Our 2.4Kw DIY OFF Grid Solar System | Fogstar

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#offgrid #solarpower #solar #bulgaria
This is our DIY Off Grid Solar Special, showing you our solar setup and how we power our Off Grid home in Bulgaria.
We're Phil and Kayleigh, a husband and wife living in rural Bulgaria with our two children, Alex and Ember. It's always been our dream to live a more self-sustainable life off grid. So, we've sold all our belongings, escaped the rental rat race and bought a plot of land. Complete with a derelict house and 3 barns, we hope to create our new life mortgage free. We've faced lots of hurdles already, so hang on tight as we show you highs and lows of moving abroad and starting again.
Ние сме Фил и Кейли, съпруг и съпруга, живеещи в провинциална България с нашите две деца, Алекс и Ембър. Нашата мечта винаги е била да живеем по-самоустойчив живот извън мрежата. И така, продадохме всичките си вещи, избягахме от надпреварата с плъхове под наем и купихме парцел земя. В комплект с изоставена къща и 3 хамбара се надяваме да създадем нашия нов живот без ипотека. Вече се сблъскахме с много препятствия, така че изчакайте, докато ви показваме върховете и недостатъците на преместването в чужбина и започването отново.
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Music from Epidemic Sounds

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Huge thank you to the Fogstar team (and our mate Ian B back in England) for all your help. Hours of research has paid off and we really couldn't be happier with our setup. Looking forward to catching you all next week when we go LIVE! ❤

[@fogstarbatteries]

This is such a fantastic video! 🙌 Thank you so much for sharing!

[@elizabethdunn2992]

Well you're so clever teaching yourself all that. You'll be teaching your children aswell I bet. The plants are going great. ❤

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Been very grateful for all those who have shared their knowledge online - it means that you have an endless stream of learning material and another new skill under my belt 🙂👍

[@wesbutler8289]

Very nice job describing the system. Always nice to have extra battery storage for those crummy weather days. I knew the patio party lights would show up! Have a great, safe week.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks very much - hope you have a good week too and hope you can join us on our live next week👍

[@onnasun8122]

This fellow really knows solar.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

That's very kind - it's one of my many passions!

[@guypettit9548]

Not boring at all, I think your set up is very intelligent, giving you options for power but still being off grid. Very informative and it will always be there for anyone wanting to go back and have a look for their installs. Nice work, have a great week.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks ever so much, really appreciate it. Hope you have a good week too and can join us on our Q&A on Sunday 👍🙂

[@SEDMEROHOR]

Greetings from Bulgaria, I don't understand a word in this part of the series, but I enjoy that it is obvious that there is nothing in the world that you cannot or are not able to learn. I wish you Luck👍!!

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Благодаря ти много 👍

[@archangele1]

I worked with solar power way back in the late 70's in college and have always thought it to be the best way to go for electricity. I like how you described every aspect of a solar power system. I have two at my house. They are simpler then your's. They just use a bank of 100 watt panels running into MPPT charge controllers feeding a bank of batteries. Then I use inverters to convert to AC voltage. I use the VMax glass mat batteries which are still working well after ten years of use. It is a much simpler setup then your's but the one in the house can power a 12000 BTU air conditioner and a TV at the same time without issue. In fact, I am running this computer and it's sound system via solar power. Being that we are in Florida, I also have a big back up generator with a transfer switch in the event of the obligatory power outage every time a sparrow farts. Since my panels are in series / parallel my maximum DC voltage is around 80 volts. The 12 volt batteries are also in series / parallel and are set up to deliver 24 volts to the inverters. My system shows that you can have an effective solar power system without using a huge amount of technology, cost and complexity.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks for the comment. Yes solar power doesn't have to be expensive or complex, to be honest I don't think ours is. But of course we are totally reliant on It without any grid connection. I think putting in an old fashioned system would be counter productive when we are planning on using this setup for many decades to come.. especially as tech gets outdated so quickly. Our system allows us to add on inverters, batteries and panels as our needs expand. 👍

[@archangele1]

@@OffGridWithTheUdens Simple does not mean old fashioned. A lot of the new electronics is really not needed and actually uses up power. Just check the amount of power the average inverter pulls while turned on from a battery pack. The cool thing about a lot of MPPT charge controllers is that you can hook several small ones in parallel as you expand the system. So, you could start with one 60 amp charge controller and as you add more batteries and collectors you could just add another 60 amp charge controller and run it along side the first one into the same battery bank. You can even break up the AC load by using a small inverter for nothing but the lights while having a couple larger ones that you fire up only when needed for stuff like an AC unit or a washer. This would allow you to leave the big inverters off when not needed to help conserve battery power. I find I do not need a 4KW inverter running when I just have a single light on, a TV on and am charging a phone. I can do all that with a little 600 watt inverter.

