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Learn the full list of energy capturing and processing equipment needed to build your own fully functional off-grid home. Then, meet a couple who have been living the off-grid lifestyle for decades, with all their electrical needs fully met, 10 miles from the nearest power line.
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0:00
So, do you want to see an actual example of off-grid mastery and what true energy independence
0:05
looks like in the real world? In this video, I'll put aside theory and share the inspirational story of the Ketlings
0:14
If you've ever wanted to see behind the scenes of a real-world off-grid system and discover
0:19
the details behind success, stay tuned and watch this whole video. In my last four videos, I covered a lot of groundwork and I showed you how to quickly
0:29
get started with off-grid energy mastery. I also walked you through my entire energy independence blueprint
0:36
In case you haven't watched the first four videos yet, make sure you catch up because a lot of the information I've been giving away is more valuable and up-to-date than
0:45
what you'd get in most paid courses. This is Anne and Fritz Ketling and back in 1997, they built a wonderful off-grid energy
0:54
system that has kept them going, well-lit, happy, and energized ever since
1:01
Now, sadly, Fritz passed away a few years ago, but Anne is still using the system, still
1:06
living in the home that they shared, and this video is more than a brief tour of the main
1:14
components of their system and how it all works together. This is the Ketlings' home
1:20
It's a lakeside home and you can see the solar panels there
1:25
This array has 16 different solar panels in it. If they were modern, they would probably be about 100 watts each output
1:36
That's maximum output in full sun, but these panels are older. As I said, they were new in 1997, so each one only puts out 90 watts maximum
1:48
It would be less than that in practice, so together, the array puts out about 1400 watts
1:54
or so on a bright sunny day. This panel is one of three sources of off-grid energy that all feed into the Ketlings' system
2:09
Here's just turning around from the shot that you just saw. This is the waterfront
2:14
It's a beautiful spot, as you can see, nice and secluded. Well worth creating an off-grid energy system in order to enjoy this
2:22
Towards the right, you can see the wind turbine that is part of their system
2:29
That's also been in place since 1997. It's rated at 1500 watts maximum, so when the wind is blowing good and hard
2:37
Together, that means that the Ketlings have about maximum 3000 watts of energy production
2:45
capability when the sun's shining full blast and the wind is blowing full blast as well
2:54
Here's another shot of the array. This is what you saw before. That's the 16 panels
2:59
They're ground mounted at an angle, so nice and simple. There's nothing here that follows the sun or anything like that
3:06
It's just sitting on the ground. It's easy to keep the snow and the ice off of it if necessary
3:12
If you go around to the back, you're going to see a sticker like this on every one of
3:16
those individual panels. This takes a little explaining. The top figure is the nominal peak power
3:25
That's that 90 watts I was telling you about. That's theoretical. In practice, I don't know if the Ketlings have ever gotten 90 watts out of each panel
3:34
because the real world is not the same as theory. Their place does happen to be almost exactly 45 degrees north latitude, so it's not like
3:43
they're anywhere near the equator either. 90 watts is maximum. It's probably maybe gotten to 75 or 80 on a good day
3:53
The peak power voltage, you can see there it says 18.50. That might strike you as kind of strange because what is that number
4:02
That isn't a typical number for the voltage of an off-grid energy system
4:07
What you have to understand is that photovoltaic panels like the ones you see here, they will
4:13
put out a higher voltage than they're rated to when there's no load
4:19
The Ketling system is a 12 volt system, but the panels can put out 18.5 volts
4:25
In fact, that's the voltage at which the power would be maximized from this panel
4:32
The open circuit voltage, if you go and look at the second from the bottom line, that says 22.3
4:39
That's the voltage that this panel would put out in full sun, measured with no electrical
4:44
load on it. But in practice, this is what a 12 volt solar panel looks like, and that voltage will be
4:53
reduced when there's load, and it'll be reduced for other reasons as well
4:58
You need to expect this in the world of photovoltaics. Here's that windmill I was telling you about, the wind turbine, 1500 watts maximum
5:07
