When you’re connected to the Grid, losing power isn’t something you lose sleep over too often. Neither should it be when you’re living Off Grid however with a poorly designed Off Grid System which doesn’t account for the appliances you’re looking to run now, and in the future, sleep certainly will be lost.

Why is this the case? Put simply, when you live Off Grid you don’t have abundance of power to turn to from the Power Pole. Instead you will need to have a carefully designed and thought out Energy System including:

• Solar Panels
• Batteries
• Inverter
• Charge Controller/s
• System Monitoring and many other Small Components
• Automatic Start Generator

All of the components listed above are fundamental in an Off Grid Solar System and can’t be the result of guesswork. If you decide to not consider the numbers before installing a system, there’s every chance you’ll end up with a system which is completely undersized which won’t be fit for your needs. This is why you must an Energy Load Profile before going Off Grid.

When you first hear or read the term “Energy Load Profile” I wouldn’t be surprised (nor would I blame you) if your first thought was “I can’t do an Energy Load Profile I don’t know what it is let alone how to do it”. However they really aren’t difficult to complete at all. Rather than telling you how easy it is to complete one, let’s show you how it’s done!

Step 1: Getting Started

Select “Off Grid Solar Calculator” in our Main Menu

Step 2: What Will You Use?

Once you’ve clicked on our Off Grid Solar Calculator it’ll bring you to this page. Your job is to walk around your house (Or if you’re building you will need to plan which appliances you want to run) and look for the appliances you’d like to run. As you’re going, select the appliances you’ll use in your Off Grid Home.

Step 3: Nailing The Design

Once you’ve selected your appliances, it’s time to make it all about you. Choose how many hours you will run the appliances for roughly each day and if you know the wattage, great, include that as well. Also if you’re wondering, the reason we set fridges to be running for 7.5 hours each is because that’s approximately how many hours a fridge will run for each day once it falls below the temperature set via the thermostat.

Step 4: Results Time!

Once you’ve finished all of your work, select “Calculate” and then scroll back up the page and select “Download PDF Report”.

Make sure you keep the PDF report in a safe place for when it comes time to getting a quote on your Off Grid Solar System. If you want to get an idea on price and to get a final design, don’t hesitate to Contact Us by either calling 1300 669 256 or emailing sales@commodoreaustralia.com.au.