When using a completely off grid solar system, you’ll find there’s not a huge amount of maintenance costs tied into NZ solar panels for your off grid solar setup. Six months down the line, what will likely pop up is that you find you need more batteries and panels. That makes sense—at this point you’ve had a chance to re-jig how you use power and get a keen sense of what your power needs are and also how they might change over time. You can easily expand a Bach or Freedom kit after installing, but the smaller kits require components to be swapped out, so it's best to know before you buy whether you might want to upgrade. Have a read of this article for more info about expanding.
Three to five years later (or longer if you've treated them well), you may find your battery capacity starts to degrade (if you chose Lead Acid), so they will need to be swapped out. Lead Carbon or Lithium batteries have a longer lifespan so if your budget allows this might be a better choice for you.
We always recommend switching all your heating and cooking to a wood-burning stove or LPG, as these use huge amounts of power, so you will need to factor in the ongoing costs of firewood or gas.
At GridFree, our helpful team is here for you as your power needs change too, whether it’s setting you up with additional NZ solar panels for your completely off grid solar system, or upgrading to a larger kit with more power. Look into the initial cost for going off-grid by browsing our kits or checking out our comparison table. For any questions, feel free to get in touch.
