Cheap and reliable is best for fire.

• Fire been sorted out for hundreds of thousands of years.
  
  Even more important when you need fire, sometimes you need it NOW! and delays, dead batteries etc are not okay.
  
  
• Get a combination of reusable fire starters like flint and steel or Fresnel lens (only daylight) and anytime fire (matches.)
  
  
• Get fire helpers like Magic biscuits, or saw dust and wax, or accelerates (like ether, gasoline, charcoal lighter fluid)
  
  
• Get an 8'5" x 11" frenzel lens. (for starting with sun light.) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IITFX02/
  
  
• Matches
  
  
• birthday candles for kids / make your own fire starters from make-up remover pads and parifin wax. These are the best fire starter helpers you can have. (you can use crayon wax if you don't buy paraffin) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCni8yLXR3w
  
  The only thing the above video fails to do is use a double boiler so what you want is to make a "cup" or the like with some tinfoil, put the wax in that, then set the cup into a pot of boiling water. In this way clean up is a breeze, whatever wax you don't use you can just wait to cool and harden and throw away with the tin foil.
  
  These "magic biscuits" style fire starters will stay dry forever, and you can "crack" them in half to expose cotton fibers for things like flint and steel starters or the focus point of your Fresnel lens, or a match. etc.
  
  

  Make use of the small fire you do start.
  

  
  

• Getting a flame is just the start. One of the VERY BEST things I've ever bought cost about 10 bucks. It was a collapsible tube used like a very long straw to blow air at a fire without having to have your face close enough to suck in a lot of smoke when you take a breath.
  
  Made in america version for $12 from amazon.
  
  Absolute cheapest version $4
  
  

  Skills
  

  
  Fire is great. You don't need to go out int he pouring rain to start a fire, but doing so once in a while will help. Same with the wind. Mostly you need to know how to build a stack of wood so that stuff burns. There are many ways to do this.
  
  

• most of the time building your fire (kindling and med sized wood.) before hand and then covering it with a tarp or plastic. is the best practice. Building on a slight hill or digging a trench around the fire area is also a good "prep" to do before hand.
  
  
• If you are going camping or want a few kits making easy to use fire starter kits from pine cones, dryer lint, wax, pop-sickle sticks, cardboard etc will help. Old pine wood scrap from two by fours or lumber mills or woodworker shops works well too. These are things you can make in your spare time, when it's dry and comfortable.
  
  

  Fire cups!
  

  
  

• Fast food cups that are the wax paper cups (down south and in warmer places use Styrofoam cups) are great for a kit. You can put Popsicle sticks, some matches, some magic biscuits (waxed cotton pads), some black paper (to better start with Fresnel lens / sunlight). Then you put the plastic lid on with a bit of tape over the straw hole and you have a "water proof" cup you can set out, and use when you see fit to start a fire.
  
  Edit corrected spelling.
  

Wow! I had the exact same sentiment when I was 20. I'm now 30, let me give you a summary of how things developed :)

First off, I created a spreadsheet to calculate the effect of adding more people to the effort. Turns out, adding even one person is hugely helpful. There's just one (fairly major) downside: Zoning laws will generally only allow you to build one house on a property, so these people need to get along well enough to live together. Easy to do at age 20, much harder to do as everyone ages.

Then, what I needed was an accurate idea of how much $$ you will need to get started. In other words, why can't I just go NOW! This is where reality hits. I can post my budget(it's huge) to help, but here's a very high-level summary of the options:

Option 1 - Everything from scratch (takes a ton of upfront $$$)

• Buy farmable land in Ontario - $100k (empty farmland is getting tougher to find in Ontario)
  
  • if you are buying vacant land, nobody will give you a mortgage for it, you'll need to pay cash
    
• Build house on land - it should take at least $200k to build a house yourself, more if you're hiring someone to build it for you
  
