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JDCanuck
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Baja Off Grid Living
As this seems to be a pretty common discussion topic, I wondered if we might get issues related to power, air conditioning, water and gas supply all
in one spot. Might be helpful for those considering making this move. Edible and or medicinal plants that do well? If there was a section devoted to
this, I couldn't find it.
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JDCanuck
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My remaining question would be this: We have built on the Pacific Coast west of La Paz. What kind of edible plantings that produce fruit pretty
consistently do you think might survive well in our area given the very arid conditions and strong winds?
We are planning on some edibles as well as fragrant and evergreen shade trees within a wind protected courtyard. Any suggestions? Neem has been
suggested for shade. Maybe an orange tree for fruit, blossoms and fragrance? Unable at this point to locate an edible berry bush.
[Edited on 7-24-2022 by JDCanuck]
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larryC
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To help get this section started off I would suggest to anyone thinking of building a new solar system to use a higher voltage battery bank as in 48v,
but 24v is good also. The advantages are numerous, ie smaller wires, less charge controllers, etc. The new LifePo4 batteries are a game changer since
you can use 80% of the rated amp hours of the battery and not do any harm to them.
If you have an existing solar system it makes sense to upgrade but you won't save as much.
As far as batteries, the relatively new LifePo4 batteries are great. There is also a growing number of people out there building their own batteries
with great success. I have built 4 so far and it is a fun project which can save you 40 to 50% of the cost of a store bought battery. For instance I
built a 300ah 48v LifePo4 battery for about $2300. The same size store bought battery was $4500.
Off grid, 12-190 watt evergreen solar panels on solar trackers, 2-3648 stacked Outback inverters, 610ah LiFePo4 48v battery bank, FM 60 and MX60
Outback charge controllers, X-240 Outback transformer for 240v from inverters, 6500 watt Kubota diesel generator.
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JDCanuck
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Quote: Originally posted by larryC  | To help get this section started off I would suggest to anyone thinking of building a new solar system to use a higher voltage battery bank as in 48v,
but 24v is good also. The advantages are numerous, ie smaller wires, less charge controllers, etc. The new LifePo4 batteries are a game changer since
you can use 80% of the rated amp hours of the battery and not do any harm to them.
If you have an existing solar system it makes sense to upgrade but you won't save as much.
As far as batteries, the relatively new LifePo4 batteries are great. There is also a growing number of people out there building their own batteries
with great success. I have built 4 so far and it is a fun project which can save you 40 to 50% of the cost of a store bought battery. For instance I
built a 300ah 48v LifePo4 battery for about $2300. The same size store bought battery was $4500. |
Thanks Larry: Could I ask how much you think a person should budget as a percentage of full cost to put in an initial Solar system? Your house size,
and what Air Conditioning you find adequate? Mine has come in at about 12% to date, but I suspect it goes down significantly as we enlarged the size
of the house.
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SFandH
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Fruit trees?
Lots of citrus in the Mulege area. Date palms in San Ignacio. Mangos around Todos Santos. These areas all have fresh water supplies.
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JDCanuck
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| Quote: Originally posted by SFandH | Fruit trees?
Lots of citrus in the Mulege area. Date palms in San Ignacio. Mangos around Todos Santos. These areas all have fresh water supplies.
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Mangos sounds great, we will have to look at when they produce and whether the size fits, thanks.
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AKgringo
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I have seen some old, well established pomegranate trees in central Baja. There were some yellow ones at a church courtyard in the Comondus that were
small, but very tasty!
Key lime trees seem to do well, and maybe some variety of orange will thrive, but I don't have any personal experience.
For a berry crop, I would investigate whether a Kiwi would do well in a Baja climate. They do very well in the Northern CA foothills, but again,
that's not Baja.
I am sure that a date palm would do well, but that is a whole different kind of landscaping.
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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JDCanuck
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| Quote: Originally posted by AKgringo | I have seen some old, well established pomegranate trees in central Baja. There were some yellow ones at a church courtyard in the Comondus that were
small, but very tasty!
Key lime trees seem to do well, and maybe some variety of orange will thrive, but I don't have any personal experience.
