This article has been reviewed in accordance with our editorial policy.
Since tiny houses have taken off in popularity, many people have lots of questions about how they are set up and run. Let’s dig more into powering your tiny house.
So, how do tiny houses get power? Most tiny houses hook up to a power source through a 30 or 50 amp RV inlet. Many tiny houses are off-grid and those ones typically use solar for their power. There are some other options, but it is not a good idea to use a generator full time for a tiny house.
My husband and I have been living off-grid in our tiny houses for years now. We have had another building to hook up to, ran off of solar, used a wind turbine, and a generator. We have mostly been living off-grid and have had lots of experience with different types of power.
How do Tiny Houses Get Power
Tiny houses are wired up like a normal house. Everything is wired into the breaker box by following codes. It is not a wiring nightmare like most RVs. Also, RVs run off a 12 volt system, like what is in your car. RVs mostly use a 12 volt system, but they do use some 120 VAC as well.
A tiny houses, even ones on wheels, typically use a 120 or 240 VAC system. That means that they use AC power instead of DC, and will function like a normal house. A lot of tiny houses are just plugged directly into a power source, like another building or the grid.
Tiny houses that are off-grid must use an alternative source of power. There are several options here. The most common is solar power. You can use other forms, like a wind turbine, but these are typically less effective and have more maintenance requirements.
I have seen a lot of people write about using a generator for powering your tiny house. I am pretty sure that none of them live in a tiny house. There are several reasons why using a generator in a tiny house, as your only source of power, is not a good idea.
RVs have a small battery back up and many people who travel with an RV will use a generator. Tiny houses are not built the same way, and you will not have a battery bank if you do not have solar in your house.
Tiny houses are built more like homes. They are not as efficient with their power so you can run standard appliances, and live like you would in a normal house. Using a generator would not be ideal and would be costly with fuel. I will talk more about generator usage with tiny houses later in this article.
RV Inlet for Power
I was doing some scavenging around online to see what people were saying about powering tiny houses and I was shocked. One tiny house blog literally said to use an extension cord to plug into a power source. Do not use an extension cord!
You need to use a RV extension cord. There is a big difference. Even though that blog showed a picture of an RV extension cord plugged into the home, they did not specify. You can burn down you house with a standard extension cord.
Granted, if you are not using very much power it will likely be fine. But if you turn on too much at one time it will not be able to hold all of the amperage and will either flip the breaker it is connected to or burn up the cord.
A RV 30 or 50 amp cord is built to hold more amperage and will be safe running your house. If you are using 240 VAC then you need a 50 amp RV cord. The only acceptable way to use an extension cord is if you are gathering power from a generator.
Generators have their own barkers and will flip if the cord cannot hold the power. Thus you will not burn up the cord or your house. However, you cannot use a generator while you are using any heavy loads, it will just keep flipping the breaker.
The most common form of power for a tiny house is to plug into a power source. Either another building or house, or at an RV park. However, all tiny houses, even off-grid ones, have the option to plug into this type of power.
We have lived off-grid for several years now and have used all forms of power. It can be nice to just plug into another house and not worry about power usage or how your batteries are doing.
If you have the right solar set up you can feed back into the grid when you plug in as well. In our first house we had a every expensive inverter charger that allowed us to feed back into the grid. This is not common on most of them though.
We were moving states and stayed in my in-laws back yard for a couple months. They are truck drivers and are rarely home. While we were there and plugged into their house, their electricity bill was $20. As soon as we moved it shot up to $140!
Solar Powered Tiny Houses
Solar power is the most common off-grid method for tiny houses, and most other off-grid homes. They require the least amount of maintenance and last for a long time. Solar power is relatively cost efficient if you buy the right stuff.
Take a look at what we recommend buying for a small and large solar system, here.
Ever solar system will need lithium or deep cycle AGM batteries, a charge controller, an inverter charger, appropriate size fuses and breakers, combinder box, and solar panels. Which items to buy can be trickier and we lay that out in our recommended products.
Solar is the most reliable source of off-grid power. Even on cloudy days you still get power! That is why everyone goes with solar. You can find some cheaper sources of power like using a wind turbine, but if it is not windy for a couple of days you will have no power.
