Off Grid Living with Solar

[@UndecidedMF]

Have you ever thought about doing something like this? Don't know if I could go without my gigabit internet. And if you liked this video, check out my video on Passive Homes - 90% Energy Savings! kzbin.info/www/bejne/qZbGc2aIZdh8j7c

[@pablofreitasmachado8076]

Being thinking about doing this for a while. Only difference is i live in brazil. but i'm a software dev, who loves being outside, gaming and star wars. Lol. I don't have pets tho.

[@gmankono]

Especially once Starlink is functional for an RV, a setup like his would be great, especially if it was about 3x that size for solar and battery, so that it could be used to charge a Cybertruck to pull the trailer, so that the Cybertruck could charge for a few days while in each location. That's more my dream setup, for either vacationing or work-and-travel life, though I too would be reluctant to let my "home base with gigabit fiber" go.

[@EnigmaPenguin]

I'm currently doing this. I'm one year into living on the road and with much less solar and storage than your friend. A fixed 120w panel, a fold out 300w panel, 208Ah of batter and an invertor on the car. Honestly it's fine. We do get some batter anxiety sometimes if we aren't driving enough for alternator or the invertor to prop up things back up. But we can stay off grid for 9 days with the fridge, two laptops, two phones and a wifi router.

[@FreekHoekstra]

Starlink, lets go :)

[@MADMarcus72]

FYI, Starlink will not allow stationary usage in the begining.

[@DavidGetchel]

He has a nice setup! I live in a mini-van that has a tesla battery module running everything. A laser cutter and 3D printer, induction cooktop and large fridge. Off-grid is amazing and the freedom it allows.

[@UndecidedMF]

Nice!

[@michaeldmingo1525]

What is the 3D printer like?

[@DavidGetchel]

@@michaeldmingo1525 I have an Ender 3. It's a great, inexpensive printer to get. As far as printing with my setup, works fine. Though I've not done prints longer than a few hours.

[@kaitlyn__L]

I have family who lived in a houseboat for a long time, though never as a total lifestyle thing. But it does seem more popular for lifestylers in the UK than road based things (partially due to prejudice against Irish and Romani Travellers, partly bc our weather sucks and roads are narrow and winding; but either way the ones with lots of money to put into it tend to live in extremely long and quite narrow boats). Various posh riverbanks over here have tons of very colourful boats moored up by the side, hooked up to electricity and water, sometimes with laundry or a barbecue on the open porch/entrance. I’ve got to admit, I do like the sensation of being on the water, and with the windows “high up” in the room but only really barely above the waterline. You can get some really decent headroom in those things. The bike rides I used to take around Oxfordshire often involved spotting a houseboat I recognised from one riverside pub location being in a totally different one. (Much like this person, they seemed to stay for a few weeks when they could get a good spot.) I guess being near the pub meant you could have private home cooking and a night out all right next to each other. A beer garden as your garden. Not to mention the wildlife that lived near some of these places, amongst the aquatic plants and willows and so forth.

[@bugfeatures]

@@DavidGetchel I also live in Van, have 1kWp on the roof. But i had to leave my 3D printer (i3) at a friends place due space constraints

[@ouimetco]

Man, 2 dogs, 2 cats and 2 rabbits and a wife all in an RV? You have some serious patiences. I spent 2 months in an RV with a friend for work and I tell you it changed my mind about the whole RV living idea. Never again.

[@Mephmt]

I think about doing such a thing about 3-4 times a week. But then I quickly remember that I have a wife who is extremely stationary and a son starting school in the fall. Oh well. Solar for the house it is!!

[@vellexander4422]

If you store it properly / securely I am sure you could probably swing something like that during your son's breaks from school - wife is all on you my guy lol but it may still be something you can swing if it's that much of a dream for you :) Plus I can promise you (from personal experience) that (maybe not always in-the-moment) those trips would be something your son/children would treasure & remenice for the rest of their lives.

