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Ripley Power Systems
Ripley Power Systems

Power for the properties the grid doesn't reach.

Complete off-grid systems for camps, cabins, homesteads, and remote builds - designed, installed, and wired by a licensed Maine electrician.
Get a Free Off-Grid Assessment

Power for the properties the
grid can't reach.

Complete off-grid systems for camps, cabins, homesteads, and remote builds - designed, installed, and wired by a licensed Maine electrician.

Get a Free Off-Grid Assessment

Why generate your own power?

There are a few good reasons to generate your own electricity instead of running a grid connection. A lot of people assume solar is purely an environmental decision. That was true for most early adopters, but as panel prices dropped and the technology became easier to get, more people started going solar for economic reasons.

Some common scenarios:
  • No utility line to the property
  • A line-extension quote you can't justify
  • A camp running on a generator
  • You want off-the-grid entirely
Contact Us to Get Started
Charlie Akes - Ripley Power Systems

How we got started

The economics are what got me into it.


My wife, our six kids, and I bought a property in central Maine and built our home the rugged Maine way — cleared the land, and put the house up ourselves with a lot of help from friends in our community. When we got a quote to bring utility power out to the site, the number just wasn't feasible. So we started looking at alternatives.


I'm a master electrician, so off-grid power fit right in with the do-it-yourself theme of the whole project. In our case, we could build a PV (solar) system for less than it would have cost to run power to the property — and as a bonus, we no longer have a monthly electric bill.


That's one scenario, and I'm not trying to convince the world that solar is the answer to every problem. But I'm convinced it was the right call for us.

Types of off-grid systems

Now that you know where I'm coming from, here's a breakdown of the different types of off-grid systems and how they work, so you can decide whether one of them fits your situation.


I'm focusing on off-grid systems here to keep this from running too long. There are good options for grid-connected solar as well — reach out if you have questions about those.

BASIC

You can directly power a device or some equipment right off the solar panels and nothing else is needed. Example some farmers use this set up to pump water, I’ve also seen this in supplementary hot water heaters as well.

SIMPLE

Add a battery and charge controller to the basic set up and you get a lot more usability, you can now use power when you aren’t generating it. You can power lights at night, pump water on demand, charge a laptop, run a fan and so on. You are still limited to using things that are compatible with your battery voltage though.

COMMON

This is more traditional “off grid”, you may want to power your cabin or hunting shack and want more of an occasional use kind of set up. You may want the capability of running power tools or a refrigerator, We need to add an inverter to make that happen. The inverter takes the voltage from the batteries and turns it into the common 120v that we are used to. It may help to think of this set up as a generator replacement for a remote cabin location.

WHOLE HOME

When you want to live there and don’t want to feel like your one stop away from being in the 1800s this is what your looking for, your grid equivalent system. You put in a more powerful inverter capable of putting out 240v to handle things like heat pumps or welders or in my case the washer and dryer going non stop with 6 kids. A generator to make sure you are good to go no matter the weather or season. In the end these systems can be designed to power whatever you want however you want and they often are the more affordable option in remote areas.

Off-Grid Solar - Ripley Power Systems

An off-grid setup consists of these components:

  • Solar panels, no explanation needed here.
  • Battery bank, Series of batteries connected together to store power for when you are not generating power. These generally com in 12, 24 or 48v set ups
  • Solar charge controller, this takes the power from the solar panels and charges your batteries. Depending on your solar panels they could be putting out anywhere from 12v to 500v
  • Inverter, it converts the battery banks voltage to the voltage you plan on using for 99% of us the is 120/240v but there are other options for just running a pump for example.
  • Battery charger, this is for charging your batteries with a generator, with the short days we have in Maine winters this is a good thing to have if it’s a full time residency, if going in a hunting cabin or something that you don’t plan to spend the winter in this could be optional.
  • Generator back up, it’s what it sounds like but when paired with a PV system it can be much smaller as it doesn’t need to power everything just supplement charging the batteries. Often a 1⁄4 the size you would normally need with a normal electrical system.

Common Questions

About Ripley Power Systems' Off-Grid Solar Power Installation

If you're working with me, it’s always going to be a ground-mount system. There are many reasons I decided this, ground-mount systems are cheaper to install, cheaper to maintain, my insurance is much cheaper so I can do the whole job for less, and doesn’t compromise roof integrity. If you are determined to go roof-mount or it is your only option, I will not be able to help you there.

Your battery storage should be about 3x watt hours of your solar panel output. For example if you were powering a small house with 10kw of solar panels you would want 30kw of battery power (700ah at 48v). The bigger the battery bank the longer it will last.

If you are doing a whole home system then I recommend it for sure. You can build a solar system that can handle everything without it but with the short days of winter in Maine makes it not cost effective. I tell people to set up an automatic generator and it’ll run a couple times a week in December and January. If you build a system that can make enough power in the winter you’ll be making 10x the power you need in the summer.

Probably not unless the space you have is very limited. I set the angle so that it produces the most power in the winter, this also tends to shed snow well and rarely needs to be cleaned off. Panels are cheap enough now that it’s better to add more of them than have the added complexity of adjustable or solar tracking panels.

They are expected to last long time, well past 30 years but past 25 years they put out less power. There are still many panels in use from 60+ yrs ago. There are a lot of good articles on this with more knowledge than I have if you have more interest.

The type of battery and how well you take care of them will determine how long they last. Lithium batteries are rated to last 10-15 years and lead acid are 2-10years. They don’t typically stop working one day it’s a gradual decline and you’ll notice when they don’t stay charged like they used to. There are a lot of tips to making them last longer that are really worth looking into.

There are so many factors involved like what kind of batteries you are replacing but a rule of thumb right now is $600 to $1200 per 4.8kw (48v 100amp hour) battery in your system. The type and brand of battery really affects the cost here.

Tell me about your property.​

Charlie will walk the site, work out what you actually need to run, and give you a real number to compare against a line extension.