[@frombournemouthtobulgaria]

awwwwwwww love the lights! My mum would always say blackpool illuminations haha! camera is fricking cool too

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

🤣🫣 I couldn't resist it - it's a very mum thing to say! X

[@pithavy9243]

Its awesome to scrap that electricity off the bills, ofcourse the emergency supply is wellworth.. super stuff

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Yes we've never been connected to mains electricity since we've been here and it's great to know that anything we use is being powered by the Sun ☀️ 🙂

[@Gallivantinggriffiths]

Great vid, although you’re not an electrician, definitely a very competent DIY’er and in my book an expert at this stuff…. Cracking

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks very much. Very much appreciated 👍

[@peterdorr6190]

Brilliant video not long at all. Lovely idea to exploit that huge roof the lights do really add a glow of warmth to the night and the camera makes significant difference. Totally get that the usb on the Growatt inverter appears an after thought? Although if limited to range from a unit inside a shelter then the usb does allow some flexibility as to placement. The battery and those busbars I don’t know your area terms seismic activity? Perhaps better to fix unit in place one never does know if the earth shall move? Interest to know your solar pv angles summer and winter? Bravo Fogstar for the new additional battery.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Excellent point about the dongle, never thought about that. With regards to the battery and busbars we don't get enough seismic activity for that to be a concern but we will try and fix them into place now we're happy with the setup. The panels are in the next phase of our upgrades - watch this space! 👍 Thanks for taking the time to comment.

[@rvnomading6326]

Thank you for a great, simple video. Fantastically explained. I'm busy setting up an off grid campsite near Haskovo and this really helped. Great to bump into your channel.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Sounds great, glad you found it useful. Good luck with your project 👍

[@S0TIR0V]

Thank you for the great video. I wish you all the best!

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks very much 😊

[@mehmedmehmedov5901]

very nice👍

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks very much 😊

[@mrjoker2749]

Perfect👏👏👏

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

👍 thanks 😊

[@mannymota3442]

Excellent video. Congrats on getting another battery!

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks very much - we are beyond excited and the possibilities it gives us 😍

[@houseofancients]

Congrats on the new battery !

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Very thankful as we really wouldn't have been able to do the setup or expansion at this time without their help 👍

[@NewBulgarians]

Well jealous of your seedlings Kayleigh, if you've seen one of our latest videos you will understand why! The fairy lights are beautiful, we want to do that at our new place too. Thanks so much for the solar info, we're not there yet and no idea if we will have solar but it's there if we need it.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Seedlings and fairy lights - what more could a girl want?! 😍

[@user-bulgaria]

Brilliant well done 🎉

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks very much 👍

[@djryne]

Thank you for this video so much amazing information from well done

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks very much. It won't be for everyone but it's great for anyone who is interested in it 😀

[@Toni-qy6gl]

Nice work 😊 and very knowledgeable 😊Поздравления !

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thank you very much 👍

[@derekbilston9290]

Excellent. Explained like an electrician for non electricians to understand.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks very much, that was exactly our intention.🙂👍

[@itsmyview2024]

HI, when using a dvm for critical checks, test the meter with something like a pp3 battery (prooving u8nit) just before you check the battery voltages on the bus bar and just after to avoid the chance of broken test leads of meter. With ac, check live first to reduce the risk on duff kit. Just a suggestion.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Interesting. Thanks we will keep it in mind 👍

[@AdrianMcDaid]

This really was my cup of tea. I really enjoyed it. Was your previous solar video that got me interested in Fogstar. On the backend that I purchased the 15kwh Battery for £2500 been so pleased with it so far. Good upgrade to what we have previously. I have found that 15kwh is sweet sport. Do you plan to upgrade your solar array? Perhaps another line of panels in front of current ones?

