[elliotbnvl]

I have a goal of setting up solar on my property in the woods that goes directly to a wall of batteries, maybe Tesla, maybe something else. But definitely not going back into the grid. Does anybody have suggestions or advice on how to do this?

Who are the best companies doing this right now in New England? What products are folks using to store electricity? Are there any good resources for this kind of thing?

[MichaelNolan]

How big of an install are you looking to do? I just did a ground mount install on my property. (4kw panels, 5kwh battery) If you are good with your hands, and can follow instructions then I would recommend you do the work your self. The actual installation of the panels and battery are close to plug n play. The cost of an electrician can easily double the project costs for small projects.

For the panels I did whatever was cheapest on signature solar. For batteries and inverter I did eco-worthy. (eBay for that, they run sales pretty often) in total is was $1000 for the panels (that included delivery) and around $1200 for the battery and inverter. If you have a truck then you might be able to find cheaper panels locally.

On YouTube check out DIY Solar Power with Will Prowse. He is a certified electrician and publishes part lists and plans that are easy to follow.

[toomuchtodo]

https://www.youtube.com/@WillProwse

[KaiserPro]

I'm the other side of the pond, but

tesla isn't great value any more. For a while powerwalls were the shit And the powerwall three is nice, with direct DC charging as well as islanding.

But, only 13kwh still, and internet dependency, and very expensive.

I currently have enphase micro inverters and a power wall 2. It was the right mix at the time.

But, if you have the space, which I think you do, An insulated shed for a 19" rack, and choose any one of the many battery unit makers. Its about $200 per kwh now (in UK prices, I'm not sure what tarrifs are doing for you)

then get a frame for your solar (or build a barn and roof it with solar, its cheaper than 12mm plywood at the moment.)

Have micro inverters, they are more expensive, but solid state, less likely to catch fire, do MPPT better, and are not a single point of failure.

You'll need backup for when solar doesn't cover your daily needs, so either grid or some other power source.

[cucumber3732842]

>I have a goal of setting up solar on my property in the woods that goes directly to a wall of batteries,

>Does anybody have suggestions or advice on how to do this?

Pay a land use consultant or lawyer $500-$1k to go over you idea with you. There is a reason you do not see people DIYing land development that is not residential. You will likely find that the least terrible way to do what you're asking is to build some sort of minimal cabin or something to get the whole project to be residential. Even then you will likely have to dial back your clearing a lot and structure the project in multiple phases over many years to not incur non-starter level costs.

You're gonna learn more about the clean water act than you ever wanted to know.

[_whiteCaps_]

A few things that I've needed to deal with in my off grid setup:

I like the MidNite solar controllers.

LiFePO4 batteries are great, with a few caveats:

  - you must use batteries from the same batch, ie you can't upgrade capacity piecemeal, to avoid degrading the new ones  
  - cable lengths are important because even small differences in resistive losses between batteries can mean that one battery is doing more charging / discharging  
  - you can't charge below 0\*C, which I'm assuming could be a problem in New England

[jandrese]

Not being able to charge below freezing shouldn't be a problem if you keep the batteries indoors. Is there a reason why you wouldn't? Fire concerns? Or is it just a space issue?

[MurkyLabs]

I've found lots of communities online on both reddit and facebook for solar DIY and there's some youtubers out there that talk about what you need for this and do reviews of different batteries/inverters/panels.

From what I've heard Tesla has a high cost/energy storage rate and you'd be better of going with something else (even if you have a tesla) but it would boil down to are you wanting to set this up yourself or hire a professional to do all the wiring.

[turtlebits]

All you need is a solar charge controller and a battery, and optionally an inverter.

You dont need a company to do this for you, unless you want pay $$ to connect wires.

[drak0n1c]

If you are planning to get a Tesla car with PowerShare (it's slowly expanding to the Model Y and other vehicles) then you only really need one Powerwall 3, because the car when charged acts as ~7+ powerwalls worth of backup.