Thanks for sharing your update! The Segway Portable PowerStation Cube Series looks like a great option for off-grid power. I love that it has a massive capacity, fast recharging, and is waterproof. It seems like a reliable choice for outdoor adventures or home backup power.

.Awesome......very cool. I too think we could run more stuff but still working on adding comforts. Lol. People suggest wind turbines often to us, but our battery bank is often fully charged mid day, so no need for it. Glad to hear your system is treating you well for all them years.

@@OffgridwithJayandJen build a custom water tank with a ton of insulation get around r50-60. Make the tank 500 gallons and put a single or double water heater coil inside it. Once that things heated itll stay hot for a very long time. Like a few days. And you can shower or bath from it for a long time.

@@fajile5109 I like the rock wool not mineral wool for insulation as its great insulation, fire proof and sound proof and easy to work with. You could wrap that around the tank and then get the water heater covers to put over it to hold the insulation in place

yes excatly why letting good power go to waste

@@OffgridwithJayandJen a wind turbine is mainly usefull if you live a place where you get periods with very little solar , like here in Denmark in certain periods of winter , then one can charge the batteries with a vindturbine but i have learned a few lessons if you are gonna do the work of raising a tower or mounting it on a buliding make sure to get a model that actually produces power so its worth putting in the work of raising it, the most costeffetive turbines about 4-500$ i have found that actually produces the power they are rated for is the istabreeze series 1500w and 2000w models they have a very good pma good blades strong hub and housing but they have a few problems that can be fixed ( tendency to collect water in the pma housing over time ) drill a hole in the bottom and use a good sealent on the ends of housing, ,, so if you know somone that wants a turbine warn them about the 500w 1000w china turbines at the 200$ prizerange they are utter nonsence,, there are a 400w one that is good but there are so many low output copys

Yes...yes....and yes. Totally agree

Love it my friend......appreciate you being here and GETTING it, lol. Nothing wrong with fancy if that's what you want.....but in most eyes simple is what we are looking for like you said. We do have a few of the IBC totes we are using around the property for water. would love to bury one close to the cabin. Check out our video about rain catchment we put out a few weeks ago. the setup we did is just temporary but part of the long term water plan. Best wishes

@@OffgridwithJayandJen Amen sista friend. I saw the rain catchment vid. You guys did an awesome job on that too....as per usual! 😀 Often times in my life I find primitive and rudimentary are the shortest and least resistant routes from point A to B....also less headaches. 😀 BTW the solar set up is amazing IMO...practical and AFFORDABLE! Y'all take care! ❤️🇺🇸❤️

@@silvursprings woot woot 😊😊😊

Couldn’t have said it better. Right to the point. Jay and Jen are doing a great job. Simplicity at its best.

@@silvursprings as soon as you put an expensive "off-grid" system you are no longer off-grid because the idea is also for the stuff to be easy to disassemble and moved to a new location if need be not to require a dozen of professional tradesmen to put everything back on. I think a lot of tradesmen on YT who already have workshops with expensive kit have switched to off-grid theme to attract more audience but their DIY is not really DIY. It's more to make you jealous and add tools you can get around. Once everyone has corded electric tools then they came up with cordless and people keep updating.

Thanks Trudee..... you might even be able to get away with less if you wanted. Just depends on your needs. Best wishes my friend

I will be checking all of them out. We are seniors now, but followed "Mother Earth News" many years ago and intended to build an underground house, however off grid was not practical back then, remote work didn't exist, and kids came along, and... and, we are seniors now. 🙄

@Kenneth G. Jr thank you my friend.....life sneaks up on us all.....crazy fun stuff, lol

All that water is a heat load mass. You should put it inside. Then you can help normalize your interior temps AND have water that's not frozen.

Afterthought, you can add a tiny 12V fan to blow air around your interior tanks to ensure the air inside and the water containers are exchanging heat. That would keep the entire interior equalized.

Thank you......fancy is nice if the pay check is there.....but the average person has limitations. thank you for your kindness

Very cool.....I sit with my jaw dropped to the floor when I see some of these systems.

So it runs for 4-5 hours, then what? Everything off for hours until your batteries charge?

@@ghosthunter152 usually 4-5 hours is good enough to keep my cabin cool enough. But I can also run the ac a little longer with generator and charge the batteries at the same time.

I hate that too Lawrence.....makes no sense to not talk about price.

Thanks Liam....hope some can learn from our journey and sharing it. 😊

Thank You Corey......Sharing Real life, Hoping it helps and encourages others. Best wishes

I think this is the best comment I have read in a good while.....im happy to see others going for it. If you have good sun exposure you will be very happy and impressed with what you can power with that simple set up. Let us know how it goes. 👍

Smart....will look into that. Thanks 😊

I’m vicariously excited for you!!!!! One day I’ll be on board myself!

