Solar PV systems involve high-voltage DC and substantial fault currents. Improper installation can cause fire, injury, or death. Consult a licensed electrician and your local Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) before any installation work, and verify every value against the current NEC edition and current product datasheets. Numbers and recommendations on this page are educational starting points, not a substitute for professional design and inspection.
Tiny home / ADU
Solar setup for a tiny home or ADU
A full-time tiny home or accessory dwelling unit (ADU) typically runs on 3–6 kWh/day. That's higher than a part-time cabin (which sits empty most days) and lower than a normal house. Here's the build that handles year-round residence with reasonable margin.
Typical tiny home load profile
- Energy Star fridge — 80W avg, 24h → 1,920 Wh
- LED lighting throughout — 60W, 5h → 300 Wh
- Internet/router/Starlink — 70W, 16h → 1,120 Wh
- Laptop + monitor (work from home) — 90W, 8h → 720 Wh
- Cooking (induction occasional / propane mostly) — 200 Wh electric
- Heat pump water heater or propane → 200–800 Wh electric
- Mini-split heating/cooling (peak season) → 1,000–2,000 Wh
- TV / entertainment → 200 Wh
Total: ~4–5 kWh/day base, 6–8 kWh/day with active heating or cooling. Cooking primarily on propane keeps it lower; all-electric pushes higher.
Recommended build
Why 48V
For a full-time residence pulling 3–4 kW peak continuous (mini-split running + cooking on induction), 48V is the only sane DC bus voltage. At 12V you'd be moving 300+ amps through battery cables; at 48V it's 80 amps — half the wire, half the heat, half the cost.
48V also unlocks the better residential inverter ecosystem: Sol-Ark, EG4, Victron MultiPlus-II all assume 48V. Going lower than 48V on a tiny home cripples your inverter selection.
Grid-tie or hybrid?
If utility connection is available, hybrid is the right answer for most tiny homes. You get blackout resilience, full self-consumption of solar, and grid backup for the worst winter weeks — without paying for the full off-grid battery bank that would be required to survive on solar alone. Hybrid systems typically need a smaller battery (10 kWh) than fully off-grid (20+ kWh) at the same loads.
If you're somewhere genuinely remote where utility tie-in costs $20K+, off-grid becomes economically obvious. Plan on a larger battery bank (15–20 kWh) and a propane generator backup.
Permitting reality
Tiny homes on permanent foundations (ADUs) generally need full residential solar permits — same as a normal house. Tiny homes on wheels in most jurisdictions don't (they're classified as RVs), but you also can't grid-tie them. ADU classification varies by state and city; check with your AHJ before finalizing the system architecture.
Plug your numbers into the builder →