Off Grid Setup

We were tasked with building an Off Grid setup for one of our customers. This involved sourcing solar panels, A hybrid inverter & lead acid deep cycle AGM batteries. Then food grade water barrels for water storage, A custom built hydroponics system to grow lettuce, A high power petrol generator as backup, A gravity battery generator and much more.

The Solar Panels feed into a hybrid 5kw hybrid inverter that has a built-in mppt controller which helps to maintain a steady stream of electricity into the batteries rather than odd short bursts of energy which would fry the batteries. The batteries were 170ah (amp hour) deep cycle AGM batteries and we placed 8 of them which could power the 3-bedroom home with ease. You cannot use car batteries, they would not work. In the summer it ran the property 24/7 including using the oven, In the winter it ran the whole property but not the oven, So the petrol generator was needed for the 30 minutes the oven was in use.

The hydroponics was built using upvc guttering and a low-powered submersed water pump which fed water from a bucket up into the top of the guttering which was setup in a Z shape which would feed all the plants and empty back into the bucket. We also added timed grow lights for simulated sunlight.

Next was the water storage option which we opted for food grade airtight 60 litre barrels which would be a better fit. You need to add a tiny amount of chlorine to kill any bacteria. The five barrels we worked out that if rationed could last 6 months for one person.

Backup to our solar farm

Then we had a petrol generator of 3kw output which could run the property alone off grid of plug into the solar power system to top up the batteries. We opted for a remote start model so it saved the customer from leaving the house and going into the garage to start it. To finish everything off we painted warning zones around each of the items, Mainly to warn people away from the batteries of the solar power system to avoid electrocution.