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Oh that's fantastic news! We're so happy with our setup but yes have already planned the next upgrade! We will be relocating the panels and hopefully adding more - currently looking into alternative framing solutions 👍

[@totty100]

Great videos. I just took delivery of the Fogstar 15KWh huuuuge battery for my garage. Great product. Integrated easily with my Victron inverter\charger. Well done guys

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

That's great to hear! Glad you like the Fogstar kit and thanks for watching 🙂👍

[@AdrianMcDaid]

Nice to come across a fellow 15kwh Fogstar battery owner. I have noticed this strange issue not sure if it is a battery or inverter. If it gets down to 14% it will suddenly charge its self up to like 30% . Has this happened to you ?

[@totty100]

​@@AdrianMcDaid Not yet! But I've only run my battery down to approx 26%. Try getting Ben on the phone at Fogstar. He was the only one who knows how to troubleshoot these very new units. You could check the battery config using the USB-RS232 cable and the PBMS tools. There may be a setting that triggers this or it's factory default behaviour. Good luck

[@AdrianMcDaid]

@@totty100 will look into that. I am very pleased with the battery been great so far. Excellent value for money

[@mitkodimitrov8396]

hihi you learn verry well,bulgarian village way of life,now learn,to prepare honey,from gluharche and pines and liquor,from green nuts and elderberry,and tea from other herbs,as lipa,menta and so many more hihhi.Healt and happynes

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thank you. We are learning малко по-малко 🇧🇬❤️

[@rail5317]

I take my hat off,I bought a place in Bulgaria, did not need to do anything as I bought in sunnybeach , Iam to old to do what yous have done , It takes a big heart to do it,Well done

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thank you very much. Yes these places are not for the faint hearted 😆🫣

[@gerardslopsema8390]

Nice video.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks very much 😊

[@wheelyliving4093]

Hi Phil....So you couldn't find normal plywood in Bulgaria as well...lol, and I also ended up with shuttering ply for a job on our van whilst we were in Sofia...Unless you did find some plywood that is...? ;)...I am exactly like you, converted our own van, with 900 watts tiltable on the roof, and 400 amp hrs of Victron Super deep cycle AGM's. Love the humour approach to your channel. Take care, and will tune in on Sunday...Best wishes to you all. Tony and Carolyn. We are Wheely Living!... :)

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

No, as far as I know you can't get normal plywood out here. Glad you're enjoying the channel! 😁 See you Sunday!

[@BeerRepublic]

@@OffGridWithTheUdens Try Jaf-Bulgaria, they sell all sorts of plywood.

[@areafiftyoneok]

Awesome info on solar project, im seriously thinking of doing the same in our house in BG, but not until we actually stay there for longer periods, I have already 2 ecoflow portable power banks, and bought an EV car, just learning about this all so thanks for info. Cheers, love the fails bit at the end🤣

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Glad you enjoyed it and found it useful 👍🙂

[@catherineadams9961]

Just incase i can't attend live q&a this will be like the spanish i quisition 1') Our house does not allow for solar panels. However , wondering if the batteries & set up could work as well with a wind turbine? 2) If it does would you consider one for winter months. 3)we are considering a workshop at bottom of our garden. Thinking this could be an option for it's supply as there is less major cabelling to mains. 4) how in the u.k.could we feed back onto the grid? Or install . 5) you say fan really noisey is there an alternative? Thats quiter as think even in our garage which is attached to the house could be annoying.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

We will add these to our live Q&A next Sunday and do our best to answer 👍

[@bubbaytgames]

Great vid,. 👍

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks very much 👍 appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment

[@Rob-100]

I was completely lost on your power supply but amazed at your knowledge about all this Phil. And of course it was nice to see the rest of the family one last question how long does the 2 battery’s on a normal day last.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks very much, appreciate it. The batteries (without charging) will run our place for 2 and a half days as long as we don't use the washing machine. 👍

[@adenvet2830]

Hi guys, you mentioned pinching out the tips of your peppers 🌶️ I'm not sure about that but if you decide to put kidney or some call them runner beans, when you reach your desired height you should pinch out the tops.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks very much - great to have so many useful gardening tips! K x

