I'm in the process of taking my home off the grid because I believe the electric infrastructure will fail to the point it won't go back up. Either that or the grid will be taken down. We are at war, after all. I want to share my research with you to help you quickly disconnect from hostile infrastructure. It's unfortunate that much of the equipment we need is made by China. I've tried to avoid sourcing Chinese equipment as much as possible and note that it is Chinese when I know. Naturally, this is a curated list of resources. If you think I missed something, please reply in the comments. I'd like to understand why it should be included and I'll update this post! The first thing you need to know is the difference between solar panels that are **grid tied** versus **off grid**. **Grid tied** >panels store energy to the grid rather than batteries. So why do people prefer this? Cost. Battery storage is expensive. Also, solar companies promise payback by selling your power. PC|Reason ---|--- Pros|Low cost, taxpayer subsidies, fewer components Cons|When the grid goes down, so do your panels. May not be able to sell your house unless you pay the solar company off. **Off grid** >panels store energy to batteries. This is good if you don't have a public utility near or you prefer your electric power to work when your public grid goes down. PC|Reason ---|--- Pros|electricity anywhere any time Cons|high cost, more components I will describe the steps for designing an off grid system. You will see 48 in my calculations because I designed this around 48 volt batteries. 325 is a reasonable watt output metric for solar panels these days. The 10,000 number is my total watt hour consumption per day. 1. Go around your house and add up the energy requirements of all the devices in your home. You will need to know the watts and the watt hours. This [calculator](https://unboundsolar.com/solar-information/offgrid-calculator) gives you the the watts and hours per day estimates for typical appliances. 2. Fill out a spreadsheet with your appliances. Add a column for watts and a column for watt hours. Calculate the watt hours simply by taking the *watts* **x** *hours per day*. You can also use a watt meter like the *Kill A Watt*. 3. Find a split phase low frequency inverter that can output at least as many watts as you get when adding up your energy requirements. 4. Add up the watt hours. 5. Now you need to decide how long you want to be able to run your home without sunlight. I decided one day was long enough. In my case, I use about 10 thousand watt hours per day, so a battery that can output 10 thousand watt hours is enough. 6. Since batteries are rated in amp hours, you need to convert to amp hours. 10,000 / 48 = 208 amp per hours. I need a 208 amp per hour battery. I decided to buy two 48 volt 96AH LiFePo4 batteries because of the cost. 7. Find the least amount of sun hours you get all year. [Calculator](https://solarsupper.com/peak-sun-hours-calculator) 8. You need to replace the energy in the batteries during the day, so you need enough solar panel watt hours to do that. Consider that most large panels are slightly over 325 watts per panel under ideal conditions. To replace the 10 killowatts of energy would require 10,000/(325*4) = 8. This assumes you get at least 4 hours of sunlight per day. 9. You're going to need an MPPT charger to convert the DC coming in from the solar panels to the proper voltage for your batteries. The current you need is <panels> * 325/48 = amps (8*325/48 = 54 amps). So the MPPT charger needs to be able to handle at least 54 amps. The good news is, you can split the energy across multiple MPPT devices, so you don't need to buy one large MPPT charger. Of course, you should get a larger current capable device than the minimum. ---------- **Why a split phase low frequency inverter?** >Most houses require 220 volts due to its wiring. In the US, we mostly have 220 volt split phase power coming into our home. The wiring panel breaks the two phases into two 110 volt busses. A low frequency inverter uses big transformers and these give the inverter a huge energy boost for start up current. In my case, I have a 1 HP 220 volt well pump that normally uses 750 watts. The startup energy can be 4 times as much. The cheap high frequency inverters just can not produce enough energy to start my pump unless I buy an inverter capable of much more watts. That defeats the purpose of a cheap high frequency inverter. I will mention the idle energy is a bit much, from 20-40 watts. That means, the inverter drains your battery from 20-40 watts with no load. That sucks. It looks like the Chinese have knocked off the AIMS inverter. They are cheaper, but just be aware. **Why 48 volt system?** >Cost. A 48 volt system costs less. I can buy fewer batteries for the same amp hours. The connecting hardware costs less because it uses less copper. **Why LiFePo4?** >Batteries are initially expensive. But considering they have at least a 10 year lifespan, makes them more economical over the long haul. Also, you can buy fewer batteries because you can drain all the energy out of them. As opposed to flooded batteries, which require twice as many batteries because you can only discharge them to 50%. **Kill A Watt meter:** >A device costing about $25 that gives you accurate energy consumption readings. I use this to measure my high energy use devices like my refrigerator to ensure my estimates are reasonably accurate. It accounts for actual usage. **Why Not Sunpower?** >Sunpower is one of the few US made solar panels, but they are insanely expensive. They are energy efficient (400 watt panels), just not cost efficient. For example, most panels can be purchased for less than $1/watt. Sunpower panels cost about $3.5/watt. ##Equipment ###LiFePo4 Batteries >[96Ah 48v Dakota Lithium](https://dakotalithium.com/product/dakota-lithium-48v-96ah-deep-cycle-lifepo4-marine-battery/) [233Ah 48v big battery.com](https://bigbattery.com/products/48v-ape-lifepo4-233ah-11-2kwh/) [120Ah 48v big batteryevo.com](https://batteryevo.com/battery-evo-48v-tower-style-120-ah-6-kwh-a123-lfp-cells-on-the-wheels-240ah-bms/) ###Inverters low frequency split phase >[6KW AIMS](https://www.aimscorp.net/6000-watt-pure-sine-power-inverter-charger-48-volt-dc-to-120-240-volt-ac.html) [6KW Sigineer](https://www.sigineer.com/product/6000-watt-48v-to-110v-220v-dc-to-ac-inverter-charger-for-sump-pump-with-battery-backup/) [Sigineer](https://www.sigineer.com/product-category/inverter-chargers/split-phase-inverter-chargers/) [2-12Kw Fox Power (Chinese)](https://www.fox-power.com/product/ultra-split-phase-8kw-12kw-low-frequency-sine-wave-inverter-charger/) ###MPPT charge controllers >[AIMS](https://www.aimscorp.net/MPPT-Solar-Charge-Controllers/) [Victron](https://www.victronenergy.com/solar-charge-controllers/smartsolar-mppt-75-10-75-15-100-15-100-20) [Xantrex](https://www.xantrex.com/power-products/solar/mpptchargecontroller.aspx) [Outback](https://outbackpower.com/products/charge-controllers/flexmax-60-80) [Renogy](https://www.renogy.com/charge-controllers/mppt-charge-controllers/) [Epever (Chinese)](https://www.epsolarpv.com/) ###Solar panels >[Sunpower 400 watt panels $3.50/watt (US mfg)](https://us.sunpower.com/products/solar-panels) [Solaria $2-3/watt (US/Korea mfg)](https://www.solaria.com/) [Q cells $1.80/watt (Germany/US/Korea)](https://www.q-cells.us) [Rec Solar $0.80/watt (Norway)](https://usa.recgroup.com/) [Canadian $0.57/watt Solar](https://www.csisolar.com/productsforresidential/) [Trina solar $0.58/watt (Chinese)](https://www.trinasolar.com/us/residential-information-page)