Our 1st Week Living Off-Grid!!!
It's been a week now, since we officially moved Off-Grid!
The power situation is still a bit of an issue, we are running on one cheap battery. Our phones haven't been charged 100% since we got here, and we can't seem to be catching up fast enough. The lights are pullin a lot of juice and the LED bulbs I ordered 3 weeks ago are lost in transit.
I started looking into it last night a little more and found out the new marine or deep cycle battery that came with our Off-Grid Mansion is of course, one of the cheapest out there. Some people don't really even consider it a true deep cycle battery, because it doesn't have an Amp Hour (ah) rating... it may be a kind of hybrid battery, one you can use for starting up a motor as well.
We need solar system and a wind turbine ASAP (yes, yes with a real battery bank)!!!
Right now we use the car to plug in to... This is a method I had heard of on Jack Spirko's The Survival Podcast, he was interviewing Steven Harris who is one hell of a teacher when it comes to alternative elecricity systems. If you want to learn about solar systems and batteries or eating ice cream as the first item to eat when the grid goes down, Steven is your guy!
So, I have this 800 watt inverter hooked up to the car battery
A 15 amp extention cord runs from the inverter to this yellow 30 amp adapter, attached to another adapter that fits the 50 amp cord that goes to the RV
50 amperage hook up, done!We only turn the car on for about 30 minutes every hour we really need juice to charge our batteries (RV, tools, phones, dvd player and blue tooth speaker). The inverter still works during the 30 mimutes that the is turned off, we just can't forget to unplug or run the car again.
On another note, our new home is taking shape. Shelves and cupboards have been filled, ideas are flowing about what to change and customise to our liking. We've picked out some paints to live in a more vibrant and colorful space, those campers are all sort of stale in their color schemes... and the outside of them, what's with the big swooshes they seem to all have? I always found them very unattractive!
Oranges, yellows, blues and greens! We want to feel like we're in a cabine somewhere in Mexico or some other very colorful world! Like the feathers of a parrot sitting on the shoulder of pirate ship's captain.
I managed to bottle my kambucha in the midst of the lawless unpacking. It felt like a great accomplishment, even though all it took was but a half an hour, boiling water to sterilize the jars, pouring the fermented tea into each jar and finding a place to put store them while they keep brewing a little longer...!
...And we started a bit of a garden. Picking the spot was hard, because I didn't want our tomatoes to be too far away from us, but we wanted more sun. We situated ourselves so that we wouldn't be in full sun for this summer, New York gets just about as hot as the tropics in July and August!
The French in me had to, of course, wonder about this little guy... yummm!
I started one of those old school wattle fence which will be a project for later to finish properly... but the tomato plants I had started in Brooklyn are looking good here!
It's definitely tougher than I thought, but that was expected and it feels good having a lower carbon footprint! What I didn't anticipate was our time management... Our little human is wild out here and we are constantly worried for poison ivy. We also don't want to be working all the time... got to play sometimes too!
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A good deep cycle battery and LED bulbs will make such a difference to your power situation. We had one AGM deep cycle battery in the tiny house and it would run our LED lights for several days without a recharge.
I really hate it when stuff gets lost in the mail. Good to see the Steven Harris method in action. I also listen to TSP a fair bit.
A couple good deep cycle batteries is defenitely onbthe list of next important item to get! Glad to hear you've been enjoying TSP! So good right?
I hope you guys have been doing well, sorry I have been crazy busy moving, adapting being a stay at home dad and gardening... and I haven't visited your blog in a while, but I will again soon!
Thanks for your comment
No need to apologize, we have been crazy busy and unable to check in on our favorite authors as much as we normally would also. Sometimes life is like that.
Lol, thanks! So you know exactly how I feel, that's what I thought. Spring time and homesteading off grid... I love being outside!!!!
Talk to you guys soon
Sounds good ☺️
Maybe I can help a bit. LED’s definitely the way to go;some use more watts than others. Get a plug in Kill a Watt meter and check. What voltage are you running with the deep cycle set up? You need to be at least 24V . That marine battery is not what you want. You need at a MInimum a 24V system;deep cycle 6v golf cart batteries wired in series for 24V. I have heard some people have found good prices at Cosco. They apperently have both marine and golf cart batteries. They won’t be as strong as the big name batteries but someone told me they are lighter quality Interstate batteries-a good brand. I will follow you i hope this helps. I have had my learning curve too. Unless you have an area that seriously blows all day long, I would recommend staying away from the wind turbine and concentrate on solar. I have gone down that path as well. I thought we had enough wind to really peoduce something and it doesn’t . Only during serious wind storms. It’s a nice thing to look at but not worth much in production.
Also stick with lead acid batteries, they are much more forgiving while you are learning. Enjoy🙂
Ok, thanks. How do you mean forgiving?
Everyone has to learn how to maintain/cycle/charge their batteries. You need a battery monitor to keep track of the battery; 100%-70% charge is the best for long life of batteries. They also need to return to 100% at least every 30 days-more often the better. True golf cart deep cycle batteries will give you the most bang for your buck. The problem you can run into is when you don't fully recharge them over 30 days or more. Sulfate forms on the plates like concrete and will quickly kill your batteries. This is why fully re-charging is important. This is also why I would stay away from AGM for now because you can somewhat neglect lead acid then give them a good solid charge and it will drive the sulfates off of the plates and your back in business. You can overcharge a lead acid battery; it will forgive you and be OK. Overcharge a AGM and you will kill them-you will have a boat anchor.
Oh wow thank thanks for that very valuable information! So much to learn.... I am afraid to mess it up but I will learn!!!
There is so much chemistry involved and maintenance.
Very nice, thank you for the help and thank you for the follow of course!
