Powering Your Off-Grid Glamping Site or Airbnb Cabin with GridFree Solar in Rural New Zealand
With the growing popularity of green and sustainable living, many people with patch of land are looking to set up a glampsite or cabin powered by an off-grid solar kit, like those provided...
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Beginner's Guide to Off Grid Electricity in New Zealand
Living off-grid in New Zealand means generating your own electricity and becoming self-sufficient. This guide will cover the basics of setting up an off-grid electricity system, including the different types...
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Foraging as a Way of Life + Pickled Onionweed Recipe
In my early 20s, while living in the Swiss/Italian Alps I fell headfirst into the wonderful wild world of foraging and folk herbalism. I was instantly drawn to the beautiful,...
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Living Off the Grid: 9 Surprises and Misconceptions
Thinking about going off the grid in New Zealand? We had a chat with some off-gridders to hear all about what surprised them most when they moved off grid, and...
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What is a kilowatt hour?
If you’ve started looking into solar, kilowatt hours (kWh) is a term you’ve probably seen – but what does it mean and how do you use this term to find...
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Effects of Shadow on Solar Panels
Occasionally customers will call us wondering why they can’t seem to fully charge their batteries despite having plenty of sunshine - more often than not, there’s a shadow being cast...
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Tips for Conserving Water Off-Grid Over Summer
With a much drier season expected this summer, it’s important to be prepared for the lack of rainfall we’ll have over the next several months, so here are some quick...
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Best Appliances for Off Grid Living
Going off the grid and trying to work out what the best appliances will be? By choosing the most efficient appliances you can cut down on your electricity use quite...
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Tips for Going Off Grid in a Tiny House
If you’ve chosen to go tiny in your off-grid journey, we’ve got a couple tips and suggestions to help with the planning!
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What is Solar Pumping?
Solar water pumps are usually to replace on-demand pumps such as petrol or mains pumps - saving on bills and time.
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How to Look After Off Grid Solar Batteries
Batteries are a key component in all our off grid solar kits. They are also your biggest investment, so it is very important to look after them to maximise their...
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5 Things to Consider before Living Off Grid in NZ
Dreaming about escaping the rat race and living off the land? Here are five things to consider before making your big move towards living off grid in NZ.
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10 Things to do to Prepare to Live Off the Grid
In this article, we will cover 10 important things to think about so you know how to prepare to live off the grid.
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How to Read Gel Battery Voltage
A common mistake new solar users will make with our kits is reading your Gel battery charge using the bars or percentage on screen, and misinterpreting charging voltage vs resting.
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How to get the most out of your solar kit
An off grid solar kit is a significant investment, and with some careful planning and attention, you can maximise its output and longevity.
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10 Things to be aware of when buying bare land for off grid living
If you’re just starting the process of buying bare land in NZ, and you’ve not done it before, there’s a lot to think about! It’s important to do your due diligence when buying land, so to make things easier, we've listed ten things that...
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Top Tips from Off-Gridders
Our Facebook group, GridFree NZ, is full of off-gridders with plenty of knowledge about all the different areas of off-gridding, so we pulled together some of their advice to help you...
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How to Prepare for Living Off-Grid in Winter
Getting ready for your first winter off-grid? It can be a bit daunting heading into it, so in this article we list some recommended tasks to complete before winter really sets in.
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How to configure the Growatt WIFI-F monitoring device on your phone
Step by step guide to configuring your Growatt WIFI-F module.
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Off Grid Toilet Options
Going off grid and trying to plan your toilet system? Here are some common plumbed and no-plumbing toilet options and considerations for each, so you can work out the best off grid...
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How to Cook Off-Grid
One of the main things we tell people when they’re looking to power a full time off-grid lifestyle is that our solar kits aren’t designed to handle cooking – so...
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What are the best methods to heat water off-grid?
Electric hot water cylinders use a LOT of power, so it's best to heat water off grid with an instant gas hot water camping shower, a woodburner and wetback, or...
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What's the difference between a Standard and a Hybrid solar kit?
Looking at our solar kits but not sure whether to go with a Standard or Hybrid kit? Here's a rundown of the key differences in function, contents, and recommended uses.
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How to run a washing machine/dishwasher on solar
You may have seen our larger kits listing a washing machine or dishwasher in the What Can This Kit Run? section - much like with running anything on solar, there's...
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Check out GridFree customer installation stories to see how other people went solar. Subscribe to our Youtube channel for more how-to videos and installs behind-the-scenes. Have a question you didn’t see addressed above? Contact us.