It's actually remarkable that this thing is still working perfectly, because unlike the
5:12
other components, like the photovoltaic cells and the electronics, this is a mechanical thing
5:20
I mean, it spins. There's bearings and all kinds of things in there, and it's still working well
5:26
Don't forget, this is quite an old wind turbine now. Technology has improved quite a bit since the Ketlings created their system, and that
5:35
includes the wind equipment as well. Now wind and solar energy come together
5:41
They need to be stored, because it's not windy and it's not sunny all the time
5:46
So on a calm night with no moon, when it's black outside and you want to turn on a light
5:52
you're going to need some batteries to have accumulated the energy put out by the sun
5:57
and the wind. This particular battery bank, each battery that you can see is a 4 volt battery
6:07
That seems like kind of a weird number. Each battery has two cells in it, and it's a flooded cell lead acid battery
6:16
So that chemistry puts out two volts per cell approximately, and these are connected
6:23
together in such a way that a whole bunch of 4 volt cells gives a final output of 12 volts
6:31
These particular batteries are the same kind used in ocean going boats, vessels, ships
6:39
because they too need an off-grid energy system, because they can't connect to the grid of course
6:44
There's no wind or solar power on big ships like that usually
6:48
They get their electricity from a diesel generator, but the energy storage side of the equation
6:54
is still the same. And remarkably, these batteries are still working perfectly after all these years
7:04
The reason for that is because of the management style that's applied to these batteries
7:10
It's never let them get more than 20% discharged from their maximum
7:17
The less you discharge a lead acid battery, the longer it's going to keep on working for you
7:22
And that's a very important concept to understand as you're designing your system and especially
7:27
as you're using it. Now sitting between the photovoltaic panels and the windmill taken together, and the batteries
7:37
so sitting between the energy source, the energy you're producing, and the batteries
7:42
that store that energy is something called a charge controller. This is absolutely essential because the electricity coming off of photovoltaic panels and a windmill
7:56
will not be able to charge a battery properly. I mean, it'd be able to add energy to the battery of course, but it will also overcharge
8:05
the battery and in very short order it will completely ruin that battery
8:10
So a charge controller is absolutely essential. These pieces of equipment have gotten very smart in the last little while
8:20
They can do some marvelous things. In a nutshell, they monitor the voltage of the battery and then they admit a charging
8:29
current to that battery that is as close to ideal as possible
8:35
So a charge controller is going to prevent the battery from being overcharged
8:43
Modern ones, the best modern ones, also maximize the output of electricity from an array of
8:51
solar panels. They also have a charging pattern, sort of a frequency, a pulsation of electricity going
9:02
into the batteries that actually do not only extend their lives, but also helps to keep
9:10
them at a top performance for as long as possible. And they can even rehabilitate some batteries that really aren't doing as well as they should
9:22
The issue with lead-acid batteries is something called sulfation. That's one of the issues anyway
9:27
Sulfation is where sulfates, which are chemical compounds, build up on the surface of the
9:34
lead plates in the batteries and that prevents the proper chemical reaction in a battery
9:41
that produces power. So the load controller, charge controller is very important and there's some marvelous
9:48
modern examples available today for any system that you want to make
9:53
And this is the next vital thing in any off-grid energy system really, and this is the inverter
10:01
An inverter takes the kind of electricity that's in batteries, so that's direct current, DC
10:09
In the case of the Ketling's situation, that's 12 volts DC. So it takes that in and it converts it to 120 volts alternating current, AC, which is
10:21
what anything that plugs into a normal outlet in your house uses, at least in North America
10:28
In Europe and other parts of the world, the standard domestic voltage for wall outlets
10:33
is 240 volts AC. You can get inverters to produce that too from 12 volts, but in this case, we're in
10:39
North America, so it's 120 volts AC and the inverter is the thing that does that job
10:47
I want you to notice something here towards the right. There's some very big cables there and that's an important thing you need to understand
