The better production in winter is to do the the panels being colder.

30+ year electrician. Thanks for the kwh usage, and you fully understand the fundamentals. You know solar. Thats why im here. Thanks for the video.

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.

I'm off grid totally. Close to the same situation too. Live way back in terrible roads and get snowed in. About 50 or more days of little to no sun. Angles of the seasons etc. I get a lot of dust and treacherous 5 mph to 85 mph or more wind that no wind mill could react quickly enough to not be damaged. It's flipped solar panels through the air too, got to cement like you have.Blows every day summer and fall spring, yet not but 35 percent of winter ( but again extreme speed. Your situations compare well

For most of us that are still on the grid. Reference your power bill. There is a wealth of knowledge right there. I can establish an average daily usage based on an entire year.

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 👍👍😜🤣😁😎🌞🌞

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!

I have a 53' semi dry van. Living area is 1st 18 feet. Heavily insulated R48 ceiling, R15 in 2 inch side walls, and R28 rear wall, have a Mini Cubic Grizzley wood stove wall mounted 40 inches up. 10.2 kW solar panniers, 100 kW-hrs batteries, 120 and 240 VAC single phase inverters, 5 kW gas generator for $55,000 US. It's more than I need, but want it that way. Can relocate on 5 minutes with my semi tractot.

Great update! We have started building our off-grid solar system and are doing it DIY. Prices have steadily decreased while tech has gotten so much better. There are so many variables and everyone’s use case is slightly different but the components are easily available. Some folks are surprised to find that ground mount racking can cost as much or more than the actual solar panels, although we’ve built cheaper DIY alternatives. Great to see your Schneider system is running well.

This is a great video Curtis. Very practical information for regular people!

also, diesel is good for end of the world. you can refine wood into diesel fairly easily... but then again a gas gen can be converted to run off of wood gas fairly easily... :P gotta make diesel anyways... to run the equipment.

battery systems

I think things will start changing rapidly when people realize that they can use salvage model 3 lfp packs for pennies on the dollar to store excess energy. Dalla doing phenomenal work in that field.

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!!

Great video! Thank you so much!

Great I enjoyed that! Thank you, very well presented. 20 yrs ago I thought a combo of wind and solar on a house in a suburban neighborhood might be a good idea - assuming that it was windy in the winter - and it was some times but not daily; it wasn’t something I thought thru at that time and we never did it there. Even on the rural land we later bought (that we never put a house on) we added a wind turbine but it should have been placed at least 20’ higher. However, it still would have generated little in winter.. might have been enough some days to run a light and a computer which was the point of it. Some days the wind was wild and others it was still or just a little in winter, in an area near N Cal coast (that does have winter windy storms). So I appreciate your discussion on the impracticality of wind power; all points well taken. 😊😉 Constant wind for months is def not fun to live in! And It’s a fact that all those expensive, resource intensive (to make) wind generators in wind farms never in their life span pay for themselves in energy generation compared to what it costs to make one. I believe that info comes from CFACT/ the climate depot, always setting things straight on the gov mis-info concerning the climate discussion and the supposed solutions.

By far the BEST off-grid system I have seen and would LOVE to get to this point one day! Great Job!

Thanks for the transparency on how you do what you do. Very informative. I’m working towards this type of living. 🙏

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.

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.

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❤️

Having PV aim different directions is a good thing because it lengthens your sun day. I'd love to make a single axis tracker.

Wind requires much more maintenance. That’s why they stopped doing hybrid systems here in the Midwest Furthermore if you have tall trees you’ll spend more on the tower than on the wind generator

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

I am now producing 123kwh on a sunny winter day. 2 ground based arrays. The house is an energy hog. One project at a time!

Make sure your battery bank is big enough to handle the surge power of your well pump. My 1hp pump pulls about 10,000 watts surge current

I love me some off-grid deals!

thanks a lot for the info now i know how thing are cost.

A long chain link fence running north and south that's on the property anyway with a single row of panels on top would be quite easy to have a single access tracker. One actuator would move the entire thing. I'm near the equator so one axis is all I need.

I live in the deep South US it 60% humidity on average - many days are over cast - in 2022 it was raining and overcast from February till July - At 60% solar panels only generate 20% of there rated power at noon day for 0ne or two ours a day - There is little to no wind - and no streams for hydro - The only thing that works is hybrid fuel burning generators - or wood smoke engines -

Hopefully the prices come down when it all needs to be replaced, nice setup, love the property view

I started with 48kwh's 7 years and have 72kwh's now. I started with 12000w of solar and now have 19000w now. I started with 12000w and now have 19000w of inverters. You will learn on what need on your journey. I have $35k USA in my system . I did all the labor.