It is exciting to know you have built something that is self sustaining in a way. Very satisfying

😊👍

Awesome....welcome Lisa. We try and keep things real here so hope you enjoy our channel and find some videos you are interested in. Lots of playlists if you want to narrow it down a bit. Thank you for watching and subbing.

For sure it will be. Even getting a cabin or power pole hooked up in a neighborhood can cost you more than this system.....add half a mile or more to that power line run and you are saving big time.

Thanks guys.....you keep it up too. Hope you are finding the time to work on the cabin...Best wishes

Nice....sounds awesome

Great idea.....thanks BFG

Might have to figure that out. Thanks

Thanks for keeping me going......appreciate ya

Awesome.....glad to hear your system is taking good care of you. We bought our batteries from Amazon on prime day and they were discounted quite a bit, keep an eye out for it. Best wishes

Thanks Jeff, I completely agree. Sure no system is flawless, but to buy an appliance where the initial investment is high only to buy fuel to run it doesn't make much sense

Look into wood gasification. This is how we'll need to create combustable gas if Nat/Propane is not available. Its inefficient and dirty, but its gas that will burn similar to propane when the Sun drops a nut directly at us, or these communists/luciferians in control of the big toys flip the switch. Same goes for BITCOIN FYI. How are you or anyone gonna do anything with bitcoin when there is no electricity as even solar systems will fry in an EMP, regardless of who its from, Man or the Sun or 'the aliens' as they sure want you to buy into that myth.

So what is the contingency if you can’t buy gasoline either?

@@campcreekhill8933 I think about that more and more these days. I mean we use a lot of gas around here for building tasks and putting up firewood. If I were to cut back and only use what I have in reserve I think I could cut firewood for a year or two. But only run the chainsaw. No more luxury of riding the side by side around the property. Would like to slowly upgrade all my tools to battery power, but they are not in the budget at the moment. Like I mentioned in the video I have not had to use the generator to charge my solar but once, and they was just as a precautionary

@@OffgridwithJayandJen I think if we ever get to the stage where we can’t buy propane or gasoline then we have got a few more issues to worry about than just that!

It is a hard choice, but it is amazing how little solar we need if we keep.it simple right. Best wishes

Thanks Bryan.....glad you enjoyed the video. I have a little.bit of electrical knowledge with my day to day, but primarily just tracking down shorts and replacing the part.....not a licensed electrician by far. Thanks for watching

Heck ya buddy......it doesn't need to be huge and complicated. Thanks for commenting

Very cool Tim, I went back and forth for a year trying to justify buying a propane fridge....but just couldn't do it. Glad we spent the money they way we did on our solar and bought a simple fridge. This way if the fridge craps out we just buy another one, lol. People have mentioned using little deep chest freezers too on a system this size, so that's good to know too for reserves. Best wishes

@@OffgridwithJayandJen We never use our place in winter so the solar does not need to be quite as big. What size/model refrigerator do you now have? I was thinking of an apartment size fridge.

10.4 cubic foot magic chef....bought it at home depot. 330 dollars. It has never drawn over 150 watts. Mostly runs at 70 watts on occasion to cool it off.

Lots of projects in the coming years my friend.....funding and time are what keeps us at a moderate pace. We have been at it for two years now and doing this part time until we can transition full time.....steady as it goes. 😊

Agree the AGMs are working very well. WE have a Real Sawmill so no more Chainsaw milling for me

Thank you Freya.....really appreciate the kind words. I totally agree with ya on the working your way up. We used and still use a single panel and battery to run our shower house down by camp and it works perfect for running the shower pump and lights year around. It was my first adventure into solar....great way to learn. Best wishes

Nice....appreciate the nice comment. Believe it or not, the shed is only 40 feet from the cabin, and about 50 feet from the main AC panel in the cabin. I made sure to convert the power to AC at the shed to help with the distance it has to travel, as I have heard DC power travels poorly compared to AC. If I could go back, I would definitely insulate the shed properly. Honestly, when I built this system I figured I would have upgraded by now and I would redo the whole set up better, but 3 years later and I have not found a reason to do so. I do struggle a bit in the winter months, but the other 9 months It does great. Just make sure you have lots of sunshine in a good location, in the woods with 4 or 5 hours won't cut it. Best wishes

Agree with you full hearted Christina.....it is hard to be self sufficient. We need a large group to help where one person lacks. Best wishes

Love hearing real life info.....in theory we all want things to be perfect. Just not sure if simple will work for that. Let us know how how the DC fridge works out Cheryl

@@OffgridwithJayandJen we will let you know. On the boat we had a cold plate system. Only because we were limited on how many panels we could hold. And batteries. It was only 32 foot. But our golf cart type flooded lasted about 6 years and so did our AGM BATTERIES.