10:58
when you're involved in an off-grid system. You can have experience with electricity, household electricity, wiring and things like that
11:07
Some of that knowledge is going to transfer over to your off-grid work, but some of it
11:14
is not. One of the things that's unique about off-grid work is the fact that the voltages involved
11:20
are fairly low. So 12 volts is the lowest, you can get 24 volt systems, you can build a 48 volt system
11:28
But anyway you slice it, the voltage is fairly low and that means that to get the same amount
11:35
of power that you would from a higher voltage source, you need to have a greater amperage rating
11:41
You need to understand all this, but the bottom line is the lower the voltage, the bigger
11:47
the cables need to be because the amperage is higher in order to give the same overall power
11:53
And that's what you see here on this inverter. There's these big fat cables, one's positively charged, one's negatively charged
11:59
It's coming right from that bank of batteries I showed you. It's going into this thing here and it's being converted to 120 volts AC
12:11
Now another thing about inverters is that they have a maximum power output
12:16
So the voltage, 12 volts in this case, is one thing, but the amount of power that it
12:20
can put out, that's measured in watts. And in this case, this unit here is a 5000 watt inverter, which means that at no time
12:32
can it deliver any more than 5000 watts. If you ask it to do more than that, it will trip to protect itself
12:41
But more on inverters later, but this is essential for any system that uses anything other than
12:51
direct current. Here's a few of some of the big cable again, as I was saying
12:58
Inside is just one big fat conductor. It's not a bunch of other wires inside this outer rubber husk
13:04
It's one conductor and it's also, that conductor is not solid copper
13:11
If it was solid copper, you'd never bend this cable. It's finely stranded, so that allows the cable to be flexible and is very much like the kind
13:22
of cable that connects the starter motor on your car or truck to the battery
13:29
Because that too is a 12 volt system, low voltage, direct current, lots of amperage
13:35
So this is the kind of cable that would be used there, and for the same reasons on any
13:41
kind of an off-grid system too. Now the Kettling system was state of the art in 1997, and state of the art back then required
13:51
two different charge controllers, one for the photovoltaic panels and one for the windmill
13:57
These have gotten a lot more streamlined lately, so you can have units that combine
14:03
both of those functions. You can get charge controllers that will accept input from multiple sources
14:09
So that would be photovoltaic panels, wind turbine, standalone backup generator, and
14:17
even the grid. And they can all connect into the same charge controller nowadays and charge the battery
14:25
accordingly without overcharging it. In fact, some charge controllers are now even combined with inverters, so it's kind of one
14:33
box does everything. That's what you expect when technology gets more advanced, it tends to get more modular
14:41
and simpler to use. So that's what we've got for anyone building a system now
14:46
This is the third source of power for the Kettling's off-grid energy system, and it's
14:51
a big, fat, honking, propane-powered generator. Now you might be thinking, a generator
14:58
What do I want a generator for? I want something that's quiet and clean with no moving parts or few moving parts
15:04
I want solar and wind, but I don't want a generator, the ugly, noisy thing
15:08
Well, if you want to take your off-grid energy system seriously, you need some kind of a
15:15
generator backup. And there's two reasons why. One is that it's entirely possible that your energy needs might exceed the energy produced
15:27
by your solar panels and windmill. And if that continues for very long, the state of charge of your batteries is going to decrease
15:36
to the point where they'll actually be damaged. At no time should your bank of batteries ever be discharged more than 50% of their total capacity
15:46
Once you go below 50%, you do start significantly reducing the working life of the battery
15:53
the number of cycles that it can perform, essentially the quality at which it can store energy
16:02
So in the Kettling's case, this generator provides a backup for those times when it's
16:08
necessary to top up the batteries just to keep them in good shape
16:12
But you do not need a generator this large. This is a 10,000-watt generator, so it's pretty big
16:20
The reason why Fritz installed this is because he's a metal worker
16:24
He's retired now, but he did have a wonderful business in Germany that he sold, fabricating