[@RelaxingWalk-fr9li]

these pots(water bottles) with peppers are see-through and the sun warms the soil, it's bad for the roots, you should cover them with some material

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Thanks for the tip - it was all we had as didn't have the budget to buy pots, but don't worry they were only in there for a short time🙂👍

[@guywhoknows]

Nice job, 2 points.... You need to add a protected device. As you add batteries your fault current Has gotten higher, you now have a 250amp fault protection, and I think you're only around 125a (can't remember what power the inverter is) Because DC will load share, the protection is at 125amps x2 so if you have a main cable short or inverter short ... Well there won't be much left. Just drop a keto in between the battery and isolator, keep yourself safe. The growatt WiFi dongle is not great, I ended up building one that bit... Lot better you can have all your data, so you don't need to look at the battery screen. And some other features. It doesn't go down with the growatt servers, and you have accurate live data. Help when setting up panels as you can see what's happening rather than having to wait. The video is called shinex replacement. Keep up the good work. Waiting to see this year's build project. Looking to be going over too. But not full time.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Valid point with the DC load sharing - I will look into DC protection 👍 interesting about the alternative to using the dongle. I'll look into it as having live data would be great for panel positioning.

[@flyingscot6997]

CONFUSED 6x30V is 180V NOT 232V 232V div 6 is 38.6V per panel so where did the extra 52V come from????

[@odmarketing7551]

Hi, I enjoyed the video. I'm just curious though, is there a reason why the batteries and or cabinet are not earthed? I can see the earth wire for the door but is that the only part?

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Hi thanks for the comment. The batteries themselves and the cabinet all have earth points. I'll be honest I haven't got around to doing that yet but it is on my to do list. 👍

[@jeanettebarns1024]

how much would that set up cost installed x

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

At a rough estimate: Our panels were £115 each, inverter was £900, £700 for wiring and other accessories and the batteries are around £1000 each. No idea how much installation cost would be as we did this ourselves 👍😊

[@de_ruso]

Thanks for great information. To be fully independent from generator, how many more panels and battery capacity you would need so that even on darkest days of the year, you would be fully independent?

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Great question! For us in our location, I think we would need to at least double the number of our solar panels and maybe even double our battery capacity. That's only with us running essentials though. 👍

[@justincole7566]

Hi, nice video. Might be a silly question - but - why are there two positive and two negative terminals on each battery ? Do they both need to be connected to the busbar ?

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Hi thanks for the comment. There's two terminals to allow you to do parallel connections if you don't have a cabinet with a bus bar. You can daisy chain them and just have them stacked on top of eachother. 👍

[@flow8eraleutica]

Is it possible for you to sell some electricity back to the electricity company through the solar panels🤔 and they can reduce what you gave in the winter time when there is not enough sun...

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Great question - As we are completely off-grid with our electricity there is no way for us to feed back to the grid - because we are not connected to it. But we know that this is possible over here, just not something we are interested in doing. 👍🙂

[@ML-jr1yz]

Can you run easly a Fridge 24/7 and maybe a washing maschine and tumble dryer once a week ( runing this two over the day when sun in shining)?

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

On a sunny day you could run all of these no problem at all. We can do 5 loads of washing in one day if we really needed to 😁

[@RobertsBulgaria]

I obtained permission 10 or so years ago to install solar panels to produce 30kW and receive the FIT (Feed in Tariffs) and the cost then was roughly 1k EURO to produce 1 kW of power so an investment on my part of 30k EURO. Then of course the Bulgarian taxman said they would tax any profits on the FIT. Long story short, I never went ahead with it as it was even then estimated to be 10 years before seeing any return on the investment. Today however, I have no idea of the Grid situation, but was just looking to produce some solar electricity of my own as look at the current sunshine - there is a natural source of power there going to waste and I'm not getting any benefit from it, but having to pay EVN and to add insult to injury, I have to pay a so called 'green tax' for receiving solar energy from numerous solar parks across south east Bulgaria.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Yes now the cost of panels have come down so much and with the weather we have here it's almost a no brainer now to have solar. If you were to set up a hybrid inverter with a battery you wouldn't need FIT you could just make use of what you produce and use the grid for any short comings.

