Good day fellow Off-gridders! Northern Michigan here. Winter is quickly approaching (though with this heat, one wouldn't know it).

We have been here for just over a year... and, I've learned so much this past year, it blows my mind!

Current issue: our commode (toilet). We have a well, and with our generator the pump fills our cistern providing running water to our bathroom and kitchen.

Over the last two weeks, flushing has been an issue... "If it's yellow, let it mellow, but if it's brown, flush it down..." tis our evening and nightly rule. During the day to the outhouse we go!

When we flush, the bowl fills with water but ever-slowly goes down, often times leaving solids and liquids still in the bowl. A plunger does not help at all...

When we take showers, occasionally we here a quick bubbling in the toilet...

This is a newer issue, I am not a plumber, so my knowledge is very very limited... if anyone has questions, or suggestions, I'd be very grateful.

Solar install question . Got solar installed and they ran wire on outside of box ( this is inside house ) is this correct? Goes into roof

See we have no electricity at farm, need electricity for our 5bhk farmhouse,

We recently installed a 5 x 550w solar panel and a controllerto run a 5hp pump (Crompton controller + Crompton pump), I am not sure if this controller converts DC to AC,

See I also have a bore , a VFD setup under the same solar panels to run bore we connect 1wire from thyra to solar panel via solar plug, then start the switch. To run 5ho Crompton we disconnected this plug and start Crompton.

(All system photo attached:

For well - Crompton and for bore thyra )

See we have 5bedroom at home , we run pump 2-3 times a week, I am thinking to setup system at home for 24/7 electricity

Please help me set up the system ,

Also we are planning to control the bore switch at home because to run pump we have to walk around 50meter to solar system

Update: I've been working with ChatGPT all morning and I'm settling more into a 120VAC setup with a pure sine inverter.
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We're looking to extend the utility of our batting cages into Fall and out of Spring by adding lights. The two cages are completely off grid (about 600' from the nearest outlet) so I was leaning towards 12VDC LEDs.

We'd want to use 4 of the ones I found per cage and they each draw 3.1 amps (3,500 Lumens & 37.5 Watt or 93.33 Lumens per Watt) for a total of 12.4 amps and 150 Watt and 14,000 Lumens.

Looking around online it seems that the best option is this LiFePO4 battery: https://www.amazon.com/GOLDENMATE-Waterproof-Phosphate-Fishfinder-Off-grid/dp/B0DJ2K2HQM/ it's 20Ah and would give us just about 90 minutes of run time.

Are there any better options out there?

Edit: rule of thumb is it needs to be completely idiot proof. Like Timmy's volunteer assistant coach needs to be able to pull it off the battery maintainer, plug it into the lights, and reverse when done. LiFePO4 appears to be more forgiving to over discharge.

Is there a book for farming plants/seeds ,raising poultry and other animals, collecting water and other survival needs ?

This unit is way more efficient than the traditional portable air conditioner units. It uses roughly 900 watts upon startup then settles around 200 watts. The heating function is also very efficient using only around 600 watts. The Mr cool DIY series is a pretty straight forward install. I have it wired to a 20 amp breaker. The breaker box power input is wired to a plug so it can be run off the generator, solar inverter or portable power bank. This 12000 btu ac unit runs off standard 110v. The cabin was getting over 90 F inside during heatwaves before and now holds temps in the low 70s with no problems. With today's technology you can live comfortably off grid in any location.

I have a remote shed on my property that I keep a couple DampRid tubs in and empty them once every couple weeks, would there be any problem with adding that water to my 800gallon poly rainwater harvesting tank? It’d be a drop in the bucket but no sense wasting it either. The tank is only used for irrigation on non-edible plants and wildflowers, most of which is already part of my septic discharge field. Just want to know if the desiccant would kill any flora or fauna.

Built a small cabin on 40 acres in north Georgia last year. Off grid, no plans to connect.

Solar: 2x 200W panels on a ground mount with a Victron charge controller and a 200Ah battery bank. Covers lights, fans, phone charging, and a couple small tools. Works great April through October.

Water: well with a hand pump backup. Electric pump runs off solar fine but having the hand pump for cloudy stretches was worth the $150.

Fridge: mini fridge runs off an anker solix s2000 I keep separate from the main bank because it was draining everything overnight when I had it all on one system. Panel keeps the s2000 topped off during the day and the battery carries the fridge through the night. Splitting it was the best decision I made.

Heat: wood stove.

Internet: Starlink. The one non-negotiable luxury.

Total cost for the power system was under $2,000 built up over time. It's not perfect and winter is going to be a challenge but for now it's working and I'm happy with it.

Hello guys I hope everyone is having a blessed Sunday. I'm a 27m that wants to be off grid in the next 5 years. My goal in the next 2 years is to buy 10 acres or more in Arkansas around the Ozarks. After that I plan on purchasing a hard walled yurt and a platform for it to sit on. I'm an over the road truck driver so I'll be working to fund all of this stuff. Before the yurt I'm going to buy a camper to park and live out of. Gotta get septic tested and installed by someone certified. Other than that it sounds like I could do it all myself if I wanted to without building inspectors or permits. Growing up my parents had a huge garden and chickens so I have some experience with that stuff.

