Off-Grid Home | Solar Panels | Backwoods Solar
Off The Grid Homes Your own independent off grid power systems can provide most electric conveniences at a remote home site, where bringing in utility lines would be impossible or prohibitively expensive. Just extending utility power 1/4 mile or more to reach a home site can cost $15,000 and up, and that’s before you get…
Appliance Selection for Off-Grid Homes | Backwoods Solar
Appliance Selection for Off-Grid Homes Here are some important points about selecting appliances for your off-grid home and some wiring tips for solar panels for homes and off grid solar systems. This is a little different than you might expect for utility connected off the grid homes, and the difference is essential. Be sure you…
DC Fridges Protect Your Food During a Power Outage | Backwoods Solar
DC Refrigerators – Protect Your Food with a Back Up Off-Grid Power Solution In a power outage the food in your home becomes your most important and valuable asset. Protecting the food you’ve sourced with off-grid power will be the best decision you could make for your family. One of the most common complaints we hear…
How Much Power Do I Use | Backwoods Solar
How Much Power Do You Use & How Many Solar Panels Do You Need? TO CALCULATE HOW MUCH OFF-GRID POWER YOU WOULD USE: Start by finding how many watts each appliance needs. Be sure you use watt figures from special energy-efficient appliances recommended for solar electric homes, like compact fluorescent bulbs and solar-electric designed refrigerators….
MPPT Charge Controllers | Solar Panels | Backwoods Solar
Why an MPPT Charge Controller is Needed for Solar Panels in Certain Situations Most higher wattage solar panels are designed for the grid-tie market where array voltage is not as critical as compared to an off-grid battery based system. A 200+ watt panel with an operating voltage in the range of 28 to 30 volts…
When to Use DC Appliances & Voltage Converters in an Off-Grid Home
When to Use DC Appliances and Voltage Converters Direct Current (DC) power in certain applications makes living off the grid less costly and more luxurious. Some folks hesitate to use their battery DC power directly, fearing complexity in wiring for different voltages or believing DC requires large wires throughout the home. Related Products & Information…
Safety & Local Help | Off Grid Living | Backwoods Solar
Safety & Local Help Whether or not you are subject to building codes, we urge you to do a safe and neat job when it comes to building your off grid power system. The reputation of renewable energy, and the resale value of your home are at stake. Learn about battery safety, fusing and grounding…
Wiring Your Off Grid Home | Backwoods Solar
Wiring Your Off Grid Home for Efficiency AC Breaker Box An inverter produces 120 volt AC. Normally no 240 volt AC will be used in the off an grid home, only 120 volt AC. So you just feed the same 120 volt hot wire to both legs of the AC breaker box. Since most…
Wire Size Tables For Low Voltage | Backwoods Solar
Wire Size Tables For Low Voltage FIND WIRE SIZE REQUIRED FOR LESS THAN 5% POWER LOSS Read down the left-hand edge to the number showing solar amps or watts your wire will carry for off-grid power. Follow that line across to the right to find your wire length in feet from solar to batteries. At…
Battery Wiring Config Off-Grid Power | Backwoods Solar
Battery Wiring Configuration for Off-Grid Power Use these diagrams on solar system battery wiring to help you understand the in’s and out’s of wiring. These diagrams will help you understand how to wire your battery for a 12 Volt, 24 Volt, and 48 Volt battery for your off-grid home. If you’re interested in building or…
Winter Preparation Checklist | Backwoods Solar
Getting Your Off-Grid Power Systems Ready for Winter Written by Alan Smith The winter season has arrived on schedule. For those of you in cold and snowy climates, now is a good time to review the maintenance and condition of your off grid power system. For those of you in warm and dry climates, now…
Off-Grid Power Initial Planning | Backwoods Solar
Remote Home Solar Electric Power – Initial Planning Questions to Ask Yourself 12 Volts, 24 Volts, or 48 Volts for your batteries? Battery voltage is difficult to change after your system is built, so choose carefully at the start. 12 volts is simplest and most standard, used in vehicles, RV, and boats. If you want…
Summer System Tune Up | Backwoods Solar
Summer Off-Grid Power System Tune Up by Alan Smith Summer time is here, and now is a good time to take a look at seasonal maintenance of your system; above and beyond the normal attention and care you show your system. Below are some recommendations from Backwoods Solar for your consideration. SEASONAL ANGLE FOR SOLAR…
Phantom Loads | Backwoods Solar
Watt Phantoms are Lurking in the Shadows of Your Home Save the treats for the little spirits and trick the phantoms that already skulk inside your home with these tips. Those phantoms are called “Phantom Loads”. Phantom loads are appliances that steal your power even when they are turned off. The average American grid-tied home…
Leasing vs. Owning | Backwoods Solar
LEASING VS. OWNING YOUR GRID-TIE SYSTEM Leased solar, commonly known as third-party owned solar has earned attention as an alternative to purchasing. Despite historically low solar panel costs, the cost of installing a PV system still leads some homeowners to consider leasing solar panels instead of owning them. But leasing solar panels is not always…
Upgrading Your Off-Grid Power System | Backwoods Solar
Upgrade Your Off-Grid System Did you go off the grid ages ago? 5 years? 10 years? 15 years or more? You may have seen today’s prices on solar panels and feel a bit envious. Now is a good time to add a second array to an existing system for minimal cost. A new set of…
Solar Direct Water Pumping | Backwoods Solar
SOLAR POWERED WATER PUMPING Water and water storage is on our minds currently as many of us face drought. As availability to solar energy becomes more affordable and much more efficient, the choice to change to DC solar powered water pumping in remote applications becomes clear. There are many remote situations where a solar powered…
A Simple Explanation | Backwoods Solar
A Simple Explanation of Off-Grid Power To select a solar electric system for your off the grid home or RV, you need to know what the major parts are called, what they do, and how they work together. Here is a quick overview followed by drawings explaining the whole process. Individual parts will be described…
Eclipse Battery Review
Eclipse Battery Review by Brian Betz My name is Brian Betz and I’m a sales tech here at Backwoods Solar (BWS). I have worked for Backwoods Solar for 9 years and about a year ago I started researching different Lithium batteries. BWS had recently started selling the Discover LiFePo (Lithium Iron Phosphate) batteries and I…
Advantages of Purchasing Your Off-Grid System from Backwoods Solar
Advantages of Purchasing Your Off-Grid System from Backwoods Solar First: we’d like to invite you to join the Backwoods Solar family. Second: we’d like you to know that if you become a Backwoods customer, you will have joined an exclusive club that dates back over 40 years. Third: you will enter an environment of renewable…
Protect Your Electronics With Our EMP/CME Kit
Protect Your Solar Electric System With Our New EMP/CME Hardening Kit Backwoods Solar is proud to announce our new electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and coronal mass ejection (CME) protection kit. We recognize sensitive renewable energy systems are susceptible to damage caused by EMP and CME, and their risks are rising in today’s world. We have what…
DIY Solar Electric Pak – Portable, Powerful and Feature Rich
DIY Solar Electric System – Portable, Powerful and Feature Rich In the tradition of our founder, Steve Willey, staff members at Backwoods Solar often come up with ideas and project designs that we think will be of interest to the DIYer’s in the Backwoods Solar community. Such is the case with a recent project…