last edit: 2026-09-29
I have always been fascinated by electronics and building things with my hands and I am so happy that I was able to use my skills to help a friend in need. Robert helped me and taught me a lot over the years and now that he is retired and living offgrid out of a trailer spending $40+/day on gasoline to run a generator to power a fridge and air conditioner, I am able to give back and help him.
My goals for this project were to offset some of his reliance on gasoline and to do so in such a cheap way to demonstrate to other people in similar circumstances how it's feasible to use renewables in a way that is not only cheaper in the long run, but attainable immediately upfront. If someone is spending $500-$1000/mo on gasoline and owns a generator worth $1000, then that puts me in a ballpark of wanting to be able to build an entire system for around $1000.
A typical 2kw system brand new might cost $800 for the panels, $2000 for the batteries, $200 for the charger, and $400 for the inverter. It can be even more expensive to buy an all in one hybrid system that is plug-and-play making it easier to setup but then becomes a single piece of hardware the whole system relies on with no room for upgrading or replacing if one sub-system breaks. There is a lot of cost saving that can be done by using:
Robert now has a solar system that he can add both panels and batteries to over time.
Robert no longer has to use nearly as much on gasoline because solar is running some of his day-to-day power needs.