Thank you so much Guys......you are too funny. Jen was teaching classes while I filmed this....otherwise my price is right girl would have been there to point and wave at each piece of equipment, giggle giggle

Very nice.

That sounds like my kind of dealing buddy.....awesome work

Great Idea

@@OffgridwithJayandJen thanks guys, I’m in a warmer climate as well, so I’m gonna go ahead and spray foam my battery shed and use dry cell deep cycles, with a solar heater set up

These are Crazy times my friend......Not sure how people are going to be able to afford living. All These price increases and they want us to use more electricity to charge EVs and such......Crazy. I wish you the Best of luck. If you are looking for flawless function and use prolly double the system just to hold us over on those cloudy weeks, But it works very well when we Minimize our use.

Nice....good work bud

Nice......I'll have to consider that. I need to get on that before winter comes again

I have something similar set up not too. I just did a two year video about it. Great minds 👍

Good evening my dear Sue....thank you for your support here. We were hoping to include a bathroom in the bedroom addition.....but think we are yet again going to be adding on. Lol. Maybe sooner than later

Why complicate it. Right???

Awesome, glad to hear your old system took care of for 6 years. Hope the eco flow systems last a long time for you.

I will certainly do some research into those diesel Heaters. Thanks PI, appreciate your thoughtful comment and sharing your personal experiences with then. 👍

Ha, we may have been pigging out and splitting a pizza last night too, lol. Gym shorts are my go to for relaxing too, lol

Nice.....I forgot all about that option

Interesting method.....hummmm

@@OffgridwithJayandJen I've always wondered why they never put wind turbines underground in giant tunnels. Obviously the props have to be redesigned. It just doest make sense putting one up in a cow paddock lol

@@OffgridwithJayandJen also I would like to see tiny home drones or droneabagos lol..

Thanks, I'm a huge fan of the bubble foilas well. Like you said if you leave a dead air space between layers it really creates a clean and effective space. I'm wishing I had insulted the shed before installing everything, but like you said I didn't want it to get too hot in the summer.....so I left it very open air and planned to insulate the batteries. Thanks for watching

That might work.....might try that

I like that idea.....

I agree.....when we started this....it was not so readily available or affordable. Glad things are becoming so. 😉

Hello Jay, Love the solar system set up. Got to figure out some insulation for the building and the water catchment tank especially, maybe a water heater element as a dump load for the water tank..

I sure do....it's on the list, lol

That would be nice. Trying to decide if insulating the whole thing or just the batteries is the best option.

Lol. Nice. I was wondering if anyone tried charing electric vehicles on a smaller system. Why not right?

That's awesome, glad to hear you can get away with less even. I'm not an expert so I'm not sure if we could have gotten away with half the batteries and half the panels, but so far so good. Glad yours is working good as well. Thanks for watching

I wish I had built mine adjustable.....but I like to keep it simple and make adjustments and upgrades if needed. So far I have been happy with our setup, but I do need to brush the panels off with snow. But set it up to brush them off easily on the ground

@@OffgridwithJayandJen I have one array on 4 inch schedule 40 steel pipe and the other on a well casing cutoff . Both a similarly close to the ground for the same reason :).

@@georgemckenzie2525 nice work.....no climbing on ladders or roofs for you and I, lol

@@OffgridwithJayandJen roof p.v. is the worst way to install

Very nice, cool to hear it from someone who works in the business. Thanks for watching and best wishes

Keeping it Simple has its perks.....😀

Yup 😊👍

Thanks for watching and commenting my friend

Hey HH, appreciate the info and honesty. I completely agree there are pros and cons to both ways. If I had more room in the cabin and felt my solar abilities and knowledge was good enough at the time to safely install it indoors I too would have done so. Space, safety, and my desire to be flexible with my set up took me this route. Not knowing how I wanted to lay out my yard or originally where or how i wanted my solar array made this set up more flexible. I'd be happy to hear your advantages if you have any thing different to add. Thanks

