The US Bureau of Labor Statistics witnessed an electricity price hike of 13% from Feb 2022 to 2023. This, coupled with some other factors, is trending the concept of off-grid living. And while living off-grid, the continuous power supply is crucial. But can solar generators serve this purpose?
The single-word answer could be yes, but demands an understanding of various factors like what could be the potential benefits of living off-grid with solar generators, what are the best solar generators for off-grid living, and what size generator you need for an off-grid house.
This comprehensive guide will look into the realm of off-grid living with solar generators by answering all your queries related to this.
What Is Off-Grid Living?
Living off-grid is basically an idea that involves producing your own resources for a more sustainable and self-sufficient lifestyle. The fundamental concept of off-grid living revolves around relinquishing the energy dependency on the conventional grid. However, it can also include managing your own water and food resources.
This shift promotes minimalist living and urges individuals to prioritize quality over quantity, further reducing the environmental impacts of consumerism.
Away from the endeavors of city life, off-grid living could be a dream lifestyle for someone. But, this choice is not easy and comes with multiple challenges. Among these, maintaining a reliable power supply at top. However, to counter this solar generators are a reliable option, but they have high initial costs and require a prudent approach before opting for them.
Can You Live off the Grid with a Solar Generator?
YES! Solar generators are reliable and efficient sources for your off-grid energy needs. They consume solar radiation to produce power that can be consumed directly or stored in batteries to use during times when the sun is not shining.
Various types of solar generators are available in the market depending on their size and power-generating capacity.
However, solar generators are not an exact replica of conventional grid power. Thus, it requires careful planning if you decide to live off-grid with solar generators. This includes understanding your energy consumption patterns and choosing a unit that can effectively fulfill your off-grid energy needs
The Benefits of Using Solar Generators for Off-Grid Living
The popularity of solar power is evidently high among other renewable. And, of course, why should it not be? They have bundles of benefits on the table that make them a perfect partner for your off-grid endeavors. Here’s why you should rely on them.
Clean energy production
While the threats of climate change are looming on humanity, the need for clean and green energy is inevitable. Solar generators are best to serve the purpose. They only consume sunlight to produce energy without any reliance on fossil fuels, ensuring a zero carbon footprint from your side.
Additionally, while the other traditional generators are noisy, solar generators have quiet operations, ensuring you are living a peaceful and pure life.
No power outages anymore
Energy independence is the fundamental aspect of off-grid living. With solar generators, you are not only producing your own power supply, but also you do not need to worry any further about long power cuts and massive energy bills. You can generate your own energy as much as you want and use it wherever, whenever you want.
Cost-effectiveness
The high initial cost of solar generators is a big concern associated with them. But the case is quite different if we look at calculations in the long run. You see, with solar generators, there are no fuel and nearly zero maintenance costs involved. This means as long as your generator is working, your energy is totally free.
Furthermore, regarding the lifecycle of these units, if purchased from a reliable source like BLUETTI, they can extend between 15 to 25 years. Eventually, all your initial costs will be paid back, saving your pocket from all those heavy energy bills.
Versatility
Living off the grid is not only the periphery of living in a house without grid power. It also includes nomadic lifestyles like RV or camping with a cabin.
Sleek and compatible designs of solar generators make them easily portable and convenient to install. Eventually, whatever your need is, their versatility ensures they are able to withstand that.
Expandability
Working of solar generators involves solar panels to produce power and batteries to store extra produced power. If your energy consumption pattern grows, you can easily install extra solar panels or batteries to meet your needs, depending on your requirements.
Additionally, the extra energy produced by solar generators can also be sold out to grid power.
Related articles: How to Live off Grid in Your RV with Portable Solar Power
Beginners Guide to Solar Power Systems for Off-Grid Living
What Is the Best Solar Generator for Off-Grid Living?
How to Choose the Best Solar Generator for Off-Grid Living?
Solar generators consist of 3 main parts that include solar panels, batteries, and inverters. Choosing all these parts to make a unit that perfectly aligns with your needs could be overwhelming. However, by understanding some essential factors, you can make wise decisions. These include
Understanding your energy consumption patterns
Choosing a solar generator necessitates the calculation of your energy consumption. The task is easy. You only have to enlist all the devices that you want to power while living off-grid.
Now check their wattage requirement, given on their labels, and make a rough estimate about how much power you will need in total to run these devices. This total should be less than the total output capacity of your solar unit.
Storage capacity of batteries
Solar generators only generate power during the daytime. Thus, batteries are crucial to have an uninterrupted power supply. They store the extra power generated by the unit to be utilized during cloudy days or nights when the sun is not available.