[@enviromental2565]

I home schooled my grandson for the first time for the 20-21 school year after he was doing terrible with Zoom classes. I was able to use an online learning course for his curriculum and it wasn't too hard to get him set up. Depending on the child, they can go through a lot of the courses themselves, although I tutored my grandson through each course as he has ADD and wants to fly through the courses in 10 seconds and not actually learn anything. Anyway, something to think about.

[@AlmightyGTR]

Steve sounds like a terrific guy. Good to hear that it is all going well, given the state of the world right now. Thanks for this video Matt.

[@glenw3814]

Oh, I DEFINITELY think about doing this. I'm glad to see how he pulled it off. I'm going to drag my feet a little longer since tech developments in batteries, PV, and internet connectivity are likely to continue bringing rapid improvements in the next few years.

[@kaitlyn__L]

I’m already amazed at how good it is, I still think of these things like 70s camper vans. But in another 5-10 years, as you say, it should be even better! Either much cheaper for the same capacities, or for the same budget far better ones.

[@pablofreitasmachado8076]

PLEASE tell me theres an RV tour of his setup. like an in depth tour.

[@job1199]

Pretty please?

[@job1199]

Pretty please?

[@GL-kx2jb]

I might do a tour of my system soon. I just finished it and a buddy sent me this video. My system is nearly identical but it charges off mains, gen, or solar and is 3kw of panels and 15kw of battery. It's all Chinese components, I won't tell you how cheap cause your eyes would roll, but out was dimes!

[@pablofreitasmachado8076]

@@GL-kx2jb looking forward to it

[@WitchAlice]

@@GL-kx2jb ooooo drop the link whenever you’ve got it!

[@quovo4]

I need a deeper dive on how he got all of those pets to get along in such a small space!

[@UndecidedMF]

I think he's Dr. Dolittle.

[@MinhNguyenTao]

He park on a "huge toilet" all the time. ha ha.

[@mirthenemrys]

I have cats, a rabbit, a parrot, a dog... one of my cats likes to hang out with the bunny, they actually play some times as well. This cat also plays with the dog. All of my animals are afraid of the parrot... smart animals

[@1971jwing]

Great life. I have been doing this for 5 years while self building a container home. We use starlink and absolutely appreciate it. Its not always convenient to be a repairman at anytime to prevent interruption and comfort. Good video!

[@RobertBeaubien]

I am also a developer and started full-timing in November. Currently on an 8 month trip across Texas, Louisiana, Florida and up the east coast this summer. We are not as energy independent having only 800w of solar power and 400ah of 12v LiFePo4 batteries on a 43ft 5th wheel bunk house. We also use a combination of AT&T and T-Mobile SIM cards and our Verizon phones for internet. It works well.

[@chaseweeks2708]

I've thought about doing exactly that. The main reason I never pulled the trigger is the size of everything required to pull it off. The trailer is huge, and requires a huge truck to pull it. By the time you're done spec'ing and building you're in for $200k. I'm still planning to build a panel van RV in the future, but not yet.

[@TwoBitDaVinci]

Yes I want to do this so badly! There's so much in just the States to see it could takes years and be so fun :) but yeah I hear yah... there are some challenges to be sure... throw 2 wild baby boys into that mix... and see how one's sanity fairs!

[@UndecidedMF]

I can't imagine doing something like this with kids.

[@beenieweenie1986]

Me too. I'm working on my EE degree and one of the things I always try to do is get professors with doctorates opinions on different possibilities and where they think the technology is going.

[@solarcabin]

I have been off grid with just a 400 watt solar power system for over 20 years in a hand built cabin. The cabin is set up like a self contained RV and I have unlimited internet with my own wifi hotspot. I run a business online so I am online full time. You can see my systems on my channel:

[@raguram9343]

@@solarcabin that's cool man 🙌

[@byronchavez7052]

El sábado h

[@Amuzic_Earth]

He just needs to replace his pick up with a cybrtrck or some other electric truck of his choice..and utilize those 5-6 KWH of daily energy he can't use right now, he would also be able to utilize the electricity supply of the RV parks to charge that.

[@Kevin_Street]

I was thinking that too.

[@didierpuzenat7280]

A truck with bi-directional CCS would be perfect!

