Juan Roble

I would add that, at least where I am, the mono vs poly debate is now mostly outdated. The low-cost panels available here are already monocrystalline, around 650 W each, and bifacial. The current price is about €98 per panel, roughly US$114, which puts them at around €0.15/W, or about US$0.18/W. At that price point, the real decision is no longer mono vs poly, but system architecture: string voltage, MPPT sizing, wiring losses, shading management, and future expansion.

The main advantage of wiring panels in series is that it raises voltage and reduces current. For the same power, higher voltage means fewer amps, lower voltage drop, and smaller cable size between the array and the inverter or charge controller. Of course, the string’s maximum open-circuit voltage must always be checked, especially in cold weather, so it stays within the MPPT input limit.

There is also simple panel-level electronics available, usually called power optimizers. They can be useful when there is partial shading, uneven dirt, panel mismatch, or one panel in the string is underperforming. If one panel is shaded or dirty, the optimizer helps prevent that panel from dragging the whole string down as much. They are not magic, and they do not replace proper MPPT design, but they can improve resilience in imperfect real-world conditions.

Regarding orientation, I would not overthink it for a small off-grid cabin, provided there are no major shading issues. In the northern hemisphere, facing south with a tilt close to the average annual optimum angle is usually a sound baseline. If the cabin is mainly used in winter, a slightly steeper tilt may make sense to improve winter production and help shed snow or dirt.

With 650 W panels, the options for a 1–2 kW target are quite simple:

* 2 panels: 1.3 kWp. Cheap and simple, but with limited margin.
* 3 panels: 1.95 kWp. Very close to the target, but usually ends up as a single string.
* 4 panels: 2.6 kWp. Slightly above the target, but it allows two balanced strings of two panels in series.

For an off-grid cabin, I would choose 4 panels configured as two strings of two panels in series. That gives a 2S2P array: two panels in series per string, and two strings in parallel, or preferably two independent MPPT inputs if the inverter/charge controller supports it.

That way, you are not betting the whole system on a single string, the working voltage remains sensible for the MPPT, current is reduced compared with a low-voltage 12 V setup, wiring costs stay under control, and there is real-world margin for lights, a small fridge, laptop use, and possibly a well pump later on.

That means it works??? I’m hoping now!

Too far away, Melissa!

But honestly, it is incredible to find someone like you here: open, sincere, direct, and genuinely willing to find what you called a “soul mate”.

Your place, your animals, your ideas, your love for water, gardens, self-sustainability, 3D printing, art and practical projects… it all sounds like a very real and beautiful life project.

I truly wish you the best, because I think many of us in this “singles” section are here hoping to find exactly the kind of connection you describe: someone to share life with, build things with, laugh with, and make a small piece of paradise a little more complete.

Spain is probably a bit too far from South Carolina, but I still wanted to say: your post made me smile. I hope the right person finds their way to your door.

Too good to be true... too far away to check

Ned Harr wrote:
Two people can use the same gardening app but if person A does it because he always uses apps for everything and it would never have occurred to him not to, while person B does it because she stopped and thought about her options first and decided using the app still would be a valid expression of her permaculturalist values while fulfilling her goals, then person B is using technology in a permaculturalist way, while (I would argue) person A is not.

Masterful — and I do not mean that mockingly, but with genuine respect.

I completely agree. We are free to use technology; it can even be a good thing, and not something to be rejected simply for the sake of preserving the old.

But its use must be conscious.

Thank you.

Hi @ll,

This may be a little controversial, and I only want to share an opinion, but I think everyone’s choices are valid: from those who do not want to use any technology at all, to those who watch series on a tablet after storing solar energy during the day. The problem is not the technology, nor the option each person chooses, but the way of life each of us decides to lead. If there is any space for freedom, it is ours — a space where I believe many of us have chosen ways of living that are very different from what society normally hands us by default.

In my case, I am an electronics engineer, and one part of permaculture leads me to use technology in favour of nature: to make work easier and to make this world a little better. That does not mean technology at any cost. Quite the opposite: it means using technology responsibly. For example, the son of a friend once asked her: “Mum, do you know how much water AI consumes just to tell you what plant is in a photo?”

Yes, that is one way of looking at it. Another way is to think that it is better to use AI to identify plants, detect risks, or explore useful ideas than to use it for any number of pointless things it is often used for. Besides, we are already using the internet — right now, by reading this message — and that also consumes energy. Anyway, as I said, this is a controversial subject, so I respect the reasoning behind everyone’s point of view.

In the project I am working on, technology is part of permaculture. I want to monitor the temperature, humidity, activity, and weight of beehives. I want to build automated machines that do mulching using only solar energy. I want to manage irrigation with a network of valves and IoT sensors over a LoRa network, all powered by small panels. At least I try to see technology as a support tool and to use natural energy sources. The real issue is coherence. If we use a solar panel, how was it manufactured? Does any industrial process fully respect the environment? We can certainly do without all technology. No doubt about that. But when we need to have a CT scan because of a lump somewhere in the body, we will be grateful that someone created, manufactured, and uses that machine that can help save lives.

I will leave it there, because this is a huge debate starting from the small question of which app or apps we can use in our field. For me, all of them can be useful — at least if we approach them as tools to make daily life easier, without letting them create real dependency in order to get things done.

I use my phone to identify plants and insects, and even to study what type of soil I have based on the plants I find on a given piece of land. I also use it to check legal regulations so I can do things properly, and sometimes even to research what layers of trees I could plant on a slope to create a barrier against erosion in the specific area where I am working.

Everything is useful when it helps. Useless when it only consumes time.

Wow! Making an open fire outdoors is practically banned throughout my whole country. They only allow approved barbecues, and in the area where I am, to have a barbecue it has to be enclosed within four walls. The risk of forest fires here is very high.

I remember when we were kids, we used to go camping and make campfires in the evenings. We always surrounded them with stones, like in the drawing.

These things make me think about going to visit other places, meeting other people who live close to nature, and being able to share the authentic things that still remain in each part of the world.

Hi all,

I use Ubuntu Linux on an old PC, and I can work with all the online software from Google and Microsoft.

This computer is around 15 years old, and I hope to keep using it for at least another 5 years.

Are you sure you really need Windows, Apple, or Chrome OS?

Try it, and let go of the fear.

Again and again, I show up with a broken heart. Nothing saves me, not even experience.

Again and again, I take the risk, because there is no greater loss than never having dared to do it.

I carry a pocketful of excuses, placed there at some point by each person: it’s not my time, I want to but I don’t dare, I can’t step in because I carry wounds, maybe in the future... Excuses I never fully understand, but I respect.

Again and again, I open my heart once more, because I cannot live without loving, because life calls me to live intensely.

Again and again, I discover a spark, and while I look at it, I become happy again.

I don’t expect anyone to understand me. I simply realise that, again and again, I try to be my authentic self — and perhaps I am finally managing to do that now.

Oops, I’ve just noticed that your post is quite old.

Are you still on the path you started back then? Are you still living this way and continuing with the project?