For a berry crop, I would investigate whether a Kiwi would do well in a Baja climate. They do very well in the Northern CA foothills, but again,
that's not Baja.
I am sure that a date palm would do well, but that is a whole different kind of landscaping. |
We were considering Pomegranate as well. I think Date Palms might survive outside the protected courtyard, and maybe the flowering cactus with
medicinal qualities Udo had mentioned (Ocotillos?) in another thread as well if i try to get them growing where we presently discharge our captured
rainwater. Thanks all, you have given us some very interesting ideas.
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BajaNomad
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Thread Moved
7-24-2022 at 02:46 PM |
larryC
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| Quote: Originally posted by JDCanuck | | Quote: Originally posted by larryC | To help get this section started off I would suggest to anyone thinking of building a new solar system to use a higher voltage battery bank as in 48v,
but 24v is good also. The advantages are numerous, ie smaller wires, less charge controllers, etc. The new LifePo4 batteries are a game changer since
you can use 80% of the rated amp hours of the battery and not do any harm to them.
If you have an existing solar system it makes sense to upgrade but you won't save as much.
As far as batteries, the relatively new LifePo4 batteries are great. There is also a growing number of people out there building their own batteries
with great success. I have built 4 so far and it is a fun project which can save you 40 to 50% of the cost of a store bought battery. For instance I
built a 300ah 48v LifePo4 battery for about $2300. The same size store bought battery was $4500. |
Thanks Larry: Could I ask how much you think a person should budget as a percentage of full cost to put in an initial Solar system? Your house size,
and what Air Conditioning you find adequate? Mine has come in at about 12% to date, but I suspect it goes down significantly as we enlarged the size
of the house. |
That is not as easy a question as it should be. Every house is different and everyone's needs are different. I've been off grid in Baja since '98 and
my solar system has grown slowly over the years. I've seen lots of solar systems everything from 2 car batteries and a 350 watt harbor freight
inverter to some newer ones with more than 10kw in panels and 13kw inverters.
Your needs will be different than mine for sure and trying to budget a percentage of the cost to build a house plus the solar system would drive me
crazy. Basically you need to sit down and figure out if you need air conditioning, refrigeration, are you going to be running welders in the garage,
etc. and come up with a preliminary plan and then at least double if not triple it. The instant your wife finds out there is electricity in the out
let she will plug a coffee maker into and a microwave oven and more. You gotta love 'em and I do.
I have a small house at about 900sf. I have 2- 1 ton mini splits and run them both if I need to cool the house quickly and then run only 1 the rest of
the night. That will bring one of my 300ah batteries down to about 10% SoC and in the morning I fire up the generator for 2 hours and get a charge
back into the batteries and then turn off the gen set and let the sun top off the batteries the rest of the day. I used to run the gen set all night
before I got the lifepo4 batteries but that used a lot of fuel, 2 hours I can afford.
I'm really not good at the technical stuff so I just build a system and add to it if I need to.
Off grid, 12-190 watt evergreen solar panels on solar trackers, 2-3648 stacked Outback inverters, 610ah LiFePo4 48v battery bank, FM 60 and MX60
Outback charge controllers, X-240 Outback transformer for 240v from inverters, 6500 watt Kubota diesel generator.
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Alm
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With solar it's easier doing it right from the beginning than building a percentage of full system and expanding it later. You need to do your energy
audit - how much Kwh a day with whatever you think to run. This will give you approximate size of solar array. Winter or summer, there is a big
difference. Less sun in winter but you don't need A/C. Then budget the battery bank, inverter etc. Then multiply solar size by 1.5 because like Larry
said once your wife finds out that there is electricity in the outlet she'll want to plug in - well, a lot. There are offgrid alt-energy forums that
you might want to start with, here is one https://forum.solar-electric.com/.
Propane is a separate topic.
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JDCanuck
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Larry; That is a lot of info thanks. I have a 2600 sq ft house with a separate guest wing with its own kitchen and fridge/stove, 2 car garage and run
pretty much all the same loads I run up here. This meant a significantly larger solar system than you require, I agree. I have not had to run the
backup generator yet, but it's there in case of system failures. Propane is for the extra stove, bbq and if we do run hot water to soaker tubs and of
course the generator. So our solar is designed to carry a fully electric home, including the hot water tanks.
We have 24 panels, each 445 w, and two Inverters supplying 6 racked lithium 48v 3.455kwh batteries. Most would find this excessive, and it is at
present but we hope to have excess to charge a future EV late in afternoons.
I purposely oversized the panels and undersized the batteries for our full future anticipated use for present cost reasons.
A\C: 2 1/2 tons mini split inverter heat pumps (2) and one 1 ton cooling only in the main bedroom which I find more than meet either winter heating or
summer cooling needs.
[Edited on 7-25-2022 by JDCanuck]
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RFClark
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Yes, there should be a new category for “Living Off the Grid”!
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RFClark
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We live in a gated community plus we have security cameras that notify us when something or someone shows up. The community well is up next to the
highway and has been burglarized several times in the last year.
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JDCanuck
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Locked gates, signage and confrontation by residents....some people respect the signs and locked gates. Others believe anything in Baja is free game
to travel and inspect at will. More security will be forthcoming, no doubt. I would really hate to get to the point of Nuevo Vallarta Fortress where
visitors are met by armed security guards and given pre-approved time restricted "passes" to enter and visit friends. At that point it gets to be a
self-inflicted prison.
[Edited on 7-25-2022 by JDCanuck]
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Alm
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11kw solar will keep you afloat in daytime. With solar it's all or nothing, on a good day you get "all" and want a big bank to store it for rainy
day, literally. With that much solar that would be at least 40 kwh bank, this is 12*3.455 kwh.
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RFClark
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Alm,
With flat mounted high voltage (250VDC) solar arrays (6 panels in series) you still get 20% of the normal output even on overcast days. With Lithium
batteries you can charge at high rates so 2-3 hours of generator in the evening will carry you. 10 - 20 KW of batteries should be enough. What you
need depends on your base load.
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JDCanuck
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Alm: With ours all we have needed overnite is the 20 kwh storage. In a bit over a year, we have never needed more, even during cloudy periods. Night
loads are very much reduced compared to the daytime use of 3 hot water tanks, laundry, dishwasher and Induction stove. LP Generator is there just in
case, but so far not needed. AC loads to maintain 23 degree temps throughout are pretty minimal with inverter mini splits.
Lithium batteries generally still have about 30-40% left in morning.
The choice for the remaining 20KWH batteries installed was $10,000 plus, or a backup Cummins 17kw generator at $6,000. Zero LP gas used so far, so
seems to have been the right decision at this point. Batteries will get cheaper and that may change in future.
[Edited on 7-26-2022 by JDCanuck]
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larryC
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JD, Your system sounds pretty robust. What inverters are you using?
Off grid, 12-190 watt evergreen solar panels on solar trackers, 2-3648 stacked Outback inverters, 610ah LiFePo4 48v battery bank, FM 60 and MX60
Outback charge controllers, X-240 Outback transformer for 240v from inverters, 6500 watt Kubota diesel generator.
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JDCanuck
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My installer supplied Victron Inverters, controllers and Pylontech batteries
I had asked for Schneider inverters and Canadian Solar panels with Simplifi batteries,, he overruled me and I'm very glad he did. Pays to have an
expert do the installation and keep out of his way.
[Edited on 7-26-2022 by JDCanuck]
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Alm
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| Quote: Originally posted by RFClark | Alm,
With flat mounted high voltage (250VDC) solar arrays (6 panels in series) you still get 20% of the normal output even on overcast days.
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Output drops when solar irradiation drops, regardless of total array voltage or whether it's flat or tilted. They are usually titled anyway, minimum
few degrees to shed rainwater and dust. Higher voltage reduces wire losses, thinner cables, easier for contractor to work with. In overcast the
output drops, in rain it could drop to mere few percent. I remember last winter there was a wet spell lasting more than a week, it was raining every
day, though not all day, this is still Baja.
I doubt that panel brand matters. This is just a commodity, the more - the better.
[Edited on 7-27-2022 by Alm]
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