[@mrwhips3623]

Not really necessary.

[@josephsebastian8499]

Truly inspirational and gives a new meaning this question, what is a home?. Thankyou for the time and effort put into making this video..

[@UndecidedMF]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@mikoserbousek4987]

I did something similar, although with a bus conversion. Live in it full time. Cellular, yeah you do need redundancy/multiple carriers. If you are used to gigabit you will be disappointed, especially in very rural areas with hills. Solar was much larger scale than your typical RV setup- 10 305W panels for 3050W and a 10kWh Tesla based pack. I found this was plenty for all our normal appliances, but not enough to run the heat pump and AC through the nights however. So I'm upgrading to 6000W of solar and a 43kWh battery bank this month. The goal is feature parity with a typical household's electrical, not a "mobile" experience. Here in KY it was a similar experience during the snowstorms, outages. We had internet and normal power the whole time, but couldn't run heat off solar due to continued overcast and low battery capacity. Ended up running a generator through that. Nice video! Lots of people going mobile...

[@brett4264]

I'd love to have what he has. I've always wanted to live on the road like that.

[@UndecidedMF]

The freedom is really appealing.

[@kevinfreeman3098]

Get a job as a trucker...

[@budc.8172]

Sitting here watching this from my full time RV home. Very jealous of this man's setup though. By far the worst part is bad/expensive internet but as a gamer I still manage to get by. Total fees per month are around 600$ and I've saved enough to purchase land outright to settle on. Currently working on developing the property to one day build a small cabin on.

[@campingalan]

We have a travel trailer on order; ETA is August. We plan to add a solar set up to make it fairly self sufficient. Our travel plans will be to do 1 to 2 week trips here in our state of CO and the immediate surrounding states; boondocking, not at campgrounds. We'll do this for 5 more years we plan to continue working. The RV solar company you referenced, Northern Arizona Wind and Solar, is a primary contender to do our installation.

[@MrEroshan]

I live off-grid in an RV. Traveling to and staying in areas where I want to stay. Someone asked me once how long it would take to recoup the money I spent on solar. I pointed out that in one spot we stay our nearest neighbors paid about 5 million dollars for the house they have, we paid nothing. So our system paid for itself the first time I was able to stay at a place like this with NO noise from a generator.

[@randybobandy4068]

Lol that's silly. First off they own a massive home and the property and you still only own a tiny rv.

[@medicentio]

I would definitely love to hear about his experience with Starlink. I am living in a country where Starlink has already been promoted as a solution to remote areas where landlines are too costly, and seeing the mobility of it would go a long way.

[@MichaelAConnolly]

We have done this in Australia, 3.5years and worked for 18 mths. The work problem is not so much a tech problem and more of a “what am I ding?” Problem. Sitting at beautiful locations and being stuck inside working SUCKS BIG TIME. We lasted 18 months and gave the jobs away. The tech is good for connectivity when you want it but some of the most beautiful spots have very limited access, in our case Optus V Telstra. We covered both services with multiple SIM cards Nice show!

[@UndecidedMF]

Nice. Thanks for sharing. And glad you liked the video.

[@vancel35]

I bought an RV in late 2016 and installed a basic solar setup. I was planning on maybe an early retirement and travel the country, but my plans didn't work out that way. I had to get back into my career after a gap, and I could only find a contract job in another state. Rather than sell my house, I rented it to my brother & SIL, and took my RV to my new job (this was mid-2019). COVID hit, and I was WFH in my RV for a few months before I started floating the idea of me traveling until we had to go back to the office. During my travels, I eventually added 2 more panels (total of 3 panels with 460w rated generation). I built a system using RAM mounts so that I could tilt my panels for maximum solar collection. I also upgraded from 2 lead acid batteries (original) to one LiFePo. And I switched from my original PWM controller to an MPPT. Even thought I'm back in an RV park now (in anticipation of returning to the office), I'd like to eventually connect my inverter to the main power of the RV... even if it is only manually switchable. I still use my solar power to use my laptop every day, and my shore power usage is staying very low, so that's a win. So my current configuration would get me to float charge by about noon, and I ended my work day around 2pm (in April), so I could be off-grid indefinitely, but I didn't have it connected to everything in the RV. The two main things were my microwave and my refrigerator. The microwave just wasn't connected, and the fridge was using propane. It was an amazing experience to be able to travel like that. I spent time in places that I had only driven through before (West Wendover, NV), and visited one of the few states that I hadn't yet (Oregon). I'd love to be able to travel like that again, but odds are that I won't get to with my current position. Who knows, maybe they'll change their policy now that they know remote work is productive for software engineers like me.

