Off-grid
Off-grid, low-voltage electrical for lake properties beyond the road: solar, lithium batteries and the systems they run. Designed by Tolowa Craft and installed by Element Northwest.
Off-grid electrical isn't house wiring. It's a small, careful power plant: sun in, batteries between, and everything you depend on running from it.
That's the part we do. Pumps that keep the water running, cameras that stay on in January, a connection that stays up, and a screen that tells you how all of it is doing.
Low voltage is the right language for remote places: lower current in the wire, parts built for batteries, and a system you can add to. We choose the voltage for the job.
12 V
Small loads
Lights, a camera, a router, sensors. Simple, common and the right choice for a single pole or a small outbuilding.
24 V
Pumps and poles
A step up for water pumps, longer cable runs and a larger camera or monitoring pole, where 12 volts would lose too much in the wire.
48 V
The whole place
For a house system with an inverter. Higher voltage means less current, thinner cable and less loss, which is why most home-scale battery banks are built this way.
Lithium changed what a remote system can do. The cold changes what it needs. We design for both.
01 · The chemistry
Light enough to carry up a lake
Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) is stable and long-lived, and a fraction of the weight of lead-acid. It is the battery we build around.
02 · The cold
Warm batteries charge. Cold ones must not.
LiFePO4 must not be charged below freezing. We use batteries with built-in heating, in insulated enclosures, with charging that watches the battery's temperature.
03 · The size
Sized for the darkest week
We size the bank for the coldest, darkest stretch of winter, not the best day of summer, and add a generator where the sun can't keep up.
The system exists to run things. These are the loads we connect most often.
Every battery, panel and load reports in, and you see it on your phone. Built around Victron Energy equipment, with remote monitoring through Victron's VRM portal.
Set a limit and the system tells you first: battery low, battery cold, panel not charging, tank low. An alarm reaches a person, and the captain calls you.
Concept image. What an owner sees from anywhere. Illustrative values.
IN DEVELOPMENT
Everything on this page, on one pole: its own sun, its own batteries, its own satellite link, and a camera. Pick a number to see what each part is and how it works. This is a concept, and the finished tower will differ in detail.
Concept render. The watchtower is in development. Part 1 of 4
What it is
A pan-and-tilt camera on the mast, aimed at the house, the dock or the water.
How it works
It looks where you've chosen to have us look, and nowhere else. Pictures and short clips go to your private portal.
When it sees something out of the ordinary, the captain hears first and calls you.
Part 2 of 4
What it is
Internet where there's no cell service and no cable.
How it works
The dish sits on the mast above the trees, where it has clear sky.
The tower also reports on the link itself, so silence is never mistaken for all clear. If the link drops, we treat that as an alarm and check at the first safe opportunity.
Part 3 of 4
What it is
The tower's own power. Nothing to connect to the grid, because there isn't one.
How it works
The panel is sized for December, not July. Winter sun is low and brief, and the ridges take some of it.
A charge controller makes the most of weak light and won't charge a battery that's too cold.
Part 4 of 4
What it is
The batteries and the electronics, in an insulated, ventilated enclosure at the base.
How it works
Lithium iron phosphate batteries, kept warm so they can charge through the winter.
A controller reads battery charge, temperature and solar yield, and reports them to you and to us.
The electrical work is done and inspected by a licensed Washington electrical contractor.
We aren't a security company and we don't dispatch police or fire. Monitoring is added to a property on top of its retainer and quoted for that property.
Electrical work is a licensed trade, and we treat it that way. Two companies, two clear jobs, one number to call.
Tolowa Craft
Design, monitoring, upkeep
We survey the site's sky, sun, power and access, design the system, read it remotely, and look after it by boat. The same people who visit the house look after the equipment.
Element Northwest
Installation, permits, inspection
Element Northwest does the electrical work. A licensed Washington electrical contractor, with work permitted and inspected where the state requires it.
Quoted project by project. A retainer isn't required for a system. Each project is quoted on its own, including travel, time on site and any overnight stays.
No. We focus on off-grid and low-voltage systems: solar, batteries, and the pumps, cameras and connections they run. Standard house wiring is a different trade.
Higher voltage carries the same power with less current, so cable can be thinner and losses are lower. Most home-scale battery banks and inverters are built for it. Smaller loads such as lights and cameras run at 12 or 24 volts from the same system.
They must not be charged below freezing, so we choose batteries with built-in heating and put them in insulated enclosures. Charging follows the battery's temperature, and we can see that temperature remotely.
Yes. Battery charge, solar yield, temperatures and the loads on the system report to a private portal you can open from anywhere, and so can we.
No. Each system is quoted on its own, including travel, time on site and any overnight stays. Many owners keep us on afterwards, and we hope to earn that.
We survey the site's sky, sun, power and access along with the house, so any system is designed from what's actually there.