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countrygal220
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# Posted: 20 Feb 2013 01:53pm
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My husband and I are working on getting off grid. My husband would love to see a solar set up so he can learn how to do it. Does anyone live in Ohio and would you be willing to show us your set up? Thanks, Nancy
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spencerin
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# Posted: 21 Feb 2013 01:36am
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I live in the same latitude (Indiana) and have solar setup, but it is a small system. I started a thread on my system, so if you want some basics, maybe check it out. No pics yet, but soon.
http://www.small-cabin.com/forum/3_3107_0.html
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countrygal220
Member
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# Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:00am
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Thank you...I will share it with my husband when he gets home. It really is fun learning all this new stuff. It is all challenging
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VC_fan
Member
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# Posted: 21 Feb 2013 04:35pm
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I'm not much help but as another Ohio'er (Vinton County, Nature at Its Finest) I'll chime in. For now I use a small cheap noisy generator, battery charger, cheap Harborfreight solar battery maintainer, and nearly worn out WalMart deep cycle battery with a Craigslist cheap inverter. In my opinion that's about all you need unless you're going to live at your cabin full time. Run the generator for an hour or two and top off the battery and then shut the thing off and enjoy the quiet. I believe it's SE_Ohio who had given some info about his setup - based on Harborfreight's well known solar kit. Good luck.
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SE Ohio
Member
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# Posted: 22 Feb 2013 03:05pm
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Here is my Vinton Co. OH solar setup:
http://www.small-cabin.com/forum/6_1518_0.html
I am a "lite" solar user, in that I have 2 15W 12 volt compact fluorescent lights (2.5 amp/hour draw), low amp draw stereo (RV stereo with no power draw when off) , and occasional use of a 12 volt water pump for my shower. I'm using the Harbor Freight 45 watt panel kit and controller to charge my 12 V "24DC" Sam's Club battery.
The HF kit controller cannot be left on unattended, so I only leave it on during the day when I'm there. I will be installing a Morningstar controller that can stay on all the time so I'll have a full charge for my occasional weekend use. In the meantime I take the battery home for occasional topping up.
I'm not using an inverter or other creature comforts (no TV, computer, microwave), so this minimalist approach works pretty well for my small cabin.
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countrygal220
Member
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# Posted: 22 Feb 2013 03:13pm
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That you for sharing. It has given us some things to begin with. I appreciate your responses. Thank you again!
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buckybuck
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# Posted: 23 Feb 2013 08:15am - Edited by: buckybuck
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Since I'm also a Vinton County expat, I feel the need to chime in also.
You probably need to be more specific in describing what you want--requirements for an off grid home are going to be a lot different from those of a tiny weekend cabin. You're going to want a bank of golf cart batteries for a home, while you can get by with a Walmart 24DC battery with a weekend cabin.
And there are other considerations--if you can do without air conditioning, a microwave, and electric coffee maker (there's nothing more conducive to contemplating the day ahead than waiting on a morning cup of coffee from a french press)--you've cut down your electric needs a lot. Or maybe you can supplement a smaller solar setup with a generator that you run the few minutes a day when you need a high wattage appliance.
I guess what I'm saying is I'd be glad to show you my setup, but it may not be at all what you are planning. I'm a weekender; my solar setup is very small. If it's going to be very hot over the weekend, I stay at home and watch Netflix in comfort rather than lug a 3500 watt generator 100 miles just so I can listen to it and an air conditioner run all weekend. Also, when I'm going by myself for a weekend, sometimes I just charge a battery up ahead of time at home, take it with me, and don't even mess with the solar panels--but when my wife wants to come along and insists on her 10 minute showers, lots of lights, and vacuuming all the dead bugs up before getting in bed, I have to plan differently.
Finally, even through I also started with one of the Harbor Freight sets, I would suggest that there are now better choices. For example, you can get a 100 watt panel (allegedly made in the U.S.) off eBay right now for under $160, including shipping.
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Owen Kellogg
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# Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:47pm
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I'm in Northern Ky - about a half-hour from Cincinnati. If that's in your area, I'd be glad to show you guys around. I have a 200 sq.ft. cabin, and I'm running about 300 watts of panels right now (although I have another 300w in storage that I don't need at the moment.) It's a pretty basic system, but I do well with it 5 days out of the week.
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Dillio187
Member
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# Posted: 28 Feb 2013 10:57pm
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solarblvd.com has the best prices for panels I've seen. They're running a special right now for Perlight 230W panels (I have 3 on my house and they're great) for $149.50. hard to beat that, and I have 4 of their 80 watt Solar Cynergy panels on my cabin that are a good bang for the buck as well at $116ea
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