I recently stumbled across a fascinating piece of history: a scanned article from the Dec/Jan 1989 issue of Backwoods Home Magazine, written by off-grid pioneer Steve Willey.
Reading it felt like opening a time capsule. In 1989, solar power wasn’t a standard home improvement—it was a radical lifestyle choice for people willing to pay nearly $10 per watt for electricity (inflation-adjusted, that’s astronomical compared to today’s $0.50/watt). The systems were expensive, the lights were dim, and the neighbors probably thought you were crazy.
But as I read through Willey’s advice on system design and energy conservation, I realized something surprising: the physics haven’t changed.
While the technology has become 95% cheaper, the core philosophy of “energy audits” and system sizing is the same today as it was 36 years ago. This article is going to break down that vintage wisdom, compare the costs between then and now, and show you how to build a modern system using the “Old School” rules that still work.
Note: If you love digging into old-school homesteading wisdom like this, you can often find copies of [The Best of Backwoods Home Anthologies on eBay]. They are fantastic resources to keep on hand for offline reading at your cabin or tiny home.
Headline Idea: What $6,000 Bought You in 1989 vs. Today
The most shocking part of this 1989 article isn’t the philosophy—it’s the price tag. The author outlines a ‘Typical Conserving Small Home’ system (Figure 2 in the original text) priced between $2,880 and $6,000.
If we adjust for inflation, that $6,000 budget is roughly $15,000 in today’s dollars. And what did that fifteen grand buy you?
- Panels: 4 small modules (roughly 140 watts total).
- Batteries: 4 huge ‘L-16’ lead-acid batteries (heavy industrial units that require checking water levels every month).
- Inverter: A ‘Trace 612’ or ‘Tripplite’ (older ‘modified square wave’ technology that made electronics buzz and run hot).
Today, technology deflation has completely flipped the script. I priced out a modern equivalent system on eBay and Amazon, and the results are staggering. You can build a system that is twice as powerful for about one-tenth of the inflation-adjusted cost.
The Breakdown: 1989 vs. 2025
| Component | 1989 “Small Home” System | 2025 Modern Equivalent |
| Solar Array | 4 Modules (~140 Watts total)
Cost per Watt: ~$10.00 |
2 Bifacial Panels (~800 Watts total)
Cost per Watt: ~$0.50 |
| Battery Bank | Lead-Acid (L-16 Type)
Heavy, emits gas, requires watering. |
[12V 100Ah LiFePO4 Battery]
Zero maintenance, lasts 10+ years, weighs 25 lbs. |
| Inverter | Modified Square Wave
Inefficient “buzzy” power. |
Pure Sine Wave
Clean power for laptops & Starlink. |
| Lighting | 120V “PL” Fluorescents
Dim and flickering. |
LED Lighting
Bright, dimmable, uses 90% less power. |
| Total Cost | **$6,000** ($15k adjusted) | ~$1,200 (Full DIY Kit) |
The biggest game-changer here isn’t actually the solar panels—it’s the batteries. In 1989, you had to be a part-time chemist, checking specific gravity and water levels in your lead-acid bank. Today, [LiFePO4 Batteries] (Lithium Iron Phosphate) have made energy storage ‘set it and forget it.’ They are lighter, safer, and can be discharged deeper than the old lead-acid tubs without damage.
What This System Actually Powers in 2025
The 1989 guide is cautious about what you can turn on. The author lists luxuries like a ‘DC TV and stereo,’ a sewing machine, and a ‘shallow well pump.’ He explicitly warns against electric heating, noting that ‘heat can easily be produced at less cost with wood, propane, and heat from the sun.’
That warning about heating is still valid—physics is physics. You still shouldn’t try to heat your cabin with a space heater on a budget solar setup.
However, everything else has changed.
Because modern electronics are so much more efficient, that same ‘Small Home’ energy budget (approx. 1,000–1,500 Watt-hours per day) goes drastically further. Here is what a ‘Small Home’ system powers in the modern context:
- The Digital Nomad Office: In 1989, high-speed communication in the woods was sci-fi. Today, the Starlink Mini draws only about 25–40 watts. You can run high-speed internet and a modern, efficient laptop (like a MacBook Air) all day long on this setup without draining your batteries.
- The “Holy Grail” of 12V Refrigeration: Back then, running a fridge meant buying a massive, expensive propane unit or a power-hungry AC model. Today, you can grab a [Portable 12V Compressor Refrigerator on eBay] that sips power (often averaging just 30–40 watts once cold). This is the single most significant quality-of-life upgrade available today—ice-cold food and drinks, 24/7, on a ‘starter’ solar budget.
- Infinite Light: The ‘PL’ fluorescent bulbs mentioned in the article were a breakthrough at the time, but they can’t touch LEDs. You can now light up your entire cabin, inside and out, for less power than it took to light a single reading nook in 1989.
The ‘sacrifice’ of off-grid living is largely gone. Aside from air conditioning and electric heating, you can pretty much live an everyday, modern life on a system that fits in the trunk of your car.
Why You Still Shouldn’t Heat with Batteries
While technology has made generating power cheap, the laws of physics remain stubborn. The 1989 article lays down a law that is just as true in 2025 as it was back then:
‘First, switch from electric to wood, gas, or thermal solar for all major heating, water heating, cooking, and clothes drying.’
This is the area where beginners still get into trouble. They see cheap solar panels on eBay and assume they can run a space heater, an electric stove, or a tumble dryer.
Please don’t do it.
Using electricity to generate heat (resistive heating) is arguably the least efficient way to use off-grid power. To run a simple 1,500-watt space heater for just one hour, you would drain that entire ‘Small Home’ battery bank we designed above.
The ‘Backwoods’ approach is still the best approach:
- Heat with Wood or Propane: A small wood stove or a ‘Buddy’ propane heater is infinitely more efficient than trying to force solar panels to make heat.
- Cook with Gas: A simple camp stove or propane range saves massive amounts of electricity.
- Know Your Loads: The author suggests doing an ‘audit’ of your appliances. In 1989, this required complex wiring with analog meters. Today, you can just grab a [Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor]. You plug it into the wall, plug your appliance into it, and it tells you exactly how much power it’s using. It is the single best tool for planning a solar system.
The Future is Bright and Cheap
Reading Steve Willey’s words from 1989 is a reminder of how far we have come. He describes a world where solar was a ‘clean and reliable’ alternative, but one that required serious financial sacrifice and technical skill.
Today, the financial barrier has crumbled. The technical barrier has been lowered to ‘plug-and-play.’ But the mindset? That hasn’t changed a bit. The most successful off-gridders in 2025 are still the ones who think like it’s 1989: they conserve energy, they respect their batteries, and they use the sun to power their freedom, not just their toaster.
If you are thinking about building a system, don’t let the tech jargon scare you. If they could do it with lead-acid batteries and graph paper in the ’80s, you can definitely do it today.