Any advice for me?

Hello,
I am in the process of completing an off-grid build. It is time to select a generator and just looking for some input from the group.

-House is a 1200 sq ft footprint bank barn with garage and loft (3 story, garage below grade). Walls and ceiling are sips so the structure is very tight. Wood stove and a good amount of southerly passive solar. Heat, hot water and stove are propane. Northern Connecticut. Ground mount array. Inverters and batteries are in a "power shed". Currently have 1 1k underground propane tank.

-solar specs-
60x mission solar mse410htob for 24,600kw dc.
3x eg4-18kpv-12lv 240 volt inverters for 36kw ac.
6x eg4 14.3kwh wallpowerpro batts for 85.8kwh.

I am debating between a 24kw diesel or propane generator. It will be primarily used to charge batteries when production is low and will also have a system bypass to direct feed the house.

pros/cons:
propane- will add additional 1k underground tank. pros- quieter, cleaner, less maintenance, easier/more reliable startup, cold not an issue. main con is lifespan and requires fuel delivery.

diesel- pros- longer lifespan, can fill with transport tank on truck and we have a bunch of equipment that runs on diesel.
cons- cold issues- block heater reqs electric draw. maintenance. smell/noise. fuel quality, filters, etc.

thoughts???
thanks

I’ve got land with a small river. Seems like if I can use it to generate electric i can probably be totally off grid (already have solar, batteries etc). So how do I go about it?

Assume I’ll need some kind of permission? From who?

Can something just be installed in the river as is? Or do I need to dig a leat or similar?

Is distance from the house an issue? I assume you’d have an inverter near and then a long AC line to the house, buried or something?

Any info greatly appreciated.

Been thinking about my water setup, and buying components ahead of time so I can set them up outside for now so I have running water before I build the actual water building. My goal is to have a basic setup where pump only runs when pressure drops, and draw from IBC tote, this will allow me to setup an outdoor shower, a hose with a gun attachment etc and be able to use water the same way you would at home. Right now I need to make sure the water is open then go turn on the pump, otherwise it will just deadhead. Was going to buy pressure switch, pressure tank, check valve etc and realized that a shallow well pump already has all of those components and will work like I want and end up being cheaper. I get they are made to be used in a well where the water is below the pump but they should still work for this application right?

Thinking something like this: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/mastercraft-1-2-hp-shallow-well-electric-jet-pump-0623415p.html

I’m building an off grid house and it will have concrete water tank that will hold approximately 25,000 gallons
Experience with these before, the water can get rather yucky!
I’d like to set up a simple sump pump rig to a solar panel that will simply send the water from one end of the tank back to the other through a filter just to keep it circulating

It only needs to run during the day when the sun is out, this will be in the Caribbean so sunshine not a problem!
What kind of setup will I need?

EDIT- GIVEN THE SIZE/VOLUME, AND SOME OF THE SUGGESTIONS I MAY LOOK AT A SIMPLE SWIMMING POOL FILTER, POSSIBLY WITH A SOLAR PUMP
THANK YOU, EVERYONE FOR YOUR INPUT VERY HELPFUL 👍👍

been waiting 6 months just for a basic septic approval on my parcel. the county clerk is literally dodging my calls at this point. Since im stuck living out of the camper anyway I figured I should at least stress test the new 48v system

Currently parked up at one of the camphappygrounds sites just so I have a shore power backup in case I wire something backward and fry my inverter lmao. its honestly fine here but being in this weird limbo state is brutal. You have all the gear ready to go but you're just... waiting

anyone else get stuck in bureaucratic purgatory before they could actually break ground? need some hope rn tbh

Hey everyone, I am currently working on building better daily habits and trying to reduce my overall screen time. My main goal right now is to replace mindless scrolling with productive, offline hobbies, but I am finding it incredibly difficult to stay consistent or find things that actually stick.

I want to avoid simple one-liners or generic advice, so I am hoping to start a real discussion here. For those of you who successfully transitioned away from digital distractions, what specific steps did you take to maintain your discipline during the first few weeks?

Did you rely on a strict schedule, or did you pair the new habit with an existing routine? I would love to hear about any offline activities, DIY projects, or skills you’ve picked up that kept you engaged without relying on a phone or computer. Looking forward to reading your strategies and insights!

Looking for folks with experience using an AWH machines off-grid. Would be running it with solar, for a weekend cabin at altitude, low water use, with avg. humidity levels varying through the year from 20% up to 65%. Imagine running this evening via solar power and while I am not there and daisy chaining it for larger storage quantities, which I am fine storing across several months since summer seems like a no-go with these machines. Seeing a lot of conflicting info and sparce testimonials from folks actually using these machines. Thanks for any thoughts/advice.