16:33
metal parts of all kinds. It was a full-blown, large-scale business. He still loves to work with metal, and he still works with metal, and he even uses some
16:42
of his industrial machines, which take a honking amount of power, really big
16:47
So when he wants to fire that up, this generator will power those machines directly, as well
16:55
as keep his batteries topped up. So that's why there's a big generator here
16:58
It's in a separate building, which is an awfully nice thing, and it just rounds things out
17:05
The Kettling system really is bulletproof. It's going to keep on producing power no matter what
17:12
Here's a control unit that can automatically fire up the generator or shut it down as needed
17:21
So there is a manual override. When Fritz wants to use his great big machines, he can fire up the generator and just go ahead
17:27
and use them. But even when he's not doing that, the generator and this control is smart enough to fire up
17:34
recharge the batteries as needed. So in Fritz's case, he does not let them go below 80% of their total capacity, as I mentioned
17:43
and that's why the batteries have lasted so long. So here's Fritz, wonderful man in his metalworking shop
17:51
These are the kinds of machines and things that he runs with that generator. So it's an unusual situation, and as I said, whereas the Kettlings have this 10,000 watt
18:00
generator, you could probably get away with a 2000 watt, very small 2000 watt model that
18:07
would work. If you want it to come on automatically, it has to be electric start so that it can be
18:12
wired into the system to fire up on its own. But essentially any serious off-grid system needs solar, wind, and a backup generator
18:22
all connected and configured together to work. Just a little interest here
18:27
This is some of Fritz's metalwork. He has some beautiful stuff. Some wonderful door hinges here
18:36
He's also done some wrought iron work around the windows, decorative stuff
18:41
Yeah, all 10 miles away from the grid. And just to finish up, here's a shot of the Kettlings' home
18:51
Beautiful sort of log rustic place. And I don't know about you, but the idea that life can go on here as normal, regardless
19:01
of what the grid does, regardless of what the outside world is doing, that just kind
19:05
of adds to the seclusion and security of a place like this. At least for me it does anyway
19:10
So I hope you've appreciated and understood and benefited from this tour
19:15
There's lots more information where this comes from. A previous student of mine, Bill Vai from Nova Scotia, Canada, used the off-grid energy
19:25
mastery approach to build a small portable solar generator like the kind I showed you
19:30
in a previous video and you can see behind me. Here are some words from Bill
19:35
The diagrams, instructional videos, and written instructions in Steve Maxwell's off-grid course were very helpful for understanding and constructing my own solar generator
19:45
I've tested the unit, charged the battery, and had a eureka moment when it produced 120
19:50
volt power from the sun. Hopefully hurricane season on the east coast will not press it into service, but if so
19:56
it's ready to go. I hope you've enjoyed the tour of the Kettling system and the short video from Bill Vai
20:02
Bill followed the exact same steps that I take my students through in my off-grid energy school
20:08
The instructor team here is for all learners, helping every step of the way to make sure
20:13
energy independence really does happen. As you can imagine, it's impossible for me to work with everyone who wants energy independence
20:22
In fact, I like to keep my online courses relatively small to make sure that everyone
20:26
gets the support and help they need in a timely fashion. So as much as I'd like to help everyone, I can only accept a small number of students
20:33
right now while still maintaining the level of support that's needed to provide the energy
20:38
independence that you want. So please understand that this is a genuinely rare opportunity and spots will be granted
20:45
on a first-come, first-served basis. Some people will be shut out because there's only so much room
20:51
This is literally the best program I've ever created and it won't surprise me if it sells
20:56
out in a few hours. So keep your eyes open and jump on board as soon as registration opens
21:02
In the next video, I'll give you specific instructions that you can follow to make sure
21:06
you get a spot on the program. I'll also share more information about the Off-Grid Energy School and how it's completely
21:13
different from other things you might have seen before. So thanks very much for watching and I'll see you in the next video
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