September 26th, 2020 — 1oo Days of Solar

September 26, 2020

We have lived off-grid on solar power for almost 100 days. 100 days of using outlets. 100 days of hearing the kids play outside. 100 days of no longer needing to turn on the generator just to charge my phone or curl my hair. 100 days of hearing the sounds of nature. 100 days of walking outside at night and enjoying the stars in silence. Swapping from our loud generator to solar was one of the BEST off-grid decisions we’ve made. When you literally have no electricity without turning on a generator—to constant electricity 24/7—it’s like going from the olden days to the future. 💯Lately, I’ve been experimenting with our solar power system. I’ve vacuumed with a full sized vacuum, ironed, curled my hair, used a blow dryer, ran the AC, done up to 4 loads of laundry in a single day, and recently, even powered my computer. 🤯Tasks that beforehand, heavily taxed our generator. Tasks that meant running outside in the wind, rain or snow to complete before—where now, all I have to do is plug in an outlet 😭😭😭😍.YOU GUYS—when you’ve learned to live WITHOUT consistent electricity for over a year, to suddenly having it again 24/7, it literally changes your life. For the past few days, I’ve been overwhelmed with gratitude for having solar power. Every time I plug in anything, it brings SO MUCH JOY. 😍😭 This is the sort of transformation that happens when you move to off-grid living. It changes you. It makes you incredibly grateful for the little things. Because in all reality, the little things are the BIGGEST THINGS. 💯I can’t wait for our future cabin and going solar on the big scale. It’s truly incredible!! I 10/10 recommend switching to solar. It’s so empowering to have endless electricity just because the sun rises every day ☀️💗🙏🏼Thank you Donnie Ray + Ren Ray for creating our solar power system!! Forever grateful for you both!!! ☀️Sun Solar Backup Systems Inc.

COMMENTS:

  • Jai MacklinYay!! It’s so amazing when you go without convinces, how much you appreciate them! Yay for solar! ❤️👏
    • Rachel McCash CroninJai Macklin right?! 😭😍 Lately it’s just meant so much to me!! I’ve been stretching our systems limits and I’m so happy and impressed with all I can do now that I couldn’t do for a year straight! 😍
  • Jennifer Lomeli👏 yay! Can you send me their contact info please? I’d like to get a couple more quotes.
  • Amber SmithThis is so awesome!
  • Jessica KishI wanna have solar some day! We can’t compete with 300+ days of sun though.
    • Rachel McCash CroninJessica Kish we will get fully charged on cloudy days, fog, etc! Just a slower charge. On those days I only do 1 load of laundry or I will skip laundry/skip heavy power appliances. Totally doable with less sun ☀️ 🙏🏼
  • Steven Dale
  • Rachel McCash CroninSteven Dale hahahaha #prettymuch
  • Handlebar HenryYou must have a lot of solar panels to do all of that..great that you can do this! As you know we live in a Hurricane Zone so we know all about generators. In Katrina a whole part of the country was without power for an extended time..in addition to … See More
    • Rachel McCash CroninHandlebar Henry that’s awesome!! It’s a great feeling to be prepared. We have 8 huge panels and 3 lithium ion battery packs and a 4000 watt inverter. Our generator is 9000 watts, so it was a little adjustment going down to 4000 watts but we can do everything we need to. Biggest changes are just using heavy power use appliances one at a time. Makes you more “thoughtful” with electricity for sure! But I honestly love it!!
    • Handlebar HenryRachel McCash Cronin I just about bought a 12,000 watt one ..but I am going to wait until next season (I think..not sure). I can actually do everything I need to do with the three working ones now. Can even run an airconditioner. I do have three freezers and one refrigerator..actually two..one is a small one. The funny thing..our power bill is really low for a size house we have. Another long story..I learned about how to do this by accident. More on this later.
  • Brittany Lea WarrenLiving the dream!! ❤❤❤❤❤
  • Donnie RayWere super happy for you guys, and grateful for your business as well. you have such an awesome location and amazing views. It was a perfect location for solar generation! I’m glad you are still happy with it all!
  • Manuela MihailaWill you be getting a Tesla Power Wall?We were thinking about it, it’s such a good investment, and to be independent from the electrical company, it will be such a relief.We have solar panels on our house now, so we barely have an electrical bill.
    • Donnie RayManuela Mihaila A good solar contractor can create a power solution as good as the power wall for half the price. Tesla has a big name. But also a big price tag.
  • David McCannso awesome! I may have to pick your brain in the future on this as we begin our build. We’ll be connected to the grid, as power is right at the road.. but would love to NOT have to rely on the slow mountain power company when a winter storm takes it down.
  • Katie MajI can totally relate to this, although not for such a long time. We’ve camped in the middle of nowhere for days with no outlets and had to rely on the generator. And when you can finally plug something in, it’s like magic.
  • Jayme MarquezI sure wish we would’ve known about this company before we hired Ion Solar to install our panels!! Here we are 11 months after paying CASH for our panels and they STILL aren’t finished 🙄
    • Jayme MarquezRachel McCash Cronin me too!!! Well, we’re selling the house…so I just pray they get the system running before the house goes on the market at LEAST! The panels have been installed for 3 months now but they didn’t get the plan properly approved from the city, and didn’t dig the trench deep enough so failed the inspection…and we haven’t heard from them since! (Other than them saying they’re waiting for the city to approve the plan🙄) Craziness!