Off-Grid: Solar Power

Solar power for Project Zomboid Build 42: panels, battery racks and a charge controller that powers everything around it, quietly. Wire up whole buildings, carry power across town with transformers, and light your paths with solar lamps. Convert a generator into a backup that the controller starts when the batteries run low. Get it on the Steam Workshop.

Field guides

1. Build your first rig
2. Reading the OG-1200 monitor
3. Where the power comes from
4. Batteries: the floor, load shedding and wear
5. Grades compared
6. What uses your power
7. Finding parts
8. The almanac
9. Multiplayer
10. Troubleshooting and bug reports
11. Power whole buildings: wiring, the Building Picker, transformers
12. Solar lamps
13. Backup generators: Auto, the GEN page, fuel

FAQ

Short answers to the questions people ask most: what trips the breaker, how to wire panels, batteries and the controller, why a part can't be picked up, and more. Read the FAQ.

Quick answers

• The house went dark and the monitor says LOW BATT. The batteries reached their floor, so the controller cut the load to protect them. It turns the power back on by itself once the batteries can run the house for about half an in-game hour.
• The monitor says BREAKER TRIP. That controller tripped before version 2.10.0. Right-click it, Off-Grid, Reset the breaker, once. It won't trip again.
• Only part of the house has power. Right-click the controller, Off-Grid › Wire up the building, and every room on every floor gets power. See Power whole buildings.
• A backup generator won't start. Open System monitor › GEN. Auto runs it only while both AUTO switches are on, from when the batteries fall to START AT. The word beside it says what else is wrong (NO FUEL, INDOORS, FAULT). See Backup generators.
• Reporting a bug: see Troubleshooting.