[@failsrus96]

You should see the Leisure Travel Vans power set ups: you can recharge the batteries with solar, propane/diesel/gas generators and shore power

[@simplethings3730]

Leave it to those guys to forget all about the dilithium crystals😁

[@mirthenemrys]

Been telling my wife i want to do a school bus conversion. I dont want to full time live in it, but for long road trips around the country it would be nice to always have a comfy bed, loads of power, ac/heat, all the comforts.

[@trompbakker9545]

My dad and I converted an old German banking truck to an rv. I did al the electrical with a lot of help from KZbin. 3x 320 Wp mono crystaline solarpanels, Victron Multiplus 2 24V, Victron mppt, cerbo GX with AliExpress touchscreen and 2x 12V 170 Ah AGM battery's. It's a very capable system. We have an 230V AC unit, fridge/freezer, toilet (with built-in 'blender'), coffee machine, hydrophore etc. Monitoring everything through Victron👌

[@calgal8308]

I would Absolutely love going off the grid. I agree with you about moving from a stationary home to either a tiny home or an RV would be difficult for me. I wish that I was able to put solar shingles on my home and run completely off of solar and batteries. Unfortunately I don’t have enough real estate on top of my home to do that. However, I can live vicariously through your videos. Another outstanding video! Thank you!

[@Chris_at_Home]

I love seeing people do these kinds of self sufficiency projects. Solar and inverter technology has really become affordable, now if we can just get good quality batteries without breaking the bank.We have a remote cabin where the only thing we have to haul in is propane and food. I put together a solar system to fit our needs and it works great. We run a freezer with this along with most home appliances including a small washing machine. This summer I am adding a solar heater that works to heat the water in our RV water heater. If I had an RV I’d mount a 6” x 10’ ABS as a preheater for the water heater.

[@Off-Grid]

Don't see why not. We're off grid and lived in our RV for a year. We bought our system through Northern Arizona Wind and Sun too.

[@sapelesteve]

Interesting video Matt. I envy your friend for taking that leap. The caveat here is that you have to be young to go down that road. Us old folks need to be stationary in order to be close to our health care providers & facilities. Traveling once or twice a year suffices for us! Yes, I would like to see some follow ups of his journey. My guess is that his favorite song is "On The Road Again" by Willie Nelson!! 👍👍😉😉

[@kaitlyn__L]

I know a disabled couple who did this but you’re right they’re relatively young. But even before the pandemic they mostly talked to their doctors online due to difficulty leaving the house. They basically worked out given housing costs in any areas they could safely live, it was cheaper to get a big comfy RV and just drive back to hometown for annual checkups, with regular appointments being remote anyway. So I do have to wonder if technology will allow that to be more viable for older folks in the future. Obviously if you need to go in for blood tests or small physical treatments that can’t currently be replaced by online.

[@g-tech3113]

I really want to build a tiny home, this type of content is really useful for my research purposes. It makes me so happy to see how viable it is to live off grid. I'm a game developer, so seeing his work station puts a big smile on my face. Hopefully one day soon :)

[@denniss3980]

I have been living in my RV for over a year, I love it,

[@ryanzacsanders]

yes, have thought of it. even with an ev upfront. nice set up they have

[@jodydewey3516]

His system is small compared to some people off grid living in skoolies. I have seen systems as high as 5KW and able to run AC on the battery. It is a great way to go and a great way to see the country and enjoy what life has to offer.

[@doingthisfor25years]

When your friend says he's energy independent, please don't forget that rather huge pickup truck that looks like it runs on diesel. I'm all in favor of experiments like this, but you have to look at the whole picture. Love your series.