Maintenance:
Solar panels usually come with around a 25 year warranty. and require little maintenance. They will need to be readjusted for peak sun hours throughout the seasons. Other than that you will just need to clean the dust off every now and then and clean off any snow.
Battery Bank:
Your battery bank is a little different. Regardless of what off-grid system you use, you will need a battery bank. You batteries do not last as long as the panels and need to be taken care of for them to last.
If you completely drain your batteries you can permanently ruin them, if they are led acid. Batteries work the same with their lifespan whether they are in your phone, car, or powering your house.
As they age you will get less power out of them. When the Nissan Leaf first came out they could go 100 miles on a charge, after several years that will decrease and they will not go as far. Same goes for your phone, the older it gets the quicker it dies.
There are two main types of batteries, led acid or lithium. Led acid are cheaper up front but they do not last as long. They are only meant to have 500-1,000 cycles at 50% DoD, meaning only using 50% of the battery’s charge.
Lithium batteries are supposed to go 1,000-5,000 cycles with a 80% DoD. So they last longer and you can use more of the battery. A cycle is when the battery is charged up all the way and then used down. This is supposed to equate to a day, but not always.
If you do not have enough batteries to run all of your power than you may go through multiple cycles in a day and will likely ruin them very quickly. If you barely use your battery bank, they will last twice as long.
Wind Turbine
Another option is a wind turbine. This is great for additional power, but I would not recommend it for your only source of power. If it is not windy for a couple of days you will not have any power.
Wind turbines are cheaper than solar panels but they require more maintenance and will likely not last as long. There is constant motion in a wind turbine and that causes stress and leads to faster deterioration of any components.
Wind turbines work differently than collecting solar power. When there is excess solar power it dissipates, however when you have excess wind power it has to have somewhere to go. Wind power can over charge your batteries.
This is why all wind power requires a load dump option. This usually comes in the form of heat. If you install a load dump in your house it can be supplemental heat in the winter, but it will be very unwelcome in the summer.
Another option is to have a load dump that heats your water. This can be a bonus in the winter or a negative in the summer. The option is up to you, but having wind power is more complicated than solar power.
Also, if you have a hybrid system you can get a hybrid charge controller, but they are usually for small systems only. Typically you will need to buy two charge controls, one for your solar and one for your wind turbine.
Generator
I have seen several people write about running your tiny house off of a generator. I have never seen anyone do this, and I doubt that anyone who lives in a tiny house actually recommends this.
A tiny house without a solar system will not have batteries. That means that you have to run your generator 24/7 and you cannot let it turn off for too long or everything in your fridge will melt.
Most generators are loud and would have to be filled at least once a day with fuel. It would be extremely hard to live full time off of a generator. We did it once, when we first went tiny because we could not get our solar hooked up.
It was awful. I had to go out in the middle of the night and start the generator or fuel it almost everyday. We had solar, it was just not set up yet. We ended up ruining our fridge because it kept cutting off and on again.
We then got our solar set up and only used the generator for back up. When we first went tiny we did not know that much about solar and our batter bank was too small. We had to use the generator a lot.
I always recommend having a generator as a back up anyway. You may get an intense snow and not be able to clean your panels or get too many cloudy days and then you will need it. But living off of it would be way too difficult.
Keep in mind that a tiny house is meant to be lived in full time, it is supposed to be a home. When traveling or staying in something temporarily than you can get away with a lot more. But living in a tiny house should be like living in a home.
My guess is that if you are living uncomfortably, constantly fueling a generator, driving your house to dump you black water, not having hot water because you didn’t know you were out of propane, you will not stay living in a tiny house.
And then it will just have been a waste. We went through many difficult times living tiny, but we still love it. Although, we are not like most people. We lived in a tent for two months while my husband built us our second tiny house.
But now I get to help others understand how to live tiny. If you read my posts and follow my advise, from someone who has been living tiny for four years now, you will not regret it.
Related Questions
How do tiny houses get water? Most tiny houses hook up to an external water source, like another house or in a RV park. But lots of tiny houses have holding tanks for fresh water as well. You can haul water to your house or pull your house to fill it up.
Can solar panels power a tiny house? Solar panels can power a tiny house but you will also need a battery bank for nights and cloudy days. In order to calculate how many panels you need you will need to calculate your power usage.
