just install an off-grid system and do it now, rather than have to change around your whole system later.
Batteries should last about ten years. Sometimes more, sometimes less. It all depends on how they are cared for. Yes, they become less effiecient as they get older, especially if not properly maintained. But even if maintained well, they will eventually have to be replaced as they become inefficient.
If you want to go through the trouble of climbing up onto your roof you can do that, but we just positioned ours permanently to be at the optimum angle during the winter months since they’ll get all the sun they need in the summer anyway. If you pole-mount your panels it is much easier to move them around to match the angle of the sun, and yes that would make a big difference.
I’m not sure I understand your last question, but if you have a good battery bank and an inverter it shouldn’t matter that you run a well pump as long as you have enough panels to generate the power you need.