[@michaelfink64]

As I get older, I feel the cold more in winter and have been daydreaming about the 'grey nomad" lifestyle, heading north (I live in Australia) for winter and seeing some of the more remote parts of the country. I have a Cybertruck Trimotor on preorder, so this, combined with a caravan/trailer with solar panels and battery would be an awesome energy independent set up. I have done some research and there is an Aussie company called ERV that has caravans/trailers with this sort of gear. They trialled it with a couple in the outback for 6 months and it sounds as though it worked very well.

[@xr181]

I did something similar last year, just on the opposite end of the price spectrum. I bought a cheap long wheelbase VW Crafter (similar to a Sprinter) with 500K kms, stuck some solar panels on top, a fridge/freezer, inverter, 4G modem, a mountain bike and windsurfer. I had some real adventures in that van! I toured New Zealand in this van for a few months while doing full time software development. With 180 watts of solar, a weak 100 Ah lead acid battery and a power hungry gaming laptop it was challenging at times but overall worked pretty well before covid hit. This setup looks sweet, I wonder how much it cost? My 4G modem worked surprisingly well but was very expensive and you need to be careful about remote areas with no cell coverage. Starlink would have been ideal.

[@JBoy340a]

Nice. With Starlink coming to RVs and other platform this will be more common. I would love to try it.

[@williamclark6466]

This is great. I'm glad their new lifestyle is working out well for them.

[@clavo3352]

Nice funny video. Importantly informative. Raised as a farmer/rancher have been thinking about energy independence since about 1971. One thing is a highly insulated space like 7 ft. under ground. Also, a super insulated building/RV. There's much energy savings in some passive systems. Surprised he didn't have a few sailboat windmill generators.

[@GuardsmanBass]

That's pretty cool that he got that working as a mobile home/work set-up, although I don't think it's really for me. You see a lot of cool sights, but there's probably a lot of tedium driving on the open road in between them. Although I think when they invent self-driving RVs, this type of thing is going to become much more common as something to do either for a long vacation (for rental) or living arrangement (for purchase).

[@jpe1]

I found a great source of batteries for RV and tiny house applications: used EV racecar batteries. Cells that are no longer “good enough” for racing still have plenty of life left in them for off-grid living applications, and they cost a fraction of what brand new cells cost.

[@aussie2uGA]

Would love to hear more. Do you have links or more info?

[@garethbaus5471]

Where would you find these?

[@jpe1]

@@garethbaus5471 I've replied twice to your comment but what I post seems to keep disappearing. I'm not sure what's going on, but I'm thinking KZbin might not let me put a URL in a comment. The EV race team is Electric Vehicle Sports Racer and their website is at evsr.net if you have trouble finding them reply here.

[@garethbaus5471]

@@jpe1 thank you.

[@shortbuslife3440]

I'm doing the same here in Scotland but am on shore power during winter as don't have LiFe batteries and weather can be bad here for weeks but have everything a house would have with 1375w of solar, induction hobs, washing machine, tumble dryer, fridge and computer plus for heat I use a rocket mass heater which is also a range cooker so no gas appliances to worry about. After 3 years everything works great and life is very comfortable plus as an added bonus it's much cheaper living and I produce less waste/rubbish.

[@tisorok]

YESSSSS, OKAY. I want to build a boat and run the entire thing off solar and the fact that he did it has me super excited. Oh, and I want it to be a House Boat.

[@kennethalmond8922]

A key thing left out of this discussion is heat and cool. We opted for mini-split (e.g. electrical) for heat and cool as apposed to propane or diesel for heat. In our rig, it takes about 10kwh to heat (at 72F) for 24hrs if the temp goes down to 35F low. So maybe 7kwh if we only heat to 60F (and dress warm)? So we sized your battery bank about 3x larger than this video on a much smaller rig and can only do 1.2kw of solar - overall its not enough unless one stays in sunny/moderate temp areas.

[@JordaanFPS]

Yes, we want to hear about how he is doing with Starlink!