[@RobertsBulgaria]

@@OffGridWithTheUdens I agree, but knowing where to source the equipment within Bulgaria and getting someone to do it are two different matters, but not insurmountable ones.

[@DjiMavicMini58]

How do you get around the 90 Day rule (Brexit) and which provider do you use for your editing

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

We have residency so we don't have an issue with the 90 day rule - Premiere Pro 👍

[@bargh70]

How do you make sure they won't be stolen?

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

We've got numerous security systems in place 👍😊

[@ronniebiggs4225]

Hi does anybody know how much these batteries cost Would they also run an off grid water pump for a well Are Solar panels cheaper or more expensive in Bulgaria than the UK Thanks

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Hi 👋 The rack batteries we have are about £1000 each and would easily run a water pump. Solar panels are easy to get hold of over here, prices are similar or a bit cheaper than the UK but quality does seem to vary 👍

[@RobertsBulgaria]

It's all very interesting and useful content but where are your costings for the components. I'm really tired of paying through the nose to EVN (same grid supplier as you have down there in Haskovo region), I already have solar collectors for my hot water and I want to run my small house from solar, but need to understand what the initial outlay in ballpark figures might be. BTW if you still have those overhead power cables you want removed, go to their offices EVN and put in a request to remove them, They might charge you some lv or other, but everything is theirs up until the consumer unit.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

We bought many of the components over time so what we paid then probably differs now. What particular component cost were you interested in and we can find out for you? Yes we are going to discuss with EVN about removing the power cables - it confuses the villagers massively that we have power but are not connected 🙂

[@vincentpennington2062]

My question is why do you think its ok to drive your landrover with out importing it and registering it in Bulgaria. That meens its not insured ... we had to do it so why do you feel you dont have too ?

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

As we answered previously, lots of complications going on behind the scenes about this. Importing a car over here is way more involved and complicated than buying a house. We're working on it.

[@vincentpennington2062]

@@OffGridWithTheUdens whys it complicated. You just need the v5 and matching chassis numbers visible for the Kat office and proof of the date it entered the country and a eori number for the import office we did our ford ranger and trailer when we got here it is expensive but it's the only way to be legal . And as your putting your life here for all to see dont you think you should set a good example ?

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

@@vincentpennington2062 Thanks for the information, we know the process and as we have already stated, have it underway 🙂👍

[@TheOffgridNomadUK]

I will be chatting to you once I move out to bg I hear your now fogstar bg agent? I know the team and running there big 560ah fogstar batteries I want to do offgrid system

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Yes, we announced on our live Q and A that Phil's working for Fogstar now as a technical advisor👍 When do you think you'll be moving over?

[@TheOffgridNomadUK]

@@OffGridWithTheUdens Just took deposit last night for my truck so end of July hopefully moving over to house hunt

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Ah really pleased for you 👍 Make sure you read up on and understand residency application and don't let anyone rush you into anything.

[@TheOffgridNomadUK]

@@OffGridWithTheUdens we have EU status been planning a year to move lots of freinds over there already

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Ah nice one. That's great to hear 😊

[@Firebreath1988]

Sorry but the first im gonna skip as i know they aint healthy :( respect for the research tho but research into the radiation aswel ;) you would understand my point. and recycling them aint a thing either.

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

Sorry it's taken so long to reply! Yea no worries... We know this video wasn't going to be for everyone. I can't find any actual scientific evidence regarding radiation. Also panel recycling is definitely a thing... Whilst it's not that common yet.. it will be as more and more come to end of life. They are full of valuable materials that can be reused. Cheers👍kzbin.infog694X7rpctk?si=pjlTVt3bEWNLi-X3

[@Firebreath1988]

@@OffGridWithTheUdens no problem thanks for that video didnt know they could recycle the materials so far.. anyway good job on the setup tho ;)

[@dannytrans7968]

At the Price of Electric în Bulgaria this is the Most stupid investement i heard about 😂

[@OffGridWithTheUdens]

It depends why you've had solar installed - we haven't done it as a financial investment so it's not a 'stupid investment' for us. 👍

[@AdrianMcDaid]

They are not connected to the grid. Where you not paying attention?