So, what is the reason behind 24v instead of 12v? Just a concern about the 12v wireing already installed in our camper, would't I have to than change to 24v led bulbs, water pump and other various mechanical things that are already in?
I also heard Costco had good 6v batteries for a descent price. Iwill look into it for sure.
We are on a plateau somewhay in the middle of a valley, windy it is but I'm not sure if it is enough... I gage that out over time. I'm not quite ready for windmills!
Thank you for the advice... going over to your blog now!
I just relooked at your photo of the extension cord plugged into your camper. It is marked 120/240 volt, powered by your 120 volt inverter from your car. Is this charging your 12v battery only? Are your lights/water pump etc. running off 12 volt ? If this is the case, I would not rewire anything and stay with 12v for now. 24 volt is just so much better for larger loads tv, microwave, refrigerator. I started with 12volt too. I think you are going to have a very nice place! :)
Basically yes! It charges the battery, but there is also wireing for 110v accross the camper for the microwave (which we took out actually), outlets, a couple light fixtures and a ceiling fan. So while the inverter runs off the car, we also charge our phones and power tool batteries.
When we build a solar shed system I will look hard into 24v.
Thank you so much, we do want the place to be very nice and beautiful 😁!
I was going to recommend a generator for backup, but a car does work great for that too. The marine or hybrid battery is quite possibly getting a little old as well. If you has a few usb chargeable flashlights, they can be handy for charging during the day for using at night. The want-to-do list is always growing, so figuring out what on the list needs to be done first becomes the time organizer for me - of course the little one is alowed to cut in line to the top of the list :) Unless you're purchasing a multi-thousand dollar turbine, i'd focus on solar until i had enough for my needs. Turbine's also need a battery setup more than solar panels do.
Thank you @Jackdub, you are always very inspiring to me and your word holds a lot of value in this adventure for sure! You are the second person who's told me to go for solar first...wind may not be strong enough anyway!
Interesting though, I thought the battery set up would be very simillar to that of a solar system.
Yes, of course our little homie can skip the line and that I think is very important. We ended up taking the day off to go to a farm animal sanctuary the other day, it was beautiful! No work... just play!
I will need some help focusing on my time organization, but it will get done.... in the end it always works out right?
Congrats. Sounds like things are taking shape. A few hiccups to be expected. Hope you get your power supply up and running soon. I use a 1800 watt solar generator for my shipping container business at this point since I have not had time to hook up the 2k solar and extra wind turbine. The battery bank is the most expensive thing especially with shipping so I hope you can find somewhere local to order what you need. I ended up going with 12x Trojan T105-RE Renewable Energy 6V GC2 Deep Cycle Battery 225Ah. I am going to wire in a series and then wire together to produce more amps.
They're taking shape for sure... slowly but they are!
I'm not sure what language that was about the batteries and the volts and the kw's and all that... just kidding I got it mostly, my brain is just a little twisted like a bowl of spaghetti right now making sense of all that I've been reading from different homesteaders and preppers tonight!
What brand inverters have you used that you like?
lovely update.. really nice to see these pictures and your story as it unfolds..
I know a LOT about working with solar power, so if you every need any advice please to ask!
Im not sure if you are charging your phones off the inverter or not.. but just in case,, i use a little transformer to take the 12v to 5v and provide a USB charger with no need of it.. saves a LOT of power and you can charge your phone with almost no battery power..
Here's an example on ebay, they are very cheap too!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-5V-Dual-USB-Car-Inverter-Female-Hard-Wire-Power-Charger-fr-GPS-Tablet-Phone/182608628220?hash=item2a845289fc:g:QAIAAOSwJH1ZNTdc
Thank you Alex, I'll take you up on that offer... soon the questions will come! Today we are at a farm animal rescue center for a fun kid event!!!
Thanks for the suggestion with the little 12 volt to 5 volt transformer, it makes a lot more sense than going from 12 to 110 and than back down to 12! Mostly we are using the inverter on the car to charge up the battery and whatever else we have because its on. But I like what you showed me.
Thank you, and there'll be more updates soon too!
I'm glad I found your post and now following. I would love to start living off-grid, will be taking notes and living through your real life experiences, good luck and looking forward to your next post, if you have enough juice to power up the computer........Good luck @senorcoconut
Lol thank you so much, we manage to keep our computer and devices charged up just enough to get on steemit 😁.
That is very sweet, it makes me happy to know that I can inspire someone. I hope you will go on your off grid journey when you can... it sure is rewarding! Even with only a week under my belt (though we've taken long long trips either in a van or backpack and spent many weeks in off grid traveler sites).
Congrats on your freedom!!!!!!! I bet it feels great despite all the sweat involved. I look forward to living vicariously through you until it's my turn.
Thank you very much! Yes, the freedom is great... even though we've only been on a week and a half now it already feels so good!
Though I did just monday, tuesday and tomorrow go back the shackles of a j.o.b. I couldn't help it, it was kind of close to us, but it's only 3 days than I go back to the wilds!
Ps: I love the name by the way @SquirrleBait!!!
Thanks. I've always been a nut. My Dad came up with that when I was a kid.
That's awesome! I love the nut reference!!!
Congrats on your first week! Awesome that you are documenting from day one. One day you will look back on these posts and photos and be amazed at what you have created!
Haha, yes you are so right, I hadn't thought of it but this should be something definitely fun to look at in a few years!
Thanks
I have always liked the look of those fences!
What are you fencing off with it, your garden?
Yeait would be for the garden... I don't know if it'll work, people around here suggest 8ft fencing to keep the deer out or a double fence. But it will be pretty!
Sounds about right for the first week...but think of it this way, it is all experience and you are learning! It is so worth it in the end.
Oh my god, the fact that I am learning something every day is worth it all on it's own, I live to learn!
Thanks for your words of encouragement 😁