Our subscribers can access a newly updated (January 2021) list of 95 online courses and resources to learn about homesteading, off grid living, self-reliance, gardening, and more.
And while you're at it, take a look at this Mother Earth News post on generator basics.
Online, Solar Power World has a huge library of free articles on all things solar including charge panels and inverters. Or check out his Off Grid Solar Power for Dummies videos on YouTube.
But it has a simple, easy-to-understand introduction to the basics of how an off grid solar system works. Read Will Prowse's book Mobile Solar Power Made Easy! Yes, it's about installing solar panels on an RV. If you don't know much about this stuff, start learning about solar power basics while you're still on the grid. Solution: Start Learning About Off Grid Living Power Now
And how to troubleshoot our generators when they wouldn't start. How to read the digital messages on the charge panel screen.
Not to mention off grid toilets or water systems. Solar panels, inverters, charge panels, batteries, and generators. If I'd planned and prepared to live off the grid sooner, I could have read up on the basics. And I don't think I'd even heard of an inverter, which converts the DC (direct current) output of a solar panel to an AC (alternating current) output in order to power an off grid set up. Or the importance of batteries for off grid living. I didn't understand the concept of a battery bank. And I sure didn't know what to do when a generator won't start. I didn't know a thing about off grid home systems. Yet I'd never given any thought to how this actually worked. I was vaguely aware that somehow the sun's heat was converted to electricity. The sad fact is that when it came to living off the grid, I didn't even know what I didn't know. Yet that knowledge wasn't going to help me much on a -40-degree afternoon when it was dark at 3:00 pm, and there was no electricity. Then I worked all day and studied at night to get financial planning designations and promotions at work. Years ago I earned a university degree as a mature student with two kids in tow. I've always considered myself a can-do, resourceful kind of person. Mistake #1: Didn't Know Enough About Off Grid Power Systems Here are five key mistakes I made, and how to avoid them if your future plans include going off the grid.
In fact, I made so many off grid living mistakes that I'm amazed I lived to write this post. And in 2013 when I was eight months pregnant I joined my husband at our off grid home in Canada's far north. Mistakes that could have been avoided if I'd been more prepared.įrom the time I was a child, I imagined myself living a simple, pioneer-style life. But in all my daydreams, I didn't imagine I'd make a whole lot of off grid living mistakes. Have you always dreamed of escaping cubicle life and traffic jams to live off the grid independent and free? You know, being self-reliant, building cook fires with wood you chopped or cooking on an old wood cookstove?