Inside My Off-Grid Power System: The Ultimate Tour! 

Solar is where it's at!

Building my 12 acre solar, well, septic, self reliable home since October 2020. Building has been a real bear. But we just got our home weathered in last week!

Very groovy solar system. Sound insulation: Having two layers of dry wall of different thicknesses (because each thickness has a particular sympathetic vibration pattern) is the equivalent to solid mass walls. In your case, you could have dry wall inside the hot house and cement board in the generator house. Totally isolate the metal wall sheeting between the two. Construct a ceiling in the generator house which is separate from the hot house roofing because that is a likely sound path. With your wood stove, do you have an air intake pipe from the exterior so that carbon monoxide production is minimised when the exterior temperatures are extremely low. Love your whole set up. You mentioned in an earlier video that you are going to raise the solar panels to help with snow build up. They are extremely low, even for dirt rainfall splatter.

I'm really appreciative of you putting your money where your mouth is. Don't just talk about resource independence but make it the first thing you put into place and likely at a cost that is 25% of what people spend on a total build. Well done.

Hello Curtis, Check out Coates Rotary Valve Multifuel Generators. They are based in Wall New Jersey and you can make and run the generators on Alcohol. As they are rotary valves they run high compression which is ideal for Alcohol. You will then be off grid for ever with an unexhaustable fuel supply. Jerusalem artichokes will yield about 1500 gallons per acre and corn yields about 300 gallons per acre. Something to think about. Cheers from England. U.K.

Outstanding content! Thanks for sharing

You are an extraordinary human.you have taught all of us soo much over these years.Thank you for being here.

That’s a big storage system! Well done.

Literally been thinking about this for days and Curtis Stone uploads the video. Awesome!

Just joined your channel. You are my #1 off grid Guru I will be taking notes on. This is exactly my goals for my off grid property for the New Mexico mountain property. I have an active well already installed. I want to ramp up my power, LIKE YOURS, and will be purchasing geodesic dome home and green house kits. I researched the wood stove and found the "Blaze King Princess 32" to be the best. I was slow to the push for self sufficiency and am now doing a mad dash to keep my freedom! I will be consuming your knowledge like a mad dog!

Just a thought... own several backups of every part, for every piece of equipment you depend on... Batteries too for solar.... extra wire cables, electric chainsaw... Love the info your putting out.

Why did you put in the system, because you're smart. We all should be so aware of the times we live in. Thank you Curtis for sharing the process.

Very educational. Thank you.

Wow, keep us in the loop. 👍

THANK YOU. I started on my masonry earthship on up north property. Was planning on just going dc wiring. Even asked inspector if dc smoke detectors with battery back up was okay. Like for use in R.v.'s and boats. And building shed to house solar equipment and batteries. I don't want to have to heat shed in winter. Might have to get lithium batteries because they don't off gas. I already may have to heat a pump house for well. Using a ram pump to get it up hill now. Flowing well so had to add stand pipe for ram pump. Super capacitors lessen the heavy draws on batteries. Like how capacitors stop car amplifiers from dimming headlights when bass hits. Nice system. I like how neat it looks. I believe the super capacitors are worth the money to extend the batteries lives. Like a big soft start for heavy draw cycles.

Wow, what an awesome system. Very impressive.

Great update video Curtis. What type of 435 watt solar panels do you use? What dc voltage do your system run on? Thanks 👍.

What you're building is super sweet!

you inspired me to plant 3 different vegetable gardens on my property!

sure you know this, not having a cap on the tank will cause water to build up in the tanks. love what you do.

You've done well. I wish I had. Keep moving forward and God be with you.

Great info ! Thanks

Thank you!!!!

