If you''re looking for a safe, reliable way to build your own massive DIY off-grid solar system at a fraction of the cost, you''ve come to the right place.
Hi there, we''re Jonathan & Ashley from Tiny Shiny Home. Our family of 6 spent many years traveling full-time in our renovated vintage Airstream before finding some off-grid property in Cochise County, Arizona to settle on.
Our dream here is to build a sustainable off-grid homestead from the ground up using solar power, water catchment, and natural building techniques to create an oasis in the desert.
We''ll be doing a full cost breakdown in a separate article and video, but today we''re focusing on the planning, building, and installation process we went through to build a fully independent off-grid power system.
Before we go further, let''s give you a high level overview of our off-grid solar power system.
Disclaimer: I''m not an electrician, nor do I play one on . All information here is solely for entertainment purposes, and all electrical work should be performed by qualified individuals according to local electrical codes. Cool? Cool.
Ever wondered what all the major connections look like on a custom solar system like ours? As part of this deep dive, we created a very detailed replica of our wiring setup.
Get up close and personal with this super detailed, impeccably illustrated hi-res PDF of our full off-grid power setup with a schematic representation of how everything in our 7200W, 28kWH, 120V off-grid battery and solar system connects together. Includes bonus individual component wiring configs, too!
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We have to mention that our solar and electrical install were part of a larger project - our hyperadobe earthbag solar shed office. Besides needing somewhere to store our batteries and power gear, we needed an office, a guest room, and really just some extra breathing room. The Airstream was getting a little cramped.
Plus, it was a chance to explore a bunch of natural building techniques that we''ll use as we design and build other earthbag buildings here on our property. Setting up an independent power system was an important piece of infrastructure, a huge step for our homestead.
We''re excited to share our power setup with you because we believe we''ve found an incredibly cost effective way to build a massive 100% off-the-grid system that is safe, stable, and reliable.
Let''s start by talking quickly about our situation. While our property was completely off-grid, connecting to the the power company wasn''t out of the question. We can see our closest power pole about half a mile up the road, so theoretically it could''ve be possible to run those lines to us.
So not only did our resolve to stay off-grid send us down the road of building our own system - it turned out we could build the whole thing cheaper than it would''ve cost to run the power to our property anyway.
We knew this off-grid solar system needed to be large enough to power our Airstream, Solar Shed, and eventually our house. And we also knew that a 48V lithium battery bank was the way to go. Inverting from 48V to 120V is so much more efficient than 12V or 24V, but still low voltage enough to work with safely.
This setup needed to power some large appliances - air conditioners, power tools, transfer pumps, and kitchen gadgets like a blender and instant pot.
But we also wanted to be smart about our usage, especially in the cold months. For heating and cooking we would supplement as much as we could with propane, gas, or wood. And by building with earthbags we took advantage of thermal mass transfer and passive solar heating.
This meant we could setup our power system at 120V power instead of 220V. Our stove would be gas or wood, and a we really don''t need a clothes dryer out here with our endless sun and low humidity. Should we get in a situation where we need 220V power, we can always switch out the inverter or add more batteries.
Let''s talk big picture setup before we get super nerdy. Based on our goals out here, and the fact that we''d been living low power in our Airstream for years, we already had a pretty good idea of how much power we''d need. But we reached out to Juan from Beginning From This Morning to help us work through the transition from a 12V system to a 48V system. After a few conversations we decided on a few specs:
By connecting 240w panels in series of 5, we could create high voltage arrays that charged well even in cloudy conditions. This also helped keep our wire size down as we had a fairly long run from the ground mount to the charge controllers (over 100''). We ended up with 30 panels total for this project.
Battery bank size is always tricky - trying to find the right balance between having enough storage and not spending too much money. Fortunately we found some great deals on 280AH cells shipped directly from China, and were able to create a large bank for an incredible price. We knew the BMS would only have 16 cell inputs so we opted for 32 total batteries, grouping them in packs of 2. We''ll get into this more later.
Finally, the inverter. Again, lots of options here for massive wattage, but we settled on a 5,000 Watt Quattro Inverter Charger from Victron. It surges to 10,000 watts which should be more than enough for us. And if we ever need more power we can daisy chain these units together. The decision to go with Victron also tied into our charge controllers, BMS, the ability to monitor the system remotely, and manage all power systems on the property from one app. Also more on this later.
As you can imagine, there are a plethora of options out there for residential and commercial solar panels. When renovating our Airstream, the size and weight of the panels on the roof were a huge consideration. But here on our 11+ acres of property we could install as many panels as we wanted. The sky was the limit! Well, really our budget was the limit.
And we wanted to get the most bang for our buck. So we did a ton of research and ran across SanTan Solar. They''re a (semi) local solar panel dealer that specializes in both new and refurbished used panels of all kinds.
Here''s a secret - solar panels get replaced often - usually way before they need to be. So SanTan buys them, tests them extensively, and resells them to folks like you and me at a fraction of the cost of new ones.
They still have plenty of life left in them, and the cost savings can be so significant that even if they need to be replaced a few years earlier you''re still getting a great deal.
During their yearly Sidewalk Sale, we snagged all 30 of our 240W solar panels for only $25 each. That''s a crazy deal. 7200W of solar for less than $800. Whoah!
Now before we could install any of our gear, we needed the solar panels mounted and ready to use. That in itself was a massive project. Since we didn''t have a roof to mount on - and because the solar shed itself was setup for passive solar, and the roof was tilted North - we had to create a solar ground mount array ourselves.
Fun fact - here in the high desert of South East Arizona we have weather events that can create up to 100mph updrafts. And our soil is high in sand content. So engineering what''s effectively a huge windsail of solar panels wasn''t as simple as throwing them on some wooden posts.
Thankfully there are a few companies out there that will help you do this. We used IronRidge''s Design Assistant Tool, to design a heavy duty ground mount, and were impressed with its level of detail. They help you work through:
They even let you use custom panel dimensions which is perfect because we bought used residential panels from SanTan Solar.
Then they output technical drawings with easy to read dimensions and all sorts of other complicated data like shear and uplift strength, the total amount of pipe and cement you''ll need, and more.
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