Getting started

Off Grid Builder is a to-scale layout designer for off-grid, campervan and marine 12–48 V electrical systems. You draw mounting boards, drag real-size components onto them, wire terminals together, and export the result as drawings and a wiring schedule. Everything on the canvas is stored in real millimetres, so what you design is what you drill.

Designing is free and does not require an account. Create a free account to save your designs to the cloud (up to 3) and open them on any device — also free. You pay only when you want to export a design — a one-time $19 (plus tax) per installation, with no subscription. Browsing the parts catalogue, examples and guides is always free.

Two ways to start

Start designing — free (or Design in the header) opens the editor with a blank canvas. Your work autosaves as a draft in your browser as you go.

Guided setup (Get started) walks you through a five-step sizing wizard — Loads, Solar, Battery, Wiring, Verify. You list your appliances, estimate solar input, and it recommends a battery bank for your chosen system voltage (12, 24 or 48 V) and days of autonomy. Nothing is saved and no account is needed; at the end, "Open in the editor" takes you to a fresh canvas to lay out the system you just sized.

A third way in is the examples gallery: open a published design, explore it freely, and clone it into your own installation when you are ready.

Finding your way around

The header runs across every page: Design (the editor), Parts (the catalogue), Examples, Guides (electrical primers), Docs (these pages) and Costs (a live bill of materials for your draft). Signing in adds Dashboard and Add a part. There is also a light/dark theme switcher.

If you are new to off-grid electrics, the Guides section covers the background decisions — battery sizing, wire gauge and fusing, 12 V vs 24 V vs 48 V, and crimping — while these Docs cover how to drive the app itself.