It's perfect

Nice concise clear video with great sound and picture quality. Wish all the folks on RU-vid could communicate that well. Greetings from the U.S.V.I. St. John island. We are off grid here with an 80Kwh lithium bank from signature solar also. Sure is nice having that extra backup power sitting there just in case. Same goes for the diesel fans at ! We too have never needed to run it since commissioning the system 5 years ago but it's a necessity and nice to have when hurricanes tear the panels off of roofs down here. Great view you have up there in the great white north. Really like the move you've made and have the same motivations here for choosing an off grid & self sufficient lifestyle. We run our 3 unit villa on 8800 watts of panels as the sun is a bit more intense down here (lots of guest AC use is the bulk of our power consumption).h. Hoping one day we will have a larger & better garden tho at a much smaller scale than yours. I'm curious, we're you able to achieve communications between your EG4 batteries and the Schneider inverters & what do you use for internet (guessing satellite) in your remote location ?? We too are on a mountain but fortunately have cable internet up our access road. Hope you have a mild winter & good luck with your projects. Stay safe, sunny & warm.

Brilliant video , thanks for share and stay warm 🥰😇🙏

You can still raise those racks up if you need. Just need a a few lengths of square tube steel cut to your desired length and weld flat plate on each end. Use each of your leg supports between the concrete pads and the foot of rack at each spot they are bolted. Voila 🤷🏻‍♂️

Great set up Curtis..👍

Sweet setup.

Curtis, how did you determine the 4 angles of the PV panels? I'm looking into adding a PV array once I move, and I want to do a ground mount array like you did, with a manual adjustment for max electrical production, as the sun trackers all seem to be expensive, somewhat fragile, and not completely reliable.

Stuff is looking good 👍🏼

I like your videos a lot can you please tell me where you purchased your diesel generator and what model and make it is I know you say the motor is Yanma what is the alternator and electronic controls I would appreciate the information thank you very much

Hi Curtis Great information Curiously how much did this system cost including the labour to install it

Great video 😀

A very nice system kudos to you. I myself have chosen to be self-sufficient with grid tie but at any moment can dump the grid feed. If I were you I would get some back up IC chips for your battery management in case a solar flare or EMP comes against your system. That very well could be your Achilles’ heel. This is why I went with Solar AMG batteries since they are not affected by EMP.I’m sure you will have plenty of power for future growth.

Yea, the lithium has some problems below freezing if they are charged. I put mine in an insulated vault with custom DC engine block heaters and custom heater control system.

Very helpful

Nice storage, but Rona aint a scam.

Thanks

You are a genius, maybe not enough of us have told you yet.

This is an awesome DYI electrical system; may I ask what est cost for panels? For 13kw genset? Just curious. Did you install yourself to include all wiring? Again great system ty

Fantastic, very informative video. I'm hoping to do something very similar in the next one to two years. If we have that long. 😆 I'll wait to see what the best 'bang for the buck' panel will be at time time, but I think I've already decided on Victron controllers and invertors. Also, Yanmar makes incredible diesel engines, and they're often used on sailboats as the sole source of power when there's little to no wind. I don't know anything about Yanmar generators, however. A great setup you have there.

I've been installing solar for 18 years and you've got plenty of power if you don't use air conditioning or heat pumps 😎👍🏻

So Great sharing

VERY NICE

Your father did you a great service giving you great advice on how the world works I wish I would have known when I was younger & set you up for a great life.

How much did that system cost USD, soup to nuts, including the generator?

Most excellent Sir Stone. 😎👍🇺🇲

fire burns up. ur awesome. love ur work.

suggestion.........xcess lectric = air compressor plus a 500 or 1000 gal propane tank for storage.