[@g-r-a-e-m-e-]

The detachable trailer makes a lot of sense. A lot of people like the idea of living this way - but would never actually do it.

[@marin.aldimirov]

I've been thinking about that for some time now. BUT I'm dreaming of a fully electric setup, electric campervan, electric everything, charged by solar. So you don't even have to have separate battery. You share the same battery between the engine and the house part. You stay at 1 place for about a week, get 200-300 km of range off solar and then go to the next location. Really totally independent end climate friendly.

[@austinrausch9836]

Matt I don't just think about doing something like this, I dream of it. Great video, thank you!

[@Topgun12776]

Yes, I have thought about it. Would love more content about his setup and if he has a KZbin channel or others doing similar living off grid.

[@paulsmyers203]

I have 2100W of solar and 1200ah of 12v batteries on my boat. It's amazing he has so much solar on his RV.

[@kerrfamilylaw7487]

Hi. I also signed up for Starlink and live in a-currently-stationary-RV. But I have to move and I currently have no where to go, so I might end up wandering...my ability to earn is also dependent on 24-hour internet, so if/when Starlink goes mobile, super please do something on this! Thanks for all you share. I always enjoy your explorations and insights and the way you make it accessible for those of us without a tech background. Cheers.

[@matthanrath497]

Fencing off the trailer allows pets to go under the trailer and dogs guard you better. Barking can be an issue, but is worth it. Also stainless steel is way stronger more versatile and vehicle can be electric also. Tesla Semi is the best way to go fully charged with solar power and so many more options. Grow your own food.

[@alfs3]

we've been talking about doing this for a while now but just renting an RV and testing it out with our 3 kitties so thx so much for posting this interview up matt! what i'd love to know is how do they plan out where they're going to park and stay along the way. are they just staying at RV parks or campsites or what? I see they're on the beach in the vid but that's prob few and far between. we need a part 2, 3, 4....

[@asdafafsafda]

During the season you'd probably have to plan out your stops well in advance and/or stay places longer, especially if you wanted to be near the major sites you want to visit. With that much solar you can be extremely flexible. Off season I bet its way easier. Worst case you walmart parking lot your way to someplace with lots of BLM land. I know at least a couple of the youtube channels that do full-time RVing have videos about that issue. Especially the people who use Class-A RVs.

[@MrRickyw01]

Ferrel(feral) is living up to what his name infers: to escape constraints of civilization. Excellent reportage. Keep it up.

[@DiveHard]

This is the episode we have been waiting for. Thank you Matt!

[@UndecidedMF]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@PlaylistWatching1234]

really like the specifics here

[@MyrKnof]

Yea, I'm pretty jelly of that setup.

[@susanrosegale6646]

I am interested in hearing more about RV Starlink - yes!

[@geek2330]

Would be nice to see this setup with the Cyber truck when it comes out

[@linc234]

Making this happen is my current goal in life

[@PlanktoniusRex]

It is doable but the cost is STAGGERING. I cannot imagine many who can afford this lifestyle but for those who can it looks awesome. These days almost anything is possible if you have the funds. We did this but not roaming in an RV. We are in a cabin on solar and generator back up. We get by on 900 watts of panels and about 300 Ah of battery in the bank. Cellular internet access on an unlimited plan. My biggest concern in an RV would be the wear and tear on the equipment for the power. With a lot of travel I would think that would take a beating.

[@hobie18m]

What about running A/C? Can those batteries handle running A/C all night in the deep south in August?

[@tysalerno2166]

Definitely want to hear about mobile Starlink, sounds epic

[@MayankJairaj]

OMG the solar setup is so raddddd!!

[@MayankJairaj]

Okay the bet collection is more rad

[@peterlabiak1051]

Living mobile off grid is my dream... StarLink would really allow it as data is needed everywhere.

[@tokencon]

Great video Matt. I thought about living out of a mobile vehicle for years. The video inspires me pursue it even more. The internet would be an issue though!

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks! Glad you liked it. Seems like Starlink may solve the internet challenge soon though.

[@tokencon]

@@UndecidedMF Starlink could be the answer indeed.

