Solar Power
Making Light Work (Literally)
We considered two approaches to solar. We talked to several potential providers. Potential, because not everyone who says they are in solar is about solar. Also, not everyone in solar has your best interests in mind. We could only find two whole house systems we thought we could trust. One was hyper-focused on committing us to their platform by interrupting all of our house wiring. That would make us completely dependent upon their system. The other, EcoFlow, is packaged as a portable system, but scalable to whole house capacity. From there we worked with TopNotch Electricians to build a sub-grid for critical systems to be powered by the EcoFlow system. We added EcoFlow’s SmartHome Panel II to our home and powered it from a connection to our main panel for grid feed. EcoFlow allows us to plug in solar panels at another port as well as a gas-powered generator if we need one to a third port. Smart Home Panel II manages the batteries prioritizing solar and the grid. We like it because it’s modular and scalable. The primary concern now is that it still presses for an occasional connection to the internet to update firmware. It feels quite capable but has a great deal of technology that will almost certainly fail eventually. A secondary mission here is to develop or become familiar with ways to make repairs onsite when and if that day comes.
Since there isn’t a local storefront for EcoFlow we look forward to reporting on how our preps for service play out.
The Steam Punks Homestead approach to critical systems is parallelism and redundancy. Our goal is to have several separate sub-grids to spread the load. This path will make us smart on which systems work best and most reliably in our space. It also allows immediate solutions when one fails and prioritization is necessary.
Stay tuned as our journey expands and deepens.
Powering a Life with Less Plug and More Purpose
Most of us need several thousand watts to power our homestead. The EcoFlow system shown here is a starter system with a second battery. The inverter sits atop a stack of up to five batteries. Smart Home Panel 2 allows up to three of these stacks to be connected.
The shown system is around 13 kilowatts. We hope to expand this to greater and greater capacity, which appears to be quite easy if not inexpensive.
We spent around $18,000 for this hardware, plus several thousand for proper installation by TopNotch Electrictions. They were the only local contractors who could carry a proper conversation on the subject, then deliver a perfect installation. More on this in the video section.
Panels, Projects & Off-Grid Problem Solving
Solar Power is an amazing journey, still in flux, but evolving quickly. Join us as we help others along the path to true power and independence.
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We’re Ken and Linda, tinkering, planting, preserving, and sometimes failing gloriously. Join our weekly notes for real-world tips on growing food, living off-grid, and making do with what you’ve got. No fluff—just dirt-under-the-nails honesty.