VERY NICE! I have a very similar system. I have two XW Pro inverters (I only have 1 running atm due to need) 2x MPPT 60-150 (will be adding another CC in the near future,) SCP, Batmon (I built my own battery: 4P16S 272Ah Lishen cells - 1088Ah along with the GWL battery monitoring for cell monitoring) and the Conext Gateway. I have a Generac XC8000E genny to backup my system (I wanted a bit more versatility than a home backup generator.) I also have Home Assistant running and I wrote my own custom integration to communicate with the Conext Gateway via Modbus TCP. I can control/monitor the system from anywhere I have a phone/computer and internet. It goes a lot farther than the Schneider mobile app and I also have lots of other integrations for lights, cameras, switches and power monitors making it a complete solution for monitoring/control/automation. For instance, Home Assistant can turn on dump loads when the batteries are full for more than a few minutes, or turn off loads when the battery is low or I have a cell imbalance. You can check out my setup on my channel: JC/DC in the AZ.

Get a commercial reverse osmosis machine, you will not be disappointed. Water isn't enough, it has to be clean. Great setup and video!!!!

What is the life time of the panels, are they biodegradable?

I know its late at night,but ut I would like to know more about the power use!??

I thought I saw a couple of wind turbines at one point. Are they connected to the system/batteries?

Nice batteries, Will Prowse would approve.

96kWh is a hell of a battery bank.. but when you get the main house up and running.. I think you're going to need to run that diesel generator fairly frequently... Thanks for sharing

You could also charge people's solar generators in a SHTF situation. Electric dirt bikes to stay mobile.

Could you tell me the model of the Yanmar you are using? Thank you

When would it be done?

Hi Curtis, Good video - very informative! May I ask why you have decided for the Kinetic racking?

Do you think adding heat tape to your solar panel along with some drainage pipe to carry the melted snow away might be worth it? Also you were speaking about excess production, have you considered having a heater bank outside?

Self deicing solar panels would be nice. How do you clear ice from your panels without damaging the surface glass?

Regarding batteries. If you use Iron Edison batteries they can be power cycled forever pretty much.

Any benefit to adding a small windmill for when those storms are rolling in?

That's an insane amount of battery storage.

Any reasons you chose Schnieder for off-grid?

How much is that setup? Thank you.

My goal is also to be independent so this intrigues me so I am subscribed and have rung the bell. Could you discuss cost?

Watch out for high Winds !

A guy in NJ solved the excess solar power by generating hydrogen and then use hydrogen to to generator in the winter, I saw this on a news report in the 1990's

Ultimate system. I now have a solar system, 50 times smaller though, it is; ecoflow delta max 2.1 kilowatt-hours battery storage, with so far a 110 watt panel and a 170watt panel connected in series. I have ordered 4 x 180 watt panels, whichbwill give me 720 watts out of max possible 800watts the delta max is limited to. I will not be able to use my two smaller panels, because the delta max is also limited to 100volts of panels in series, and each panel is around 22 volts. theres also a 10 amp input limit on the delta max. so with this I have been able to boil water in my regular 2200 watt kitchen kettle! i can charge my phone, and I intend to also run a fridge and some lighting. price? i reckon around $5k aud. in my initial research I calculated i will want a 9killowatt-hour battery storage system, but being a solar novice, this system i currently have was a great "plug snd play" way to get the ball rolling and gain some knowledge on the whole solar thing. edit: the aus and US Delta max have different input limits, so dont copy me if you have a US system.

Will you be installing a windbreak to protect the panels?

I noticed that you have a tower and micro wind turbine. How does that fit with your solar system?

Sweet..

It's easyer to clean the snow, also !!

Since you are on a mountain you could make a small lake at the top and bottom and run a pipe along the mountain and make a hydro battery. Pump water to the top to store. Release water at the bottom to generate

Question: if the angle of the panel is so important to how much more power you get, why not have it be automatic with some electric servos? you could pretty easily have something like a RaspberryPi with a satellite/3G internet connection that could figure out what they angle is at your longitude every day and then adjust it for you.

Hello, Fix MIRRORS to the frame of the solar panels, preferably controllable! :)

What size are the inverters?

That is amazing do you have any facts on high powered lights How many hours can you run? We must collab bro it would be intense im branching out to you which I rarely do I'd love to partner with you an collab you are legit kool I've been watching you for years!

