Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office • Hacker News Board

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#41

Post by pstuart » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 1:14 AM UTC

extrapickles wrote: post #35

franciscop wrote: post #28

This is an amazing read, and something I might do some day. A thing I've learned recently living in Japan's tiny places, is that good insulation helps you keeping electricity costs down but has the disadvantage of building CO2 faster. So I would strongly consider getting a CO2 monitor for the shed. Considering size and the strong insulation you added, I doubt you can be more than a couple of hours before getting into…

You can always put in a energy/heat recovery ventilator. They use the outgoing stale air to warm/cool the incoming fresh air, so it’s more efficient than leaving a window open. Downside is they need a small amount (20-60w) of power for fans.

These should be ubiquitous. Fresh air is so...refreshing.

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#42

Post by dbcurtis » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 1:48 AM UTC

hindsightbias wrote: post #9

Having built a few sheds, tips for those in the US: 1) Most areas allow 120-150 sqft as max size with no permit. thats usually interior dimensions so if you want it all you have to buy longer lumber and cut down to maximize interior. 2) Counties usually do not allow any interior water or electrical wiring w/o inspection. So exterior solar and battery box and extension cord run in to power stuff. 3) If you buy somethi…

Well, YMMV. I looked into permit-free structures in one California county. 1. 120 ft^2 max, outside dimensions. 2. No electricity > 30VDC. 3. No plumbing. 4. No wood-burning appliances.

You could still squeeze an office or studio into something like that. But it is easy to trip over a code-requirement that needs a permit.

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#43

Post by tomcam » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 1:52 AM UTC

Great share, and incidentally I view this as a model of good documentation. It was interesting, long but not too long, engaging, very well illustrated, and also appealed to people who wanted to drill down further. The article hits all the high points, and at the end of each one there's a blank line and a brief paragraph linking to another page with more detail.

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#44

Post by insaneirish » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 2:35 AM UTC

Nice attention to detail. Couple things, for those interested in this topic for structures great and small:

1. Air sealing is typically more important than insulation, so definitely good that you foamed those windows. Sometimes it's even good to put a more elastic seal in those areas that's more robust over time. 2. By means of the rigid foam, you addressed thermal bridging, which is an important way to increase the overall thermal resistance of the assembly. 3. Depending on where it's produced, XPS foam, though readily available, is not the most environmentally friendly. In the US, it's typically produced with blowing agents that have relatively high global warming potential (GWP). 4. If you're curious about high performance building, Green Building Advisor (https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com) is a great place to visit!

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#45

Post by stephen_g » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 2:38 AM UTC

tejohnso wrote: post #13

Syonyk wrote: post #3

There's been some conversation about this at the previous link, back when it was over at syonyk.blogspot.com (I moved off that because Google ruined their new Blogger interface). Five years later... still the best place I've ever worked from. Nothing to say, really. Power is reliable, I have more of it than I really need with how much solar I've got, the generator works fine in the winter, my speakers rock, and I don…

I didn't expect Starlink equipment to be very power hungry. That's unfortunate. Really damages my rural off-grid small home fantasy.

Why not? It’s a phased array, and the bandwidth is high, so you need a decent amount of RF power. The amplifiers aren’t very efficient at the kind of frequencies it operates at so that makes it worse!

For reference, a company I worked at produced a Ka-band (27.5-31GHz) block upconverter that produced 25W (this was used for geostationary mostly, usually with a 1m dish), and it could draw something like 200 W or more when saturated.

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#46

Post by Syonyk » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 3:36 AM UTC

akiselev wrote: post #37

Syonyk wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Indeed it is, I just tried with JS disabled. That certainly wasn't the intent, I'll have to figure out what it's doing. However, it shouldn't be setting any cookies... Web dev is no longer my strong suit... never really was, but I used to know a lot more about it than I do now.

It's the fade-in animation on page load. Everything is blank until Javascript adds the "is-in" class to

Thanks, I'll see if I can resolve that. Sorry, it's been quite some years since I've messed with CSS much (just bought this template), so I'll try to resolve this. I didn't realize it was quite so JS dependent. :/

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#47

Post by Syonyk » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 3:36 AM UTC

turbocon wrote: post #34

Syonyk wrote: post #3

There's been some conversation about this at the previous link, back when it was over at syonyk.blogspot.com (I moved off that because Google ruined their new Blogger interface). Five years later... still the best place I've ever worked from. Nothing to say, really. Power is reliable, I have more of it than I really need with how much solar I've got, the generator works fine in the winter, my speakers rock, and I don…

I'm curious how your batteries are holding up? I know effectively nothing about lead acid battery lifespans, but I saw a question asked on your blog concerning the heat the batteries would be subjected too. Did you ever hook up a AC system for the batteries?

They're fine, about halfway through the expected service life. I haven't bothered heating or cooling them, they're just boring old lead acid, floating away out back.

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#48

Post by perilunar » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 5:03 AM UTC

intrepidhero wrote: post #6

Neat project! I just finished a daylight basement remodel, the corner of which is my new office, and I learned a lot of the same lessons. GRK screws are super nice. Rock wool is way nicer to work with than fiberglass. Expanding spray foam can go into lots of nooks and crannies to make a space feel less drafty. Chalk lines marking the studs are a great idea. One lesson that I'll add is that a dry wall lift ( https://w…

> Even if I never use it again

I reckon it would make a good solar panel mount. Maybe with a bit of weather-proofing.

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#49

Post by TawandaMoyo » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 5:37 AM UTC

Interesting read. I also live off-grid and repurposed an old shed to be a workspace of sorts but my solar power is only for lighting and the laptop (the inverter is just 250W) which is sad since we get lots of sunlight here. Worst part is the internet, I use shitty 3G, often can't stream even videos lol. Planning to get Starlink when (if ever) it comes to rural Africa. Inspiring post, thanks.

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#50

Post by TawandaMoyo » Tue, Oct 05, 2021, 5:39 AM UTC

tejohnso wrote: post #13

Syonyk wrote: post #3

There's been some conversation about this at the previous link, back when it was over at syonyk.blogspot.com (I moved off that because Google ruined their new Blogger interface). Five years later... still the best place I've ever worked from. Nothing to say, really. Power is reliable, I have more of it than I really need with how much solar I've got, the generator works fine in the winter, my speakers rock, and I don…

I didn't expect Starlink equipment to be very power hungry. That's unfortunate. Really damages my rural off-grid small home fantasy.

Same here, thought Starlink would be low power. Still, 100W is acceptable I suppose