[@abrenos3744]

He didn't talked enough about his generator system I find are his UPS backup, all on 2100 watts of input power, still a super cool setup!

[@DamonCzanik]

I think my ideal setup would be a fully self driving solar powered RV. I'd love the idea of traveling to different places while I slept. We are still a ways from that but I can dream.

[@JanTrenson]

That's... a good idea. A crazy futuristic idea, but why not? Imagine working and sleeping while you're going places :-D

[@AndyFletcherX31]

Those Victron multiplus inverters are really rugged. The only problem is they have huge input capacitors which result in a massive inrush current when you close the power breaker and on 48V will blast the contacts of the breaker - I now use a 500 ohm precharge resistor to reduce the inrush. Starlink looks good but it takes around 100W (2.5KWh/day) which is a big load on an off-grid/mobile system.

[@johnnybravisimo007]

awesome set up! Yes keep us updated.

[@RyanWilliams222]

That’s pretty darn cool. Only using 30% of capacity each day doesn’t sound like overkill to me; it sounds smart.

[@jhchooo]

I am doing this using all-in-one hybrid MPPT inverter. After doing some research, 12V is not the way to go. 48V system is the way to go with 16S LFP battery setup.

[@shaneduffy4853]

Starlink will make this so much easier for many people.

[@bobernst8826]

I did the travel mode for a year back in ‘80 ... no internet ... no computer ... no bank cards! Just followed the sun , all winter from coast to coast. What a difference tech would have made ... GPS , landmarks , even being able to get money. Being from Canada , banking was a pain! Whoa ... what a difference it would be today!!! AND no solar panels!

[@anchorageprepper9008]

Looks like a great set up 👍👍

[@TmanaokLine]

Steve went a little nuts? I would do the exact same thing, go big or go home! Honestly, you're better off having more generation than you need for extreme cases such as colder weather, running more equipment than you expect in the future, etc. My future home will have ground arrays that can be expanded on and I'll probably keep expanding until my hydro service provider tells me to stop or I run out of land.

[@GL-kx2jb]

Great video, this is an exact replica of the system I just put together on a 2015 torque. I designed and put it together myself 15kw battery, 3kw panels.

[@UndecidedMF]

Nice! Happy with the results?

[@GL-kx2jb]

@@UndecidedMF the pannel output is less than I had expected (I usually sit at 1.5kw or around) the battery is crazy impressive. After everything, I'm at right near $4k invested. Granted, I sourced all my parts direct from Chinese manufacturers and built everything myself. But for what I have, this was a no brainer, I love it! I love the life, now time to travel and make some KZbin videos!

[@TheSolarGuyJK]

Talk about the cost for a bit. This really seems great and would work for many organizations doing off-grid outreaches in places like Africa and South America. Looks pretty good and easy... moreover, a truck (then RV driver) is everywhere on earth. Thanks for the video, Matt.

[@michaelfelder2640]

Look into those micro hydro propeller units when your camping near moving water...keeps batteries charged at night.

[@abhinavdamodara7577]

I'm in love with what he is doing I won't say its an easy thing to do but I want to live a couple of weeks like that to experience that lifestyle

[@UndecidedMF]

I'm not sure I could do it long term, but I'd love to give it a go for a month or two.

[@devluz]

I was thinking about this. Internet might be more tricky than power where I am in New Zealand. Most plans just give you 50 GB / month max but as I cross platform developer I have lots of devices that all need updating & related software for development. I can't survive under 200GB a month. Lets hope starlink comes here one day. (Edit: Oh and heating is a nightmare too)

[@czs1mc]

Love your videos they are always interesting.

[@alf.2929]

You went through everything except cost (did not see it on the website either). I know he's a software dev & prob earn a good chunk of change to make this lifestyle change happen but for us mere mortals it helps to get a ballpark figure of how all of this measures out. How much did the RV cost? Was it new or used? How much did it cost to trick out his camper with all those solar panels, batteries, & controllers? What's the monthly expense of all the data plans he has? How much does he spend in renting space at the trailer/RV park? Gas expense? How long does he stay in one location? All of these questions would have been so helpful to find the answers to so I'm not sure if it's due to social cues you've avoided talking about taboo subject such as money that these questions weren't broached.

