“My SolMan has never let me down,” said Tiny Home and SolMan Classic portable solar generator owner Randy Bozelle.

Tiny House living is inherently efficient.  Owners are naturally reducing their footprint with the reduced living space available.  Furthermore, the people that successfully live in Tiny Homes tend to value sustainability.  This makes using renewable energy very feasible and easy to incorporate into the lifestyle without too much sacrifice.

If you have grid access with your Tiny Home location, this is of course going to be your most reliable and cheapest way to access power.  However, if you are living in or planning to build a Tiny House that is off-grid or that you will be moving around constantly, having your own solar power system is the way to go!  Solar power is the cheapest and most effective renewable energy on the market today, making it a great power match with the Tiny Home.

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Portable Solar System Kits for Small Homes

The SolMan line of portable solar generators from SolSolutions is the answer to the power question.  SolSolutions is a specialist in off-grid power and lighting.  SolMan solar generators, as well as other custom-designed systems, power numerous Tiny Homes across the country.  With over 10 years of experience in the industry, as well as team members that live, work, and play off-grid (including in Tiny Homes themselves!), the company is uniquely positioned to provide great solar options to customers with a variety of power needs.

As an overview, solar power systems are complete power generators that capture the sun’s energy with solar panels, store the energy in battery banks and release it via an inverter for regular home power usages.  They also come with a degree of monitoring and special features, depending on the system.

Solar power systems come in two types:  fixed or portable.  For Tiny Homes, this choice is generally tipped towards portable systems based on owners’ desire to have the freedom to move the house if necessary.  Fixed solar installations are either built external from the house or have panels attached to the rooftop and a battery bank located in the house, increasing weight and mobility significantly.  Fixed systems also go against the main type of Tiny House, one that is built on wheels and able to be moved at will as jobs and preferences change.

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Overall, portable solar generators are recommended for Tiny Homeowners as they can be moved easily with the home, allow for solar tracking and fit with the efficient, mobile lifestyle of most Tiny Home residents.  Solar tracking is the ability to move the solar panels during the day to get the most direct input from the sun.  

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Solar Battery Storage and Solar Panels

The most important aspect of a solar generator’s actual usability is its battery storage capacity. Battery storage allows you to use the generator at night, in periods of limited sun and when your energy needs exceed the amount of solar input coming in.

Solar PV input (solar panels) is what powers a solar generator.   Having ample solar PV input allows for continuous solar generator usage during the day and low recharging times after night usage.

Inverters convert low volt DC to standard 120 volt AC power. This allows you to easily use the power that comes in from PV panels (in DC form) for a variety of power applications.  Inverter chargers (an upgraded type of inverter) also grant the ability to externally charge your battery bank by plugging it into the grid or gas generator and routing the incoming AC power to the batteries in DC form.

For Tiny Homeowners, it is easy to figure out how many average sun hours you get (based on location), which then, combined with available battery storage capacity, determines how much solar power you have to work with.  Owners may need some backup power if they get a lot of cloudy days or have higher energy needs than allocated with their solar power system. In this case, the solar generators can be easily paired with a gas or diesel generator to ensure you have 24/7 power availability, with significantly reduced fuel usage.  This is the ultimate off-grid power system.

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Professional Solar Systems for Off-Grid Living

SolSolutions focuses on professional-grade, built-to-last solar power systems, using mostly American made components.  When living off the grid, power needs to work consistently.  With this in mind, SolSolutions is releasing its new SolMan model this summer.  The SolMan 3000 is built specifically with Tiny Homeowners in mind and will be the best option out there for rigorous performance.  Pre-orders are available now.

SolSolutions is offering “Solar For A Sustainable Planet” webinar series every Wednesday 12-1pm PDT. Please go to www.sol-solutions.com to sign up for the weekly webinar series.

Check out the Youtube video below to watch the hour-long educational webinar, “Off-grid options for the mobile Tiny Home or Trailer/RV”

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Visit www.sol-solutions.com or call(800) 828-2965 for more info on the SolMan 3000 or other Tiny Home solar needs.  We highly recommend SolSolutions for all your off-grid solar power systems.