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    For a lot of your appliances you can use 12 volt RV replacement ones. Like an RV fridge. You can use 120 volt appliances, but if you do you will loose a lot of power just through the conversion process of converting the 12 volt battery power over to 120 volt. You can buy coffee pots, electric frying pans, heaters, vacuums, refrigerators, hair dryers, and fans amongst other things that are all ran off of 12 volt DC power.

    Personally, I would add a big 250 gallon propane tank outside of the cabin to run a stove and a Dearborn heater off of. I put this in a 600 square foot cabin that I lived in for a while and could run for 3 weeks off of one bar-b-que size propane tank in the winter time so imagine how long a 250 gallon tank would last!!!


    If you were to install a metal roof, you could also install a rain gutter setup and run those rain gutters into a couple of 250 gallon water tanks! Add a 12 volt Surflow RV water pump and now you would have pressurized water for the entire cabin. You would just need to filter it before using it for drinking water.

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      I almost forgot. If you have a family living in an off grid cabin, you will NEED a water heater. Straight electric water heaters are out since they pull too much power. Tankless water heaters are great at not wasting electricity or gas, but you would need one, preferably, that does not use electricity.

      http://www.grainger.com/product/BOSC...AS01?$smthumb$


      For $612.50 you can have a tankless water heater that has a pilot light on it! So there is no need to run electricity to it, just a propane gas line! And, it can supply 1.3 gallons per minute with a 90 degree rise in water temp. So if it is winter and your water storage tanks are outside, let's say the water temp is 40 degrees. You could potentially scald yourself with 130 degree hot water in the winter time! Super hot shower anyone? At a lower temp rise of 45 degrees it flow 2.6 gallons per minute, or enough for someone to hand wash dishes while someone else is taking a shower, in the winter time, with 85 degree water!

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        Printing now . Thank you for taking the time out to spell it out for me. I have never been able to grasp the whole electrical thing, for some reason it sounds like a foreign language to me lol.

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          This is a thread I started about a cabin we are going to put on our land outside of Fredericksburg. I will be checking back in quite frequently during the build and I want to thank y'all in advance for sharing y'all's wisdom for those of us that have no clue, what y'all are talking about ;-)

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            Originally posted by Backwoods101 View Post
            This is a thread I started about a cabin we are going to put on our land outside of Fredericksburg. I will be checking back in quite frequently during the build and I want to thank y'all in advance for sharing y'all's wisdom for those of us that have no clue, what y'all are talking about ;-)
            http://discussions.texasbowhunter.co...d.php?t=534285

            I dig that and can't wait until we pull the trigger and purchase our "homestead"! Jellous!

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              I got the motor in for my wind turbine build today! I'm sick though...two hours after this pic my son called, he was broke down. So, I grab a couple tools and my Fluke to go get his car going. I work on it an hour, get it going but, let the Fluke on my bed rail. My son called and told me it fell off the truck! I turned around and made it back to it just in time to see a guy in a new white Chevy quad-cab pick it up out of the street and leave

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                Cool, looking forward to seeing it up and running

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                    I just realized I had not talked that much about what good cables actually means. So, here we go;


                    So what makes one cable good and another one bad?

                    There can be multiple things that differentiates a good cable from a bad cable. But first, here is a list of the parts on a cable. If ANY one of these parts are not good quality, then it makes the entire cable bad.

                    1. The conductor. This is the actual wire inside the cable. Pay close attention here because not all wire is copper. Here lately, it is very easy to find aluminum wire and copper coated aluminum. The difference here is that copper has a lower internal resistance than aluminum and thus, you won't loose as much power when using a copper wire vs. the same size aluminum wire. The conductor strand count also comes into play. This is how many wires make up the conductor. Wire for home use typically only has one single strand of wire inside the wire. While this is fine for A/C high voltage and low amperage home use, it is not good for D/C low voltage high amperage use. Not to mention that single strand wire is not very flexible. Multiple strand wire is better for D/C low voltage high amperage use, and with it being very flexible it makes it easy to use. Typically, the more strands of wire inside a conductor, the more flexible and the higher the quality of wire.

                    2. The insulation jacket. Yes, this is important. But why? It's not like the wires are going to be moving around like they can in a car. Here's why. Specifically with power inverter wiring, but also if you have a lot of solar panels, there is going to be a LOT of current running through the wire. If you have an inferior wire with a very thin insulation jacket around the conductor, then the chances of that insulation jacket cracking over time and exposing the conductor increases. Not only that, but if you are running a lot of amperage through a wire, it is going to heat up. A thin insulation jacket won't be able to withstand the heat as well as a thick jacket wire.

                    3. The cable ends. This is one area that gets neglected very frequently. You can buy the best wire money can buy, but if you cheap out and buy the cheap twist on wire ends, it makes the entire cable a poor cable, AND it can lead to a fire too. Here is why. If the cable ends are not properly coming into contact with the wire, that is going to increase the resistance of the entire wire. When you increase the resistance, you also increase the temperature. Eventually, you can actually have the cable ends melt and catch fire from the heat. I prefer a VERY heavy duty crimp. I bought one of these just for my modest solar panel setup and have used it many times since;

                    http://www.grainger.com/product/QUIC...AS01?$smthumb$



                    So ANY part of the cable that is not of good quality can lead to a premature failure at best of your solar panel setup, and at worst it can lead to a fire. Here is a couple of pictures of the wires that I made for my solar panel setup;

                    4 gauge positive (orange) and 4 gauge negative (black) wire with custom crimped ends, heat shrink tubing to protect the cable ends (as well as for identification of polarity), and custom cut to length.


                    1/0 gauge wire for my power inverter. This is a bit overkill, but in the event my power inverter pulled 200 amps from the battery bank (which is within the specifications of the power inverter) it will be able to supply the power without the cable getting hot. There are 4704 strands of wire inside this cable making it VERY flexible as shown in the picture. I was easily able to bend this cable around in a tight circle, and when I let go it went back to being straight.

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                      Nice writeup David!!!

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                        Okay, I am sold on a company and a brand. Missouri Wind and Solar ( http://store.mwands.com/index.php? ) and MidNite Solar Classic charge controllers are awesome! If you want a large or small off-grid system, a hybrid system, or you are just thinking about getting started in alternate energy, give Missouri Wind a call! They are awesome and will answer and all questions you may have and they will help you in designing your system!

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                          I'm stoked! My MidNite Solar Classic 150 charge controller came in! Time to have fun now

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                            Man, one needs an electrical engineering degree to program this thing! I skimmed through the manual jumping to the "quick" start guide following the directions. I had to pull up a YouTube video to help me out a bit. Half way through it now.

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                              Okay, after a couple weeks of calling the manufacturer I received a replacement control board and got it going! We have decided to go a different route on the solar end so I'm going to part with all 30 of my large panels at a crazy price, $5 each! Buy all for $150 and I will include a charge controller!

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                                I sold all the project panels and, for the moment, went with four of these. Will order more later this month. Found a great deal and couldn't pass them up.

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