Old Bob down the road said I was overthinking it and just needed a basic charge controller. So I went with his advice and got a cheap PWM controller for my 400 watt panel array. Three months in and I kept overcharging my deep cycle batteries because I had no real read on their state. Turns out a $40 battery monitor would have saved me $200 in replacement batteries. Now I'm wiring in a Victron monitor this weekend and kicking myself. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from someone who's been off grid forever?
Last spring, my neighbor Bob told me to hook a deep cycle tractor battery to my small 100 watt panel instead of the fancy lithium one I bought. I laughed and said no way, that thing is meant for a farm truck. But after my lithium battery died in the freeze last November, I tried his idea as a backup. It actually worked fine for running a few lights and my phone charger for 3 days straight. I figured the voltage drop would kill it, but it stayed steady around 12.4 volts. Has anyone else used a cheap lead acid battery from a tractor or lawn mower for a small off grid setup?
Last month I helped a friend set up his first off grid cabin, and he kept buying these expensive charge controllers from random brands. I told him to just get a basic PWM controller from a reputable brand since his panels are only 200 watts. He spent $120 on a fancy MPPT one with Bluetooth and it gave him errors for 3 days straight. I swapped in my old $25 PWM controller and everything worked perfect. Why do people think they need the most expensive gear for tiny solar setups? Has anyone else noticed beginners overspending on stuff they don't actually need?
He was telling the clerk he used cheap food grade barrels but didn't wrap them in insulation or bury them deep enough. I've been planning a rain barrel system for my cabin in Vermont and now I'm thinking I need to double check my setup before winter hits anyone here dealt with this specific issue?
I thought I was being smart saving cash on a composting toilet for my cabin up near Flagstaff. Spent around $180 on one of those no-name brands with good reviews, figured how bad could it be. First week it worked okay, but by week three the separator thing broke and the smell was unreal. My buddy has a $600 Nature's Head unit and after using his setup I felt like a fool. I ended up ripping mine out and ordering the real deal, plus I had to buy new compost medium. Has anyone else had luck with the budget options or is it always a waste of money?
I set up a 500-gallon rain barrel system off my shop roof back in 2021. Thought I was being smart by piping the overflow straight into a French drain. After a few heavy storms my barrels were always nearly empty and I couldn't figure out why. Turns out I had the overflow pipe connected at the top of the barrel but the intake was below it so all the water just siphoned right back out. A 50 cent check valve from the hardware store fixed it overnight. Anyone else discover a dumb plumbing mistake way later than they should have?
Bought this "all-in-one" solar starter kit from a guy on Craigslist near Flagstaff. Hooked it up to my cabin and the charge controller died after three days, so now I'm running a generator again. Anyone else get burned buying used solar gear from random people?
Had to chisel out a frozen mass at 6 AM last January and now I always keep a bale of straw handy for winter composting, anyone else deal with frozen toilets?
I spent $80 on the pump and wiring back in March after my barrel wouldn't drain into the garden hose, but turns out raising the barrel on cinder blocks would have saved me all that, has anyone else overcomplicated a simple water setup before noticing the obvious fix?
I set up a 50-gallon barrel off my shed roof back in March, just for watering garden beds. This morning I did the math and realized I've collected over 1000 gallons since then. That's 1000 gallons of city water I didn't pay for, and honestly it made me feel stupid for not doing this years ago. Anyone else have a number like that make you rethink your whole setup?
Visited a friend's off grid setup in northern Vermont last month and their composting toilet had this awful smell seeping out of the ventilation pipe. They said it was a $200 model from a big box store and they didn't add enough carbon material. Has anyone else had trouble with cheap composting toilets in humid areas?
Last January my system barely hit 200 watts peak on sunny days. Flat mounted on the roof like everyone said. After three weeks of crap output I built a simple wood frame to tilt them. 60 degrees facing south. Same sunny day in February jumped to 450 watts peak. That's over double the power for basically free wood and hinges. Anyone else tilt theirs for winter or just leave them flat?
I used to just run hoses from my gutters out into the yard and hope water soaked in somewhere useful. Last weekend I installed a 55 gallon barrel with a mesh screen and a spigot near my garden beds. It took me about 4 hours with basic tools from Lowes, but I only needed to buy a downspout diverter kit for $25. Now I'm watering my tomatoes with free water and feeling pretty good about it. Has anyone else dealt with overflow problems or built a way to link multiple barrels together?
I kept having my rain barrel get air locked every time I tried to siphon water out for the garden. Tried raising it up on cinder blocks, still happened. Basically I figured out I needed a bleeder valve at the top of the hose loop. Drilled a little hole and put a brass spigot there, opened it for a second and the flow started right up. What kind of setups do you all use for getting water out without a pump?
I went back and forth for months on whether to spend the extra $400 on a propane fridge for my off grid place in Vermont. After two weeks with a mini fridge draining my battery bank faster than I could recharge it, I sold it and bought the propane model. Has anyone else made the switch and found it was worth the hassle of finding propane refills?
I live in a cabin I built on family land near Rolla, Missouri, and I rely on two 275 gallon IBC totes for my water supply. Last month we had a real cold snap, dropped to 12 degrees for three nights straight. I thought I had winterized them by wrapping them in old blankets and tarps, but the water inside still froze solid and cracked the bottom valve on one tote. Lost all 275 gallons and now I'm hauling jugs from my brother's place in town until I figure out a fix. I'm thinking about burying the totes next time or maybe adding a small recirculating pump to keep water moving. Has anyone here tried using a stock tank heater in a closed tote system, or is that a fire risk?
I've been running four 6V golf cart batteries for my off grid cabin for about a year now. Last week I finally bought a proper hydrometer to test the specific gravity of each cell. Turns out my cheap voltmeter was giving me wrong readings and I thought they were full when they were barely half charged. I found this chart online from Trojan Battery that shows exact voltage vs charge level and it totally changed my routine. Now I check with the hydrometer every two weeks instead of trusting the digital meter. The kicker is I had been running my fridge and lights like everything was fine but I was probably damaging the batteries by undercharging them for months. Has anyone else caught their battery monitor lying to them? What do you use to double check your state of charge?
So I've been bragging about my fancy 500-gallon tank setup with all the brass fittings and a pump. Then my neighbor Joe, who runs a little homestead on 2 acres, showed me his setup last Saturday. He's got two food-grade 55-gallon drums linked together with a simple PVC overflow and a spigot. Total cost maybe $50, and he's never had a water shortage in 4 years. It hit me different because he's not trying to impress anyone, he just wants water for his garden and goats. Makes me wonder how many of us are over-engineering stuff for no reason. Anyone else had a reality check from a simpler setup?
I set up my compost bin right next to the garden for convenience, thinking it would be easier to haul scraps back and forth. But after two straight summers of it getting way too wet and slimy, a neighbor who's been off grid for 20 years pointed out that my bin was in a low spot where all the rain pooled. He said it needed to be on a slight slope with good drainage. I moved it up a hill last spring and now the compost actually breaks down in half the time. Has anyone else had a basic setup mistake like this that took years to figure out?
I was swapping stories with a guy in his 70s at a hardware store in Flagstaff who's been off grid since the 80s, and he told me I was overcomplicating my panels by trying to maximize every watt. He said his system runs on just two 100 watt panels and a handful of batteries, and he's never had an issue. Anyone else get humbled by someone who's been doing this way longer?
I built a 275 gallon IBC tote setup back in April and connected it to my downspout. After tracking my city water bill for June I saw I only used 40% of what I did last summer for non drinking stuff like laundry and garden. The real shocker was when I calculated I saved about $180 over the quarter. Has anyone else had their usage drop more than they expected after switching to rain catchment?
Thought I was being clever gathering dry pine needles from the woods behind my shed last week. Lit one bundle and it exploded into a smoke bomb that filled my campsite and had me coughing for 20 minutes. Anyone else find a weird material that backfired as fire starter?