Ive said before on your other video its a dream system Curtis congrats man well done ...im trying to do something much smaller , ive got two regular gas generators 5500w but i need a solar backup im gonna go with a 6 kw system and build it out . im building my place like you . but ive come off being deathly ill from being poisoned by the pesticides and glyphosate from the orchard up the road leaching into my well . I had been bedridden for 3yrs and lost my vision , memory now im still a partial narcoleptic but im getting better .so i have operated at a loss and only now am trying to get caught up on all the prepping i started before i got taken out . So ive got the best reverse osmosis system already hahaha , now i need to do the solar..i DO have a ton of wind here now it never used to be so im looking into it but ive heard windmill power is really not very reliable equipment wise ive heard alot that its shitty quality .but id love to supplement it with wind . im down east of montreal so you know the climate lol. but i heat with wood and only need power for tools and lighting anyway i store 60 gallons of gas for the generators i just cycle it through the vehicules and replace it so it never sits long but id love to switch over to diesel like you . ill probably try a couple 400-1kw windmills its a bit more complicated but i have to put up with it so may as well benefit from it lol. movings not an option so im livin with it. love your videos , keep up the great work and take care .

sorry if this was commented on but the reason for a higher d c voltage input is the distance your panels are from your charge controller. that distance determines the wire gauge and d c voltage. my set up is 12 v and i run 110 amp draw motors no problem. what you draw is determined by battery bank size and inverter. better to have your system installed on less flammable just in case like plastic sheets or cement board. another reason for more watts coming in the winter is reflection from the snow. i can get an xtra 10% however that is a bonus not something you want to add to the equation when doing your pre calculation. one thing that you might have mentioned that i missed was the batteries will wear out over time. the amount of time depends on many things but you want to be prepared for that. this cost 27 k when built. in 10 to 15 years when they need to be replaced it might be double depending on castro jr. or dementia joe

If those panels were bi facial and vertical mounted (never clean snow again!) your 20kw would produce 4kw through the worst weather conditions according to me getting 650 watts from a 2790 array, that's right now with a heavy downpour. When you add snow and overcast your 20kw becomes 5kw+ and 7 to 9kw if it's just fog, with snow and sun 22kw+ it should go overrating. I have seen 2790 w peak at 3414 watts. Your generator will become yard art. Worst day I got 5.1 kw with 6.5kw array, it is 8k but there is a problem with pv3 (33% power in clouds compared to pv2) to be fixed in Aug and add a 3.3kw pv4. I use 14kw a day total with only electric heat. I get no less than 19kw a day since March 1 (2.3 MW total 889kw excess) and soon 35+kw after mods/repairs. To upgrade 1 of your arrays to bi facial 6600 watts 12 panels $3100 cad delivered from Solar online. I will have my upgraded solar video near the end of Aug, my recent short has the sun directly on the side of the frame producing 780w from 2790w. My set up gives me maximum Nov to Feb solar, I went 105 days with 30 hours of sun past winter. If you have enough PV power off grid, no need to maximize other months when float charging by 10am, maximize when grid tied, trackers and tilt.

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.

Nice video..thx...on your 2 wind turbines.. are they 3 blades ? Would 5 blades benifit the output ? Just wondering ...

Have a 16 kWh system and have a 11Ka dual fuel Generator that runs 7500W continuous on propane. Not enough but gets us by. Takes the entire day to charge the 100kWh of batteries. Will consider a bigger generator after next winter as I only have 12 panels leaning on the building currently, panels go up next year and with 50 panels I think we will need less generator backup and probably wont be worth the investment. You are correct about the investment in tracking, waste of money as the panels are so sensitive these days that the collect a bunch even in overcast days. Great content as usual

Also panels are more efficient on cold days than on hot days

A cheaper gas generator can, with few exceptions, be converted easily to propane.

Found your channel yesterday and its awesome. Few questions for you if you dont mind: - where are you located now? - expected ROI on solar+batteries? - best guess on ROI if it was solar only? I live in BC too, and considering a grid connected solar setup.

In the winter while using the diesel generator are you using the heat from the generator to heat your house?

12v systems are only for vans where space is incredibly limited and there's already a 12v cabin/engine system.

We are off grid we have eg4 batteries we are 24v but last week we ordered that new inverter from signature solar we are moving up too 48v we have a turbine cause it night we get wind any watts we get is great but we don't depend on it. I only used the generator for about an HR we only have 2 eg4 batteries and we run all the time almost done with our bigger house so I want to move up too 48v ... Off grid is awesome but u will have to work hard with it.. Keep it up brother

Seems you missed the link to the year old video brother

For your irrigation water transfer, have you considered a hydraulic ram pump? Apparently it can push water 7:1. Might be economical to pump your water up the hill 14-20ft, to storage, then the ram pump pumps it up the remaining distance. You could use the waste and overflow from the 100ft storage to generate electricity on the way back down to the source. This obviously won't work if the pipes are going to freeze in winter.