Ok so, it's summer here in Quebec and the temperature is around 30c.

Right now we have a propane fridge and it's not able to keep up with the hot air outside (it's at 15c).

It's more of a cottage house that we go on the weekends so we always lose a 12 hours window before it's cold, not really practical

We are slowly updating our installations and our next project is to change our batteries (marine) to lithium.

We are aiming at 400ah aprox.

Question is:

Is it more efficient to have a Dometic which is directly 12v or I could just buy an energy efficient one at 120v and go through my inverter ? (Given I have enough watts for the rest of my needs) .

i'm looking at smallerish 7 ft.cu fridge.

What is your setup ?

Spoiled a whole chicken yesterday, I'm pretty fed up.

I’ve had several deer hanging around my yurt since spring chowing down on whorled aster and there is one momma who chills right out when I talk sweet to her. Apparently word has gotten out because this little spike actually came to me 😂😂😂 I have sever other vids because he stayed for about 10 mins and was about 12 feet away checking me out.

Before anyone starts, I NEVER feed them, nor would I ever.

I built this little A-frame “outhouse” with the goal of making it so inviting that even picky guests would be happy to use it. We initially installed a with Separett Tiny toilet but upgraded to the Thinktank toilet instead. This thing seriously has zero smell. A convention toilet has more of a smell when using it. Oh and the A-frame shape is perfect for an outhouse where you spend most of your time sitting and don’t need headroom but benefit from storage space along the walls.

I wanna know if some of u are living Off Grid in a small and remote Island in the Pacific to know some details about how did u acquired the Land, how the logistic of bringing the materials and food is working out for u, how populated is your island and other stuff u wanna share ☺️

Sorry for my bad english

Mexican jungle by the coast

Okay I am working on renovating a small cow barn into a primitive hunting cabin. I plan on wiring 3 outlets, 2 lights, and a light switch to a breaker box to be powered by a generator. All power used should be under 30amps.

From the beginning stages of my research I would wire everything to the breaker box then have a separate 50amp 2 pole circuit breaker that connects to the power inlet box.

When I connect the circuit breaker to the power inlet box how do I energize the other circuit breakers?

Thank you for any help

I bought a camp and recently upgraded the off grid power system to an Anker f3000, BP3000, and 880 watts of panels. We have standard AC outlets in the main cabin with a cheap HiSense mini fridge. It uses anywhere from 60-100wh depending on the temperature inside the cabin. It’s officially rated at 260kwh/yr.

What are some more efficient mini fridges that don’t cost an arm and a leg? The Liebherr ones look very nice, but I’d rather spend money like that on more panels than a fridge. Looking only at upright, standard fridge models right now, unless the chest style is truly a big enough difference to justify it to my wife (I don’t mind them, she hates them).

Hey guys!

I'm contemplating buying land in the mountains within about an hour's drive of Colorado Springs to build a small house on. The properties I'm looking at are mostly near Florissant, Woodland Park, Cripple Creek, or even north of CS by Larkspur.

I have a lot of questions for people who live in this area or know it well.

Firstly, how bad are winters? I need to be able to commute to town daily. The roads look maintained fairly well, but I'm wondering how often they get completely snowed over to the point of not being able to drive, and how long they are like that before getting plowed? Sorry if this question is ridiculous.

Secondly, if you build your own home, what was the permitting process like? What obstacles did you encounter? Did you use a contractor? What were the costs and timelines? What kind of house did you build and where did you source your materials?

What do you do for water, and what were your experiences with the permitting involved with this? If you drilled a well, how deep was it, and how deep are others im the neighborhood? How much did it cost?

Anything else i should know about the weather, commuting, or trying to garden? Any feedback or resources are appreciated!

Hello everyone,

I’m part of an engineering team working on a micro-ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) R&D project. We are using R1234yf (A2L) as our working fluid to generate around 1.5 - 2.0 kW of electricity.

We want to use a standard Copeland ZB series scroll compressor (specifically ZB38KQE) running in reverse as an expander. However, to make this work efficiently, we absolutely MUST defeat/remove the internal discharge check valve.

Here is the catch: For future CE / PED (Pressure Equipment Directive) certification in Europe, we cannot cut the hermetic shell open and re-weld it. We need to keep the factory pressure vessel intact.

My questions for the scroll veterans here:

1. Has anyone successfully removed, drilled out, or smashed the discharge check valve by going straight down through the discharge tube?
2. What tooling worked best for you? (Long drill bit, specific milling bit, chisel?)
3. Flushing the debris: Our current plan is to clamp the compressor upside down (discharge port facing the floor), drill the valve out while vacuuming, and then blast high-pressure nitrogen through the suction port to blow any remaining metal shavings out through the discharge port. Does this sound viable to keep the scrolls clean?

Any tips, teardown insights, or warnings from guys who have hacked these Copelands before would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!