@@OffgridwithJayandJen Hi there! My system is rather small, just 288 Ah LiPoFe3, (3 x 96Ah batteries in parallel), 520W panels and a 2000W inverter. Panels are quite a ways from the house, about 25 meters or 30-32 yards but since I got small panels (65W each) I can run 2 strings of 4 panels in series which brings the system to about 78 volts in full sunlight - thus I pretty much eliminate the loss over that distance as I feed the controller through 2x20mm2 (or 2x4 gauge). I run a small extension from the inverter, IT insulated, which powers a hot plate, a micro, a toaster and my vacuum cleaner - but I never run more than about 1600W at the same time to be gentle on the inverter. The rest is run by 12 volts. Fridge, water pump (20 liters under the sink, fill it up by hand when empty) and lights. 12 volts, all of them. You got your house free of batteries, inverters, chargers and so on, which I think is really nice. What I got is automatic heating of the batteries during winter time as I heat up the house with firewood, and I can tinker with the system if necessary even on the coldest or wettest of days. I really think your solution is neater, and makes more sense in a lot of ways. I just went with what I got out of ease of building the entire thing. I had the space, so it made sense to do it like I did. I can hide it all in a small cupboard in my living room, all but the inverter that is. The inverter is mounted on the wall so I can easily access the on/off switch as to when I need 230V. Mounting the panels on the ground I have found is a real treat, just like you have done. I think people really ought not to have the panels on their roofs unless they really struggle with the aesthetics of a ground based system. It is so easy to get the snow off when you do not have to climb ladders, and you can add or repair all you want without having to resort to climbing up and down. My place is a weekend place, not full time living. At least not yet. If I go full time I will get more panels, and a bigger battery bank. But for now, for long weekends and as a get away place, it works just fine.

@Hermod_Hermit I love when useful and helpful conversation happens. I completely agree the ground mount array is the way to go if snow is something you have to deal with. The ease and safety involved makes sense, also I actually like seeing the array as it is a constant reminder I'm using my own power supply. Sound like your system, like ours, serves you well. Best wishes.

I love this William. Thank you for letting me know. I'm hoping for a similar experience. Best wishes my friend

Not a bad idea...but I like it natural looking and don't want it over heating in the summer. Good idea though.

Cool....will check it out. Thanks

Thanks kenneth.....ya the sawmill was a good investment, I have a video about it coming out soon so keep an eye out for that. Best wishes

Good long term plan and goal 👍

makes sense......less excessive discharge the better

Very true.....always good to have back up components and plans. Appreciate you watching and sharing

Very nice BE.....good to hear others having good success too with solar. Nothing wrong with building a system to your needs.....it is actually the best way lol.

Good Tips....thanks KS

Thank you for your kindness my friend.

My pleasure!

Very Cool....do you have a link you could share??? I'm Sure at some Point we will Be upgrading the system and Panels and will Likely go that route. I Actually Bought these Panels when the Pandemic put a short Supply on larger Solar Panels so this was what I could get when I needed them....Glad to know that there are better and cheaper options out there though. Best wishes

@@OffgridwithJayandJen I got them from a semi-local place. If you can't find a supplier near you then you can get good deals from signature solar, watts247, and santan solar. Especially if you buy a pallet worth when signature solar has a free pallet shipping sale.

@@niktak1114 Very Nice....Good for everyone to know. Thanks for Sharing

I did spend some time looking into this but honestly can't remember why I didn't end up doing this. If I were to guess I think it was because my batteries are lead acid an there are only 8 of them. I also have the negative and positive hooked into opposite sides of the bank so that forces flow through. I did research it a little but like I said never came to a final answer whether I was entirely necessary for my set up

Sweet.....we considered doing the same. I really only built this system to learn and it was fairly affordable at the time

Sounds interesting

Very cool to hear you have a comparable system and cost. If we bumped up the solar and batteries 50% I think it would solve some shortages we have at times....but very functional as is

Thanks NK.....very much appreciate the kind words and support. best wishes

Get out there buddy

That is great to hear, I totally agree with you in all regards. Led lights and energy efficient appliances are key.

I look forward to a project like this. We need a green house and a pole barn style building but on the smaller side for storage then will work on a cellar on the hill side.....should be fun

Derek - that is an interesting idea - I like it! Tho, what would you do about the moisture from the humidity?

Have a 10" pvc pipe from the cellar underground to the cabin have a computer fan to pull in the cool air in and the moisture should run back down the pipe if any only thing would be that caller smell

Thanks Robert......glad to hear others are using heating pads. I was sent some pads from a good friend and subscriber so will be installing those in a future video

Thanks VV, his direct straight forward videos have helped Me understand solar better. I still have tons to learn, but at least a guy like Me who takes 3-4 rounds to learn it can figure it out in less time. I'm sure we will be experimenting with lithium batteries sooner than later...but the Temps here make it complicated

that is a great option

So Smart and True......Where it is I can only hope it explodes and puts out the fire on it's own....So thank you for reminding me to find the proper place for it. Best wishes