[@jpe1]

I can’t comment on why the video avoided money details, but as someone who has owned 5 RVs over the past 25 years and driven tens of thousands of miles, I can answer some of your questions: a 40’ toy hauler 5th wheel like his will cost between $15,000 for something old and beat up (but serviceable) to $90,000 for a brand new “high end” model. Solar system ballpark was $8,000 to $10,000. Cellular plan cost ~$120/month. RV park and gas expenses are obviously variable depending on where and how much driving, but figure $45/hour operating cost for driving somewhere, and $0to $125/night to stay, depending on where.

[@gospelofthomas77thpearl22]

I have setup my hut with solar & a Powerwall battery - runs everything beautifully. I can even charge my car but make sure I limit the 32amp connection at 25amp which delivers 2.5Kwts, slow but effective.

[@bigolesackofboogers0690]

Bet it smells great in there

[@ekrajb123]

This would be exponentially more interesting when Cybertruck arrives and if it becomes possible to hook up to the vehicles battery. You should definitely still have batteries in the RV itself, but knowing you have a +50kWh backup is always nice. And you'd be going 100% green, not even a gascar to drive it around

[@greenfrog58]

Great video! Fun setup!

[@carsonc1272]

It's great to know that 2.8kw treats him well

[@KRYMauL]

I wouldn't want to do this full time, but driving an RV throughout the Americas North to South and East to West is definitely on my list. So, is backpacking through Europe, Asia, and Africa.

[@theirisheditor]

With that much spare capacity, they probably could do all their AC/heating and cooking also. I recently saw another RV video that had a 7000BTU domestic split AC installed, which they claim is fully powered by their RV's installed solar and battery. The AC drew around 400W in either heating or cooling mode. I think they had 1.5kW of roof-top solar but can't remember the battery capacity.

[@finalfanvii6822]

New sub since a week ago and love all your content!!

[@Voltaic_Fire]

I'd love to drive around in such a lovely, independent home, I really would.

[@hailstorm711]

Hi Matt. Great content as always.

[@UndecidedMF]

Glad you liked it!

[@lylestavast7652]

I've run the numbers for me... I'd have to be able to stealth about 80% of the time to recover all the costs in 5 years - counting no rent but having full internet (just before Starlink started their beta)... The cheapest way if you're doing this and moving a fair amount though is to charge from the vehicle battery using DC-DC to begin with, but have it wired to add solar incrementally as you learn your draw demand. This is a sweet setup (and gorgeous masterboard - really nice craftsmanship, seriously...) You can always start lower in battery count and add in as well, that's pretty straightforward.

[@tpcdude]

Before i could get cable internet out here in the country i put up a wi-fi yagi and pointed it to the church nearby .. we stole wi-fi from God.

[@scoringdigitsson.5194]

Bruh

[@michaelgrodecki4159]

Day 1. "Let there be WIFI!"

[@johnpoldo8817]

It wouldn’t be stealing if you put some money in the plate weekly.

[@JM-yx1lm]

@@johnpoldo8817 wouldn't be stealing if there was no password either.

[@samerlias]

@@JM-yx1lm So if you put your money in an unlocked box, it would be ok for me to come and take it?

[@Mikemartin968]

I just finished 5 months working from my RV, saw a lot of places and, in fact, I left Texas one week before the ice storm. My wife and I plan to do more RVing, but full time is not for us.

[@ronm6585]

Thank you sir.

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks, Ron!

[@zodiacfml]

considering the cost of housing and renting, and a part of being a minimalist, this is highly interesting. now I want to know how they tackle toilet waste.

[@filipefmelo]

😎 awesome. Gives more updates :)

[@Naultarous]

I'm working toward this goal. I've not settled on a setup style though as I have a Model 3 to potentially tow. Still over a year out but this is all great info.

[@UndecidedMF]

Glad you found it useful!

[@bradhaines3142]

i dont remember where i first heard it, but a good rule to live by is 'overkill is still dead'