Getting Off Grid

[bee_pipes]

The TVA provides cheap electricity. I have lived in a few places around the country, and this is the cheapest power I have ever had. The investment in getting off grid is significant, and not the wisest move from an economic point of view. However, being in a rural area, we are low on the priority list. The local coop has done well by us, but when things get tight - we won't enjoy such attentions.

For now, we have two generators. The essentials are refrigerator, freezer, and well. The well doesn't need to run full time, so that leaves the bulk of power available for refrigeration. We also have a wood stove with an electric blower. The house is a doublewide trailer, so it was essential to keep the blower on so heat would not build up on the wall behind it. That situation was remedied by putting heat shielding between the wall and stove.

The generators will serve for now, with things running as normal. What concerns me is when the infrastructure breaks down. The grid failure in the NorthEast of a few years ago was a warning. Recent stories on CNN about how easily utility generators could be destroyed over the internet was a most grave warning. Recovery from this sort of terrorist attack would be on the order of Katrina - multiple months with FEMA and other federal agencies screwing up the works. Getting off grid is now important, and not strictly an economic decision. I don't want to have extra lights, a tv running, or computer burning all day long. I just want water and food storage. We could make due for cooking and hot water. We could even make due with smoking meat, a spring house and a root cellar.

We are on a limited income, so things have to be taken piecemeal, and I have come up with a 5 year plan to get self-sufficient with energy. We live in a hollow, which abbreviates the hours of sunlight and does odd things to the wind. However, behind the house is a hill top that looks suitable for energy collection. The problem being the hill is so far away that the only way to get power to the house would be running AC from the inverter to the house.

Here's the basic approach:

1. Clear and improve the hill top.
2. Build a shed for the batteries, charge controller, inverter and other associated hardware.
3. Run and bury a cable from that location to the house with the capacity to carry the AC power required.
4. Inverter
5. Solar array
6. Connect to the grid and house
7. Charge controller
8. Batteries
9. Windmill and associated gear to feed into charge controller.

I realize I have a lot to learn, and this approach may change as work progresses. Also, we have no welding capabilities, and the thought of spending a lot of cash for an appliance that will suck so much current from the power system doesn't really appeal to me, neither does the hassle and danger of keeping bottled gas. I came across a few sites where people have built arc welders using small gas engines, salvaged auto alternators and bull rectifiers. This looks like the way to go.

Our location is not particularly good for wind, but when the solar isn't working because of weather, the front bringing bad weather is usually accompanied by winds. Might not be worth the investment in a store-bought mill, but the ones I've seen constructed on OtherPower.COM bring it within reach. I also like the idea of building something myself - it lends itself to repair better than a store bought unit.

Right now, my hands are full with clearing and building. Gives me time to continue reading and learning. Would appreciate any suggestions on further reading, books etc.

Thanks to the folks at ForceField and OtherPower for putting up a great resource, and you folks for putting so much information on-line. I've barely scratched the surface.

If you are interested in renewable energy and energy independence but have no idea where to start, I recommend Rex Ewing's book "Power with Nature" as a good primer to explain the components and provide worksheets for decision making. Also, to explain service entry, utility boxes, etc. "Wiring a House (For Pros by Pros)" by Rex Cauldwell. If you have never visited http://www.OtherPower.COM, take a look!


hill top site selected for solar array, battery shed and windmill.


site selected, boots on the ground


site selected, cleared of brush

Regards,
Pat

[Toepopper]

Nice pics, and it looks like a good site to locate your solar panels. I cannot determine how far the wire run will be from the panels to your house. This copper wire, at todays prices, will cost you an arm and a leg. It might be prudent to mount your panels farther down the hill and eliminate some of the wire run. I have been off the grid for 26 years now and my house is powered with solar. I am not computer savvy enough to post pictures on the net, or else I would show you my set up. I use 8 solar panels of various manufacture and model number, bought on sale over many years, and a battery bank of 8- L-16 type 6 volt batteries which are wired in series to jump 2 batteries at a time up to 12 volts and also wired together in parralel to maintain 12 volts. My inverter is a 12 volt Trace 2000 watt which I bought way back in 1985. The panels are connected to a Trace voltage regulator so they don't fry from overcharging