While choosing a solar generator, ensure it supports battery expansion. BLUETTI AC200MAX is a perfect example of this case. The unit comes with a built-in battery of 2048Wh, which can be expanded up to 8192Wh.
Efficiency of solar panels
Solar panels are a fundamental part of solar generators. Their multiple variable are available in the market depending on their power-producing efficiency.
As a general rule of thumb, choose solar panels that have an efficiency rating of 20% or above.
Selecting inverter
Solar panels convert sun rays into DC currents, which are further converted by inverter into AC currents to be utilized by appliances. This makes the importance of inverters inevitable, so checking their output capacity is essential to ensure they can withstand your peak energy requirements.
BLUETTI AC300 has a 3000W sine wave inverter with a surge rating of 6000W. This means you can run nearly all your appliances simultaneously with this unit.
Tackling space issues
Solar generators are big machines as they involve solar panels, which require sufficient space to capture sunlight. To overcome this, foldable solar panels could be your way to go. They are easily portable and can be installed wherever you want.
What Size Generator Do I Need for an Off-Grid House?
While talking about the size of the solar generator, it's not about the physical capacity but more about the power output of the unit. Though the physical size is also important while considering portability, it has no role in running your appliance.
The size of the solar generator you need for your house is totally dependent on your power requirements. There could be 2 critical prospects regarding this.
Firstly, the size of your solar generator should be double the size of your inverter. The reason behind this is quite apparent. Your solar generator has to run your appliance while charging your batteries simultaneously for use at night. Additionally, it's good to give your generator some headroom, as in cloudy weather, the power-generating capacity of the generator decreases.
The second important consideration regarding this is the elevation of your house. With every 1000-inch increase in elevation, the solar generators lose 3% of their capacity.
By taking these factors into account, you can choose a solar generator that aligns best with your power needs.
3 BLUETTI Best Solar Generator for Off-Grid Living
Living off-grid means you have no power supply from the grid, and you are totally on your own. This makes the reliability of your solar unit more crucial. Furthermore, solar generators are hefty investments, so their life span must be good to ensure you get paid back your money.
While the solar generator market is brimming with different units, BLUETTI has a strong reputation for its products' reliability, technological advancement, and good lifespan.
Additionally, most of their products come with a price match guarantee. This means you can claim the extra money within 30 days of your purchase if you find a similar unit with a lower price.
Here, we are recommending the 3 best products from BLUETTI for your off-grid endeavors. You can choose what suits you best with your needs and budget. Further, you can also explore a diverse range of products at BLUETTI's official website.
BLUETTI AC200MAX + 2*B230 + 3*PV200
This unit comes with a 2200W pure sine wave inverter and surge power up to 4800W. Its built-in battery capacity is 2048Wh, which can be expanded further up to 8192Wh with additional batteries.
These batteries are LiFePO4 type and have 3500+ charge cycles. This simply means if you take one charge cycle per day, the life span of these batteries exceeds 10 years.
Additional features include 7-way recharging streams, control through BLUETTI smart app, 9000 W max solar input, and 1400W max fast charging through a solar+AC adapter.
BLUETTI EP500 + 3*PV200
If you are always on the go and need a more powerful unit BLUETTI EP500 could be your reliable partner. This unit comes with wheels for easy portability and has an in-built battery capacity of 5120Wh. This LiFePO4 battery has 6000+ charge cycles to offer, extending its lifespan to around 20 years.
The system can be operated through a smart app. Additionally, it has a smart touchscreen, making its design sleet and use convenient.
BLUETTI AC300 + B300 + PV350
Last on our list is BLUETTI AC300, which has a 3000W pure sine wave inverter. The in-bulit battery capacity of this system 3072Wh. But what’s most promising about this unit is its expandability. It can support 4 additional B300 batteries, boosting its capacity to 12,288Wh.
These LiFePO4 batteries offer 3500+ charge cycles. Additionally, to make its recharging convenient, the system has 7 input streams and supports fast charging of 5400W through solar+AC.
Final Thoughts
Living off-grid could be a dream lifestyle for some, and for others, it could be an economic imperative. Whatever the case is, this lifestyle comes with a set of challenges, and managing your power supply is the most fundamental among them.
Solar generators are the most reliable and convenient option to deal with this challenge. Their initial costs could be a drawback but in the long run, these systems pay back every penny of your investment.
However, it's crucial to plan everything carefully and select reliable units like those offered by BLUETTI to ensure you never run out of power. Happy off-grid living.
