Ten Years Off-Grid

This book describes real lessons learned in 10 years of constructing and operating an off-grid photovoltaic system for a homestead, starting from scratch. There are many pamphlets that suggest that one has merely to connect a few standard components together and one has an off-grid system.This is not one of those books. The sub-title of this book is "Don't Try This at Home", because it is a much more difficult and complex enterprise than those pamphlets suggest. This book goes into much detail about what is actually required and suggests what, and what not, to do. The ideal reader is engineering-minded and capable of design, installation, and construction of moderately large projects. This book includes suggestions about site orientation, panel and battery sizing, generator and battery management, component selection, electrical consumption, maintenance, and various important details the author discovered from experience despite extensive research. "Ask Me How I Know" is used as an acronym throughout the book. The system described is oriented towards mechanical cooling of a medium-sized cabin in Central Texas, but other loads in various seasons are discussed. Necessary mathematics are minimized, the style is casual, and the reader is eased into specifics.