  • need to prepare the house site, excavate, level, potentially build a driveway
    
  • since you're building it mostly yourself, you need LOTS of equipment... $$$
    
  • due to building codes, you can't get away with a super-cheap cob-built house for $5k like you might see on the internet. That said, with LOTS(like, lots and lots) of hard work, there are some great techniques out there to lower the cost of a code-approved house(e.g. stone construction, etc) - many great books have been written about it (see http://www.amazon.com/Living-Homes-Masonry-Strawbale-Construction/dp/1892784327)
    
    Option 2 - mortgage (less upfront capital)
    
    
• Buy farmhouse + farmland in Ontario - $250k+
  
  • Bonus is that you can get a mortgage for the house, downside is that you can't have 10 people go together on a mortgage, the risk/responsibility needs to belong to one or two people
    
  • downside is you'll have an aging farmhouse to maintain, probably will not be built with "sustainability" in mind
    
    After looking at those options, I calculated how long it would take me to save up enough cash. I used my spreadsheet to motivate myself to save every last possible penny, and it worked!
    
    I found many like-minded people, but the mechanics of us actually merging into a commune for this effort were difficult, so I am founding a commune of 2 (my wife and I).
    
    As far as actually living on the land goes, find an Organic farm in Ontario and visit them(some have tours). You'll find that farming is a lot of work! It is very difficult to make a profit from it, however feeding yourself is quite doable. In Ontario, you'll want to get into preserving (fermentation/canning) to last through the winter.
    
    TL;DR it's the journey not the destination, if you think you'll enjoy the journey, GO FOR IT.
    

> wanted to be able to run fridge and laptop for a week at least before on solar before I have to turn on the engine and drive to my next spot

A normal laptop (10-90W), a small fridge (100-400W), and a room heater (900-1500W+) are orders of magnitude apart. The only time I've heard of anyone using an electric heater when camping was when he had an over-abundance of gasoline-electrical generator output, but one probably wouldn't want to run a generator at night due to noise.

> do you think these buddy heaters are save enough for children to be in the same room

A lot of people use propane heaters in RVs. Of course having a CO (Carbon Monoxide) detector and a fire extinguisher on hand is a must, even if burning a single candle. That aside, the most important thing is to assure adequate ventilation. Extra super-safety measure: set an alarm every 2 hours the first night to walk around the room and make sure the air is fine, nothing is overheating, etc.

When it comes to the possibility of leaks, propane is generally safer than natural gas, because: (1) You can smell it. (2) Propane vapors are heavier than air, so being higher off the floor is an added safety benefit (in addition to being more heat-efficient). (3) Buddy Heaters self-ignite automatically, so there's no chance of turning on the gas and forgetting to light the flame. You can get a propane leak detector as well (a separate function from CO detection, but possible to have both in one device).

I don't know anything about kids, but I don't think they are inclined to touch things that are very obviously very hot. I guess using some sort of a cage (around the heater, I mean, not the kids) would add an extra level of safety...

I have two of these foot pumps, one in the cabin and one on the boat. I've tried other designs but none can compete with these. Flipper pumps and hand pumps all leak, if not in a week then certainly in a year. Tiptoe pumps just don't move enough water.

I like these because they're hands free which is great for washing your hands, etc. They're about 30 years old & I recently replaced a cracked part in one of them so parts are still available and the design hasn't changed.

Both of them are screwed to the floor under the sinks with just the foot pedal exposed. Both are feeding simple filtered water faucets, the cabin one draws from a 5gal blue camping tote also under the sink.

The pumps are double acting, they pump on the downstroke and the upstroke. They move about 4 gal/ minute and can easily be short-stroked to produce just the amount you need.

As with any manual pump they can be sensitive to particles in the water that can cause them to drain back from the faucet - they never leak but if not used for a while you may have to pump once or twice to get water back up to the faucet (common with all manual pumps and even some powered ones).

They can be changed from right hand to left hand operation which refers to which side the inlet & outlet hoses are on.