What size are those inverters

My John Deere compact tractor has a Yanmar engine. 25 horse. When my father in law , saw it , he wanted to rip it out and stick it on a boat. Ya , he’s nuts. Anyways, yanmar is top of the line.

Lithium Iron *Phosphate!* 🙂 (Nice system)

You will have issues with snow build-up in front of them. They aren't mounted high enough with a concrete slab in front. It will be a muddy mess.

NZ by selling my farm land in India and buy farm land in NZ if immigration team accepts. Only thing which concerns me about New Zealand is high uv rays. Me, as an outdoor person, I am worried about the negative effects of uv on humans, plant and animal life in long run. Can you please help me with the useful info

Have you considered/looked at the EMFs coming from your solar panels?

I would leave too big of a gap at the bottom of the panels. You don’t want any increased pressure of wind going against your panels. I learned my lesson. No Matter how strong the mounting stands are. They wii stay in place. It’s the panels themselves that can’t withstand too much wind pressure against the glass. I could be wrong. I just think being that you’re at a higher elevation the wind speed is much higher as you stated in the beginning.

try some tings from the home tech channel, i think they work

Nice and probably the most expensive set I ever seen. How thick are the wires to run those 100 feet to the house. That is where I see a loss of power

I’d say the back bone now is how large is your battery bank. 100k is ideal. 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

Your battery choice was probably the best part of your system. I bought the Fortress eFlex batteries and their self-consumption is a killer to any off-grid system. Those batteries you chose I understand use Mosfet instead of contactors which means you might use 2 watts a day while I lose 12 watts to 18 watts per hour per battery. And my system does not appreciate being drained without recharge to 100% every few days. With the parasitic load I'm getting hit with, it's destroying my available power through my PNW winter. I have nearly 15kW in PV but could not do ground mounts and my roof angle and pitch are not ideal but I still should have an average of 6kWh in a day after adjusting for the parasitic loads of my inverters and the batteries during our worst month of the year, December. But I saw far lower numbers for many days in a row which tells me I won't even have enough power to run my water system at 1.32 kWh in a day. My inability to function is the direct result of the battery's parasitic load and the system requirements to have a common battery bank and the batteries must stay on to keep themselves warm in the winter. Doh! I remember watching this video when making purchasing decisions. I wish I had looked more closely at the batteries you chose. Watch out for failing fets is the only comment I've heard so far about the EG LLs. If we'd built our own battery packs, we would have been best positioned to make repairs on the fly if we stocked spare parts. That's what I've learned. Turns out the Fortress eFlex issue is not the only one. SimpliPhi and likely DIscover AES have the same poor design while claiming high efficiencies. When questioned on this, they say "Everyone does it." A lie is a lie is a lie. There's a lot of corruption in the solar industry. People preparing for their off grid systems should be very ready to ask more thorough questions. You can find my post on the DIY Solar Forum asking if what I'd discovered was normal. It's really not and the problem has cost me $35k in really unusable batteries that the manufacturer should have accepted as a return due to their false advertising. Their reputation is taking a beating over this and rightly so. I'm hoping posting this comment here might help another prepper in the truth community. Curtis, your system is AWESOME!

Stand Alone Solar LED lighting w motion sensors will save on main battery usage. And a little security.

Great setup. on the snow problem , why dont dump it to the back of the system, by tilt it to the back. you will only need to drill 3 holes max, to get the snow off at the back side. and For summer i woud add a cooling System to cool the panels and harvest the warm water coming off it..

He's an actually a class genius! A treasure of a human!

haha woah this this impressive !

How much was the total cost for this setup?

Sangat cantik dan menarik saya suka 🙋☺️

Can you measure the radiation that thing produces across the house.

RYOBI 40V HP 24-inch Brushless 2-Stage Electric Snow Blower with (4) 6.0 Ah Batteries and Rapid Charger