Off-Grid Solar Cost Breakdown with Winter Stats! | Was it Worth It? | Our First Winter Off-Grid

Comments · 247

• CL

  @clnelson321 · 6 months ago

  Off grid is fast becoming the best option for rural homes.  Prices are just amazing these days.  It only gets better from here on out.

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• RO

  @rodneyross5282 · 6 months ago

  My Sunday fix.  You two are killing it with the solar. I really enjoyed this video great information.  God bless you two in all things.  Texas here.

  7

• NO

  @northidahodreaming5657 · 6 months ago

  nice review....thanks for sharing.....I'm off grid in north Idaho for 7 years. As you said, 9 months of the year you will have more power than you can use. During these 9 months I heat water, cook, dry clothes with the excess solar power and also run a mini split heat pump.

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• NO

  @Norden_king · 5 months ago (edited)

  16 k to not depend on the grid and never get a utility bill for the rest of your life is a no brainer! Happy for you guys.<br><br>Also crazy to me that the average US household uses 30 kWh per day. I&apos;m in Alberta, Canada and on grid using 12 kWh per day and that&apos;s with winter 6 months of the year and some of that is -40deg C.<br>Good info though, if I&apos;m able to get off-grid then I think I could half our usage no problem just by having a more energy efficient home.

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• PE

  @pereveos · 3 months ago

  It&apos;s not only the tilt; I suspect that your old array consists of poly panels and your new array is N-type, so there is a huge difference in technology. Fortunately, I live in Greece! Thank you for the info.

• RO

  @RobertKöppl · 2 months ago

  Put your small array on a 2 axis tracker, that should squeeze out the maximum.

• TR

  @trader009 · 1 month ago

  I don&apos;t know how far north you are but the rule of thumb for a solar array is latitude + 15° for peak winter performance or latitude + 23° &nbsp;for peak performance on the winter solstice. &nbsp;+15° gives the best average performance ove the winter months. &nbsp;So, a tilt of 54° seems a bit small. &nbsp;For example, Salmon at 45°N should use 45+15 = 60° &nbsp;This will also help with clearing the snow. &nbsp;Hope this helps.

• GO

  @GordLamb · 6 months ago

  I live on a sailboat in the summer and my domestic usage is actually about the same - 6-7kWh/day.<br><br>Obviously it&apos;s much easier to keep the house bank (24kWh) charged in the summer. :) &nbsp;I&apos;ve only got ~1.2kW of panels and tend to harvest around 4kWh average throughout the season, meaning I have to run the genset (diesel) once a week.<br><br>That part&apos;s annoying, of course, but I&apos;m maxxed out on surface area, and if you run the numbers, that&apos;s still saving a good 75-100 liters of diesel per month ($150-200CAD), plus a whole lot of noise and vibration.<br><br>It&apos;s nice to see other young people into this stuff. ^_^

• GR

  @graved1gger · 1 month ago

  Watched a few solar videos from the US &nbsp;lately and every time I&apos;m surprised how high prices in the US are for everything. Except for batteries, I guess batteries cost pretty much the same in every part of the world right now.

• KR

  @kr639 · 6 months ago

  Food for thought … you may want stand alone solar for things such as a shop vs trying to feed everything from one spot. &nbsp; &nbsp;I almost feel bad for your Idaho solar production compared to mine down in NW Az. lol…HUGE differences in production here

• MP

  @MPGamingCentral · 6 months ago

  Honestly, an interesting thing about the data you gave at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsntVBqodTI&amp;t=780">13:00</a>. With some rough math and my knowledge of running a predator 3500 generator a ton 2 summers ago, even with the terrible gas prices right now, you would still only spend roughly double for electricity (again in my area) running a generator over paying the electricity bill (that number is kinda assuming there is a battery system in place so you can run it to charge at higher efficiency than running 24/7). Obviously not ideal in the long run, but is easily a viable option to not spend that initial 25k+ to install grid ties while you slowly build your solar setup.<br><br>Idk, to me that is just an interesting thought. Where we are at a point in our country that it is that close to being feasible to make your own power from a combustion engine. Really speaks volumes about our cost of living today.

• PE

  @PeterLawton · 4 months ago (edited)

  You two have done a great job. &nbsp;Newbies can easily see $16K as jaw dropping, but I compare the cost to a used car, for a specialized purpose. &nbsp;Example: &nbsp;people driving 2 cars might also have a frequent need for a pickup. &nbsp;Not that big of a deal.