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

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.

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.

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.

32kWp (45 & 60 deg angle), 168kWh DIY LFP, 18kW inverter output. All electric 2000sqft home with 16-20 SEER HP’s, elec range, 80 gal elec wh. Consume 30-80kWh/day(most in winter). Wood burner for backup heat below 20F or extended cold cloudy days. Backup Gen 10kW Generac, LP, 500gal tank. Recharged battery to 100% after four cloudy days and powered house all day while bringing in 125kWh one day last week. I’d much rather have this system than a new lifted 4wd diesel truck to show off in town. Less taxes, insurance and maintenance.

How many people are living off grid and in a building/shack that you built? How do you get around being the fact that it's not a residence but you'd like to live there full time?

Does your wind tower double as a ham radio tower?

Is it good or bad idea to keep battery,charge controller,inverter in a separate air conditioning room to maintain cool temperature??Heat reaches close to 40C here.

I have a duel fuel generator as back up to the solar. Gas and propane.

Hi Curtis. I’m interested in the idea of co-operative or communal homesteading and was wondering if you dabble in that realm. If not could you reference a good source on line that offers quality info into that. Keep up the good fight for freedom and sustainable living .. cheers

Thanks Curtis, excellent content as always! I am curious though about a little “chicken and egg” scenario. My wife and I are about to start interviewing contractors for our new off grid home and I’m wondering how you handled power for the initial construction phase at your location. Does it make sense to attempt to put in solar to support the build or did you all just run on generators and figure a budget for the fuel cost?

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?

Awesome vid Curtis, thanks for making this. P.S. As a HAM Radio operator, you wanna believe Solar Panels emit EMF.

have a tiny house with 1440 watts wish i had 2400. I can go 2 1/2 days without sun but wish I could go 5. It's very cloudy here in the winter time.

what is the title of that video? There is no video in the upper right

What is the expected lifespan of your battery bank?

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.

This is the 4th time I tried to watch this video and each time it starts out with bs youtube ads which usually makes me give up and leave.

How do you feel about "NET Metered" Grid tied capability as a "DUMP" load in the summertime to maximize amortization of a system???

A 500watt 24/7 micro-hydro would produce 12kwh a day. If it flows 24/7 a fairly small hydro is pretty nice. But... the cost of the pipe etc. 12khw a day at $0.14 per kwh would be around $1.50 a day. Never priced the pin stock but I'm guessing it would take years at $1.50 a day to pay for itself. Of course energy prices don't seem to be heading downwards.

A good "dump load" would be Bitcoin mining. Plus some mining setups double as a heater.

Can you share with us where you got your batteries

You can get 3 point hitch generator to fit on a tractor also.

I know what Im about to ask probably isn't a concern for you being so far north.But down here in the states (Tennessee) we get some pretty rough storms.They can produce some pretty hefty hail stones.This would be a huge concern for me ragarding damage to solar panels.Do you have any thoughts,ideas or information on how someone would go about addressing this concern? Another great video you've made here.☆☆☆☆☆

Do you worry about hail damaging solar panels?? And what is the lifetime of your panels??

Do you have an expected life span of the batteries and the panels?

I wonder if bio gas from animals would be good option to propane or diesel

How about to svae that extera energy on producing hydrogen! In this way you can use that hydrogen for both heating and electricity production in winter!

Santan Solar has cheap used panels

are you using wind turbines?

Just wondered why you never used biracial panels?

Curious, what is your 'going on vacation for a week in the middle of winter and I don't want my house to freeze' backup system?

And you need enough of fall for the micro hydro

Curtis I'm a bit confused why you haven't piped the generator into the heating system. Take the exhaust pipe through a double pipe (below the cylinder height ofc) for 3-6 meters and run a circulation pump off that into your heating system. Might not be worth it if you're not running the genset more then 100 hours per year though. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ndqopdygrcimooE.htmlsi=vKeMnJ7QwZjA7ebQ The Engineering Mindset has a decent video about them, for a exhaust heat recovery one I'd say use a single straight long inner pipe for potential cleaning needs and have it at a lower level then the cylinders.

Diesel a year? I have diesel in machines for 5 years and stored for 8....no problem... no stabil

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.

Micro hydro would work by pumping water uphill if you either use a ram pump(no electricity just physics), or use excess solar power to pump it during the day.

You consume energy not power.

We have 20. 450 watt panels. A 200 amp system. A 48 volt system

Just put diesel conditioner in your diesel