They're pricy at $90 but well worth it.

https://www.amazon.com/Whale-Marine-Gusher-Operated-GP0551/dp/B00H93M3RO/ref=mp_s_a_1_4

No problem! I'm also an aspiring off-gridder, both learning how to generate power and most importantly to preserve it. :)

I had a bunch of cables and connectors so i was able to reuse some stuff but here are the main components, excluding battery and panel for now. Shipping costs are included.

• 10A 12/24V PWM charge controller with built in 5V buck converter (2x USB connectors) and LCD screen: $6.50 ^(I can't even....)
  
  
• DC 100V 10A Voltmeter Ammeter: $2.21 ("bonus", to monitor panel output. Has built in shunt).
  
  
  
• Switch with USB headers: $1.15 each.
  
  
  
• 4.5-7V USB voltmeter/ammeter: $1.13
  
  
  
• 5V LED bulbs w/ cable and USB header: $1.42 apiece.
  
  
  
  
• Chinese paper lanterns (optional... lol): From $0.99, all sizes and colors. :D
  
  
  
  
  
  About 17 bucks (2 bulbs/switches), assuming you can scavenge some cables and already have duct tape/heat-shrink tube. Now for the most critical parts, the battery and the panel itself, you can cheapen out on eBay as well but i'd advice against it. I'd go to Amazon instead. Or, maybe, your local auto repair shop can give you an old car battery for free... it never hurts to ask. :)
  
  
• 10W "ECO-WORTHY" Poly panel, 5y warranty: $19.99
  
  
• 12V 7.2Ah SLA Battery: $17.99
  
  Mounting the panel is a matter of creativity. :) (I used some Pattex "No More Nails" i had lying around)
  
  Now, let's open the calculator. Excluding some cable, maybe alligator clips, duct tape, zip ties and all that, the total cost of the system would be $52.94 w/ two bulbs and switches. And that's for a 10W system... i'm on 5W. I'd have gone a bit bigger but i already had the panel.
  
  It really isn't that expensive to have a small PV setup nowadays... the problem is usually finding a good place to mount the panels. And if you live in the city you're pretty much SOL. :/
  
  Hope this helps, and best of lucks in you future endeavors!
  
  ------------------------
  
  (edited, i keep finding the same stuff even cheaper...)

If you don't have the wood yet you might be in a pinch. I burn wood to heat our house all winter, but definitely not anywhere near -30c. How much wood depends on the type of wood. Each species has a different BTU rating. Some burn hot and fast others are low and slow. I tend to use both. I like Poplar to get the stove warm and Oak to bank it all night.

​

I cut my own wood but if you don't you will need to be careful of sellers saying it is seasoned. A true seasoned piece of wood will be cut and split (generally) for a year. Some sellers will cut and split in the late spring/early summer and try to sell it in the winter. That won't cut it for most guys burning wood. I highly suggest investing into an inexpensive moisture meter. Split a piece of any wood that you are buying and test it. I try to burn at 20% or less.



Also, it might be really helpful for you to get a wall mounted propane heater. They are inexpensive (under $150 at the local big box store or on Amazon). Keep it on a thermostat to kick on if the wood fire goes out. Really helpful on punishing days. If you get the smaller 100 lb tanks you can take them to the filling station and have them filled cheaper than delivery.


Oh and get a carbon monoxide detector. If need to make sure you have enough fresh air in your house to support your wood burning stove and your ability to breathe!


​

Wood Heat Value Comparison Chart

Thanks for taking time to reply. My goal was not to have to mess with solar since my cabin sits in the middle of some pretty dense trees and I've never gotten good direct sunlight. I was hoping for a clean and quiet way to plug in at night and get 3-4 hours of light and maybe enough time to watch a movie off a USB stick.

The idea of charging a small 15lb battery during the week at home and plugging in when I showed up at the cabin vs lugging the 100lb gas generator was really appealing. The gas generator has worked fine but it's just so loud and it sits outside the bedroom window so I worry about even cracking that window in the summer to avoid exhaust.

The lights are off all day as everything else (speakers and phones I charge at home or have simple Anker power bricks) and the cabin is all windows so light isn't an issue until it gets dark. I just need 4 hours of LED lights and 2 hours of LED TV to make me happy.

