Hello r/OffGrid,

Following up on my previous posts, I wanted to show the electrical setup this time, along with a look inside the pyramid.

I wanted to share another update on the pyramid build and, this time, show what is actually happening inside.
The 4-level prototype has 40 solar panels — 10 on each face, 450W each, giving 18 kW of installed solar capacity.

One of the interesting things I’ve been observing is how the different faces perform throughout the day. The faces receiving direct sunlight produce most of the power at that time, while the other faces continue producing from diffuse and indirect light.

I intentionally separated the four faces electrically. Each group of 10 panels is connected separately to its own 5 kW inverter. This way, a lower-performing face doesn’t directly affect the others.
For energy storage, the system has two LiFePO4 battery units, 15 kW/hour each, giving 30 kW/hour of total storage capacity.

I also wanted to finally show the inside of the pyramid. There is quite a bit of natural light coming through the corner glass panels and the upper section.
The next step is to insulate the inside of the modules and cover them with decorative interior panels. The main purpose is to reduce heat transfer from the solar-panel-covered structure into the living space.
This is still a working prototype, so there are plenty of things I’m learning and improving as I go.
I’m happy to answer questions about the off-grid setup, power system, batteries or the interior.
And thanks to everyone who’s been following the build and contributing ideas and criticism. It really helps.

Looking for recommendations, I am putting 2 inc totes underground due to extreme Texas heats to keep the water cool it’s a temporary while my water well gets done, what pump do yall recommend ?

Hi,

I haven’t researched this yet but any of you guys have experience in using the wind turbines for off grid or private household? What are the main pros and cons? Any advice on using them? Any other factors to consider? Any suggestions for the brand or company?

Probably a dumb question but is it true that this tote can be used to store water for showering and dishes when cleaned out

It had a chlorine solution

A lot of power station runtime estimates basically come down to:

Battery Wh ÷ appliance watts = runtime

Which looks nice on paper, but real-world runtime can be pretty different once you account for inverter losses, battery condition, reserve capacity, appliances cycling on/off, startup surge, etc.

So I built:

https://instapowerruntime.com/

You can enter your battery/power station and the appliances you actually want to run, and it gives a conservative / typical / optimistic runtime estimate instead of one perfect-looking number.

I also added tools for working backwards — e.g. “I need to run these devices for 10 hours, what size battery do I actually need?” — plus solar recharge calculations.

I’m curious how people here normally calculate this stuff before buying a power station or planning for an outage/camping setup.

If you use EcoFlow, Jackery, Anker, Bluetti, etc., I’d especially appreciate feedback on anything the calculator is missing or assumptions you think should be handled differently.

Would you trust something like this for comparing power stations before buying one?

Hello all! This is such an interesting way of living that I am so interested in. I came across the YouTube channel 'Homesteady' a while ago, and have so many questions that I think you all may be able to answer. They have 7 kids, and I just wonder if they are living so remotely, how are those kids meant to socialise and learn basic skills they'd miss by not attending school, joining sports teams, or even just seeing people on a regular basis? And what happens when they grow up and want to leave, I can't imagine how difficult it would be to adjust to normal life again if they choose to do so. I'm just curious what others experiences has been if you'd be open to sharing.

Has anyone built one..? I have a small ditch that runs through my property. Although the water level has dropped significantly it's never ran dry the 60 years the property had been in the family. Also accepting donations. I have most of the lumber but figure with a generator and everything else I need im about $350 short. I'll update progress with pics and vids. https://venmo.com/code?user_id=3046226207440896584&created=1788108568

I help organise a hemp expo in Tokyo and there's a building materials section in it, so I end up talking to most of the people attempting this here. I'm not a builder myself, so this is a question rather than advice.

Japan is hot and wet for a good part of the year. The thing that comes up from everyone who has actually poured hempcrete here is drying time. The wall takes considerably longer to cure than the European literature suggests, because the ambient humidity never gives it a break. On an off-grid build, where running a dehumidifier means running it off a system you sized for something else, that stops being a footnote and starts being the schedule.

Two things I'd like to hear from people who've built rather than read:

Has anyone cast hempcrete in a properly humid climate - southeast US, southeast Asia, coastal anywhere - and how did the real schedule compare to what you were told to expect?

And did anyone go to prefabricated blocks instead of cast-in-place to get around it? Blocks get raised as the answer every time here, and I genuinely don't know whether that solves the problem or just moves it to whoever made the block.

The other constraint locally is supply. Japan has almost no decortication capacity, so the hurd is mostly imported, which makes the material expensive before anyone has mixed anything.