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Graciesdad
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# Posted: 10 Mar 2017 05:55pm
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Hi,
New to the forum and seeking electrical advice/ideas.
Built an off grid cabin this year. There is a neighboring cabin about 500ft away that is going to put solar power in this Summer. He said he will have enough capacity that if I want to run a cable up to my cabin I'm more than welcome to tie into it. He's building a dedicated building with twenty 200 watt solar panels with a large battery bank. My question is can I wire my cabin as I would wire a ordinary house? I use a Honda 2000 generator now. What type of service panel would I need so I could have the generator as backup.
Thanks
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 10 Mar 2017 06:13pm - Edited by: bldginsp
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Yes you would wire your place in an ordinary manner. You would need a transfer switch to switch between neighbors power and your generator. If not, when you power up the generator, you would be back feeding the feeders from his place which may or may not damage his equipment or present a danger to him, if he's not expecting it.
I'm assuming he has an inverter and is sending you 240/AC.
The feeders you run will cost you a lot of money. You should run four, two hots a neutral and a ground. Or, you could just run three, two hots and a neutral, no ground, that is not to code but was in the past, so long as there is no other metallic connection between the two cabins (water or gas pipe). So you need to decide how much amperage you want, and upsize the feeders for voltage drop. You also need to decide if you want to run them underground or overhead, and the costs associated with both.
If you want to bring 60 amps into your cabin, you would probably need a minimum of #4 aluminum feeders between the cabins. 1500 feet of that will cost $400 or so for the wire alone. It should begin at his panel at a 60 amp breaker and end at your panel at a 60 amp breaker. Put your transfer switch after your first panel (with the 60) and branch off from there.
You should do voltage drop calcs to confirm wire size. By the time you do the whole installation you will be into it for probably close to $2000 depending how you do it. Might be better to just get your own solar.
Hand shake deals on shared utilities are great so long as you are friends. If that changes, or he sells to someone else who is not so generous, you may find your investment useless. But maybe you have faith in your neighbor, which is a good thing
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Graciesdad
Member
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# Posted: 10 Mar 2017 10:11pm
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Great information, thank you, that gives me a good idea of where to start. Might be easier with my own setup, not going to be using much power anyway.
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OutdoorFanatic
Member
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# Posted: 11 Mar 2017 08:03am - Edited by: OutdoorFanatic
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My cabin is wired for 12v and I use 2 marine batteries to power 2 12v bulbs, one 75w and one 50w incandescent. They light my 12x16 cabin up plenty good for a weekend using lights 3-4 hours a night.
If I want to read in bed I use a battery operated LED light over my bed and keep a head lamp near by for visits to the latrine.
I just take the two batteries home and recharge them when needed.
Here is a Watt to Amp calculator so you can figure how many hours you will get out of a 12v battery.
Example: 75 light bulb =6.25amp divided by battery amp hours. (mine is 12 hours per bulb)
http://rapidtables.com/calc/electric/Watt_to_Amp_Calculator.htm
You can buy 12V incandescent light bulbs at NAPA auto parts for around $8 a pack of 6
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Graciesdad
Member
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# Posted: 11 Mar 2017 10:19am
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Thanks for the information, I've also been bringing 2 deep cycles home each trip to charge. Would like to avoid having to haul them home each time. My Honda 2000 will only charge batteries at a 2 amp rate with current charger. I've been looking at the Iota 55 charger, supposedly able to charge at a much faster rate with my generator according to factory rep I spoke to. All I'm currently running is occasional ceiling fan and led lights.
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spoofer
Member
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# Posted: 11 Mar 2017 10:58am
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I use to use a marine battery to power my camp on weekends. I now now have upgraded slightly to two 6 v golf cart batteries wired together with a 100 watt system from renogy. It works fine for my 2 nights of lights, radio, small tv etc. I have the batteries bridged together and stored in a large cooler with handles. That way I take them home for the winter so they don't freeze. I can't keep the snow off my panel in the winter, so I take them home. Works Great! My camp is small (14x24). If I did it again I would get a 200 watt panel. I also have a Honda 2000 watt genny for those other times...
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Atlincabin
Member
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# Posted: 12 Mar 2017 05:50pm
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Sounds like pretty low-draw stuff you are running. I would consider putting up your own solar panel or two. Unless you are there continuously, that may be enough to charge your batteries while you are not there.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 19 Dec 2023 03:32pm
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Dont charge bats off a generator's 12vdc taps! As said, the output is dismal. You use the gen's 120vac capacity to run an automotive type charger of the 'proper 'C' rate amps for the battery'; ie, a typical lead acid 100ah battery can be charged with a 20a charger just fine.
Lead acid batteries Like to be kept fully charged (repeat that!). Dont discharge below 50% (pref not below 70%). Recharge them ASAP each day if you want long life. The 'tail-end' top up takes the longest time as the amps fall off due to battery internal resistance.
The newer LFP bats need an LFP friendly charger, they charge Much faster, can be safely discharged 'deeper' and are Faarrr lighter for any given ah size. I have two LFP 100ah 12v; I leave one and swap the other in when down to about 20% state of charge (av. swap about 1x mo.) Game changer for me! I can, but havent, charged either at the cabin yet, its just too easy to bring one home and do. And, LFP does Not need to be recharged asap; I often wait until I think its getting close to time to do the swap again.
All that to say that a battery cabin system, even without solar, can work great for those with modest elec power needs. 12vdc or, as in my case, all inverted to 120vac with a little 300w psw unit. Easy peasy 
Btw, for 'big stuff' I run the inv/gen into the cabin; unplug the battery/inverter and plug in the gen (simple, fool proof, manual 'transfer switch'). Everything runs the same that way, only dif is the 'power input' to the wiring.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 19 Dec 2023 04:50pm
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Very old thread ???
-izzy
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 19 Dec 2023 05:08pm
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Yeah, it is, but I think folks just getting into this now may still have the same questions and some of the 'dated info' is worth updating a bit; especially now that LFP bats have proven themselves.
Fwiw, most of my solar stuff is older than the orig thread, lol, and still worthwhile too 
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