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Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

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Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#51

Post by 4043D »

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?

im not op but im an offgrid farmer i use lead carbon batteries they have held up well. on a 5k inverter i run a 70 inch tv, stand alone freezer and a fridge/freezer. my home lab has been reduced to a few pis a unfi usg plus a couple of access points. i have an lte 4g ptp connection. i use gas for hot water and cooking (kinda cheating) woodfire in winter and i currently cook in summer but am working on a daytime solution with some extra panels and a second inverter -> reverse cycle. these batteries are 5 years old still going strong. only thing i dont run is stuff with an element like electric kettle. other than that no huge difference in quality of life.

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#53

Post by madaxe_again »

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…

Man, that’s restrictive. I can build up to 100m2 here, external area, up to three stories, no permits or inspections.

Can vouch that roofing is hard damn work - but perfectly possible to do solo - our roof is tiny, only 70m2, but still took me about ten days from ceiling boards to tiles on. It would have been a lot easier with a helper.

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#54

Post by madaxe_again »

mdorazio wrote: post #15
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…

Do you have any measured stats on your Dishy's power consumption? I've read it's 90-100W nominal, which seems reasonable if you switch it off at night when not in use. Like other commenters, I've been also been thinking about off-grid home requirements.

Seems reasonable until you realise an LTE router draws 1-2W. I live off grid, as do a number of friends. They all rushed out and got starlink as they were making do with bad LTE installs - and now can’t use it as it’s way outside of their energy budget. I won’t consider moving to it until we have hydropower and wind. It’s just too much power for a damn internet connection.

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#55

Post by leoedin »

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…

It's really the air tightness that causes CO2 buildup, rather than insulation. "Insulation" tends to mean materials which reduce thermal conduction - e.g. rockwool, PU foam etc. You can have a very well insulated but also well ventilated space which doesn't have CO2 buildup (obviously at the cost of some thermal performance). Likewise you can have a very airtight but poorly insulated space which does suffer from CO2 buildup (the most extreme example being an inflated plastic bag). The shed may be air tight, but the presence of insulation isn't causing that.

As others have said, the solution is a heat recovery ventilation system. These use counterflow heat exchangers to move almost all the heat energy from the outgoing air to the incoming air - generally they have an efficiency of about 80%.

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#56

Post by fransje »

madaxe_again wrote: post #53
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…

Man, that’s restrictive. I can build up to 100m2 here, external area, up to three stories, no permits or inspections. Can vouch that roofing is hard damn work - but perfectly possible to do solo - our roof is tiny, only 70m2, but still took me about ten days from ceiling boards to tiles on. It would have been a lot easier with a helper.

In which country did you settle? 100m2 is already quite a building surface. Is it a maximum per land plot or per building btw?

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#57

Post by reportingsjr »

Syonyk wrote: post #30
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…

Yeah, I have a CO2 meter, and you're right. I tend to leave the window a bit open with a fan circulating, and especially if I've got a burner running for heat in the winter. During wildfire season, I just accept that a bit of CO2 is less-bad than the PM2.5 levels (100+ ug/m^3 on a bad day), though I've considered building an algae based CO2 absorber for in here. The other problem is if one has farted, it takes all da…

If you wanted to increase the air quality a good bit without losing out on too much efficiency you could look in to adding an ERV or HRV. Unfortunately since they are a fairly new and still niche item they are pretty pricey.

The Lunos eGO could work well for your shed: https://foursevenfive.com/lunos-ego/

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#58

Post by bick_nyers »

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…

I've been trying to find codes on the 100-150sqft foot shed no permit rules for various counties but can't always find it. Tried looking for the state level code (MI) to no avail. Have any tips for finding that info.? I'm also wondering what penalties I could face if I just went ahead and did it anyways (no intention of selling property), but that likely varies county by county.

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#59

Post by hindsightbias »

bick_nyers wrote: post #58
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…

I've been trying to find codes on the 100-150sqft foot shed no permit rules for various counties but can't always find it. Tried looking for the state level code (MI) to no avail. Have any tips for finding that info.? I'm also wondering what penalties I could face if I just went ahead and did it anyways (no intention of selling property), but that likely varies county by county.

Search for planning and zoning on small structures or sheds, cabins by County. I searched on Emmet with "Emmet County Building code small structure" and second link is a pdf. If they aren't indexed well, you have to look through their complete building code info and search on small or accessory structures.

Re: Solar Shed Summary: My Off Grid Office

#60

Post by Syonyk »

tomcam wrote: post #43

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.

Thanks! I hate how everything has gone to video, so I protest that as much as I can with my blog, and stick to text/photos unless a video really does add something. Glad to hear you like the format too!
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