If the wiring is 110V then it sounds like I'm not going to lose a bunch of efficiency to wire resistance? Are watt-hours the right way to look at this regardless of voltage? I get confused trying to understand if watt-hours are standard regardless of 110v, 12v, or 3.7v systems pulling current. Sorry for the newb questions but the online literature seems really inconsistent in the explanations.

Knowing that any power tools or air conditioner I wanted to run would need the extra juice from the gas generator, would a solution like this or even as small as this get me a couple lights at night and maybe enough power to get through a 2 hour movie off a USB stick in a TV?

If there's a crash course read on this please send it my way, I've been looking for a simple explanation.

I appreciate the help from everyone here. Thanks!

Yes this I know. I'm self taught at this. I was a residential electrician for years and this low voltage DC stuff is a different ball game to me. I've never had to take my wires' resistance into consideration before for example. I'm used to all wires bound in parallel to be electrically equal (relatively so at least at 120/240) and to not have to worry much about voltage drop etc. I've learned better, in particular from lurking on this and similar subreddits. There's a growing interest in being off-grid in my area thanks in part to what my wife and I are doing and I want to be doing things as right as possible... Especially with two other couples looking up to us now to know what we're doing :o

Anyway, i'd read you were to try to maintain a one to one, or have one more panel than batteries in order to allow charging current to be high enough to prevent sulfication. I know that in theory I only need to replace the energy used; however, whilst in 12 volt, I've found that having a bank larger than the number of panels (I had eight batteries on four panels at one point) did not work well: reading some of the other responses and links has convinced me that, for what I'm trying to do, it's senseless to continue on a 12 volt standard. I've ordered a http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B006W9NGVI/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?ref_=pe_385040_30332190_TE_3p_dp_1 inverter after seeing how well it's worked for another off grid couple nearby, and I'll switch to 24 volt once it arrives.

Great discussion! I could definitely use one of those. I have to pump about 15 times to fill a glass of water with my hand pump.

I bought this shower two years ago and it was worth every penny and is still working great. Besides showeing, I have used it for many purposes like transferring rainwater from one conainer to another rinsing dishes and watering my garden. I have a bad back and this little beauty is by far my favorite off grid purchase.


https://www.amazon.ca/Ivation-Battery-Powered-Waterproof-Handheld-Portable/dp/B00IFHFJXI

No, you don't vent LiFePo4's. If you're reading or watching a source that says you need to vent LiFePo4 that source is wrong.

You only need to vent battery chemistries that off-gas and LiFePo4 batteries don't off-gas.

Another tip? Don't watch van life videos like they're gospel. The Vanlife business plan is to get views to make money - thus, while they may act like they have the expertise to teach you how to do this, most of the time it is also their first time doing almost everything they make videos about. Don't trust them, verify everything and google till you're blue in the face.

Use something like this diagram and you'll be fine:

https://www.parkedinparadise.com/wp-content/uploads/400W-solar-wiring-diagram.jpg

you then wire all your 12v loads into the fuse block (led lights, fan, etc).

things to note:

• NEVER wire your LiFePo4 batteries in series, only parallel
  
• once everything is wired get terminal covers for the battery terminals (IMPERATIVE)
  
• I'd suggest a fuse between the panels and the controller rated to your panels max output as well
  
• you can wire your panels in series or parallel, do your research first to figure out what's best for your setup
  
• I like fuses like this so you can switch everything off without unplugging it.
  
• Remember to plug your controller into batteries before plugging the panels into the controller
  
• Remember 12v cannot hurt you if your hands are dry so long as you're not holding on to a piece of metal that is toughing both the + and - terminals of your batteries. the 120v from the inverter can, that's just normal house power
  
• you will get a spark when you hook your inverter up to the batteries, that's totally normal as it's the capacitors in the inverter charging up
  
  any q's let me know, you're going to have a badass lightweight system if you keep both batteries