Project Offgrid

Fresh start at the new house in 2026. Where the original solar project was a smaller, learn-as-I-go build constrained by the fact that we were already planning to move, Project Offgrid is designed to be the long-haul system for the house I intend to stay in.

Goals

  • ~20kw of PV — large enough to comfortably cover the 120-160 Kwh/day summer cooling load.
  • ~54kwh of battery storage — enough to actually carry the house overnight.
  • 85% off-grid capable — with a backup generator for the remaining 15% (snow cover, week-long rain).
  • ROI inside the decade — done by reusing hardware from the old build and skipping the contractor markup.

Timeline

  • Project Offgrid, Introduction (2026-05-17)

    • Project kickoff. Goals, hardware selection (EG4 FlexBoss21, YIXIANG 32kwh pack, 40 used panels), wiring plan, panel-placement / 300ft wire run, and budget/ROI math.

  • Initial Planning & Digging Ditches (2026-05-23)

    • Materials arrive. Panel-rack design (64ft × 8ft drill-string frame at 34°), then digging ~300ft of trench to the garage and front gate — finding buried fiber, an old shed feeder, and assorted water lines along the way.

  • Days 3-4 - Playing in the Mud (2026-05-24)

    • Remaining ~300ft of solar trench dug, drilled the holes, ran 1" PVC + 2/2/2/4 URD + comms + PEX out to the field, and tunneled under the sidewalk (round 2) with a new pressure washer.

  • Garage Build Begins (2026-05-30)

    • Cleared the garage wall, hung Hardie Backer + Unistruct, mounted the EG4 GridBoss and FlexBoss21, ran a p2/2/2/4 feeder out to the shop, and finished off the water-line repair.

  • Garage Build, Part 2 (2026-06-02)

    • Mounted the 200A main panel and the 125A critical-loads subpanel, swapped the destroyed shop subpanel, ran EMT between all four enclosures, and pulled the 4/0 main feeder + 2 AWG inverter conductors. Garage temporarily back on power.

  • Building the Solar Panel Racking (2026-08-10)

    • Designed the 60-panel rack in Fusion, then cut and welded five frames out of discounted 2 7/8" drill string with weldable saddle caps. Set and concreted the posts through solid sandstone, built a leaf-spring lifting jig, and welded the 64ft top rail in place. Plus a stump that refused to die, and two flat tires.

  • Installing the Solar Panels (2026-08-11)

    • Switched from angle iron to 2x6 rails after ordering the wrong stock, built 48 angle-iron brackets, and mounted 48 panels — first the hard way on top of the frame, then by assembling sections on the ground and dragging them up with a 4-wheeler. Pulled 3,000ft of 12 AWG out to the array, added Tigo TS4-A-O optimizers on every module, and fitted DC disconnects and surge arrestors inside the FlexBOSS21.

Hardware

Carried over from the previous build:

  • Eaton outdoor critical-loads panel
  • Tigo optimizers
  • 5kw of solar panels
  • 20kwh of EG4-LL / EG4-LLv2 server-rack batteries

New for this build:

  • EG4 FlexBoss21 inverter (replaces the Solark 12k)
  • EG4 GridBoss
  • YIXIANG 32kwh battery pack
  • 40 used PV panels picked up locally ($40 each)
  • 2,500 ft of 12 AWG THWN-2 + 1" PVC conduit for the 300ft run to the back field
Last updated: August 11, 2026 · Created: May 24, 2026