Practical Off-Grid Energy Systems Design Installation Apex Solar

Here are a few points to consider when becoming your own power company. Living off-grid can be practical and affordable if you make the best decisions regarding how to design both your system and your lifestyle.

By definition, an off-grid system uses batteries. The number of batteries depends on the
amount of storage capacity that you need. The voltage of the battery bank is largely
determined by the system requirements. In general, inverters today accept 12, 24, or 48
volts nominal. Nominal means that although the voltage may drop below or rise above
this number, this is the base or the normal voltage for this system.

The system voltage you choose will be decided by how you use the inverter power and
the size of your off-grid system. Smaller cabin-sized systems often use 12 or 24 volts
due to the close proximity of the system components and the ability to use a smaller
battery bank. You also have the ability to run 12 volt DC loads. Larger systems use 24 or
48 volt inverters due to the better efficiency at the higher voltages and the higher output
capacity that the inverters can achieve. If you have a choice always opt for the higher
voltage systems due to the greater efficiency of these systems.

Pure Sine Wave Inverters vs. Modified Sine Wave Inverters

This can be a complicated subject, but let’s get down to the important facts. A pure sine
wave inverter will produce electricity equal to or better than your utility company.
Modified sine wave inverters produce a wave-form that’s not as smooth and some
appliances will not work correctly.

The way in which you use the power coming from your inverter determines which one to
use. If you use mostly lights, a television and a laptop computer, appliances such as these
really don’t care about modified sine wave power. On the other hand, if you use a
desktop computer, dishwasher, clothes washer, plug-in power tools, hi-fi radio or
cordless phones, some of these appliances and others like these don’t like modified sine
wave and will make noise or not work at all. My feeling is go with the pure sine wave
and you won’t have to worry about what you plug in.

Lifestyle Changes That Help You Reduce the Size & Cost of Your Off-Grid System

The first law of any off-grid system is if it’s electric and produces heat it’s inefficient.
OK, so what do we mean by this? Think of a standard incandescent light bulb. Most of
the energy it uses is released not as light, but as heat. Electric heaters, electric stoves and
electric water heaters all use a greater energy factor than their gas equivalents. So use
natural gas (NG) or liquid propane (LP) to heat as much as possible.

Keeping cool off-grid is another issue that can be resolved with changes. First insulate
your home to the maximum your floors, walls and attic can accommodate. Use whole
house fans and room fans as your first choice for cooling. As a last step you can use an
air-conditioning window unit to cool just the rooms you will be in or a whole house AC
unit can be used but go for the most efficient unit available and cool just the areas of the
home where cooling is needed. Geothermal heat pumps are the most efficient all electric heating and cooling systems available. Another option is an evaporative cooler which can be used in drier
climates.

Lighting is an easy place to reduce power, but most people think that they just have the
spiral compact fluorescent lights as a choice. Today we have fluorescent bulbs to mimic any bulb that you may have in your home. Also, the color choices of the light can replicate any of
the older incandescent bulbs.

The second law of an off-grid lifestyle is that it’s not the amount of power you use, it’s the
amount of time you plan on using it.

A perfect example of this is a 1500 watt microwave or a clothes iron. Both of these use
large amounts electricity to heat but because they are used for such short time periods, the
overall energy used is well within even a small off-grid system’s capabilities. The standard refrigerator uses just 50 watts of power per hour, but added up over 24 hours per
day, this number becomes a very large energy load.

It used to be that the one compromise in an off-grid system was using a propane
refrigerator instead of an electric one. Not so anymore. Electric refrigerators have
increased the efficiency to the point where the extra money spent on a propane
refrigerator is better spent on a few extra solar panels. This saves the cost of paying for
propane gas for the life of the appliance and you actually come out ahead since the solar
panels are a one-time cost and the propane gas is on going.

Monitor Your Energy Use

Another important idea is to include instrumentation in your off-grid system design so that you can measure and record your system's performance and your energy consumption. You might decide to delay doing laundry on a cloudy day or take advantage of a bright sunny day to do energy intensive tasks. An off-grid system will make you more aware of the weather.

There are several case studies here in our website about off-grid system installations.

Please Contact Apex Solar

Whether it's solar modules, water pumps or inverters, we'll help you through the confusion about which components are right for you. We can package any solar system components so you can be assured that everything will work together and we'll get you up and running.

We provide system design and installation.

We can also help you do it yourself.

Solar power is still new for a lot of people so let us change that for you and answer those questions and myths you may have heard about getting your power from the sun.

Practical Off-Grid Energy Systems - Living off-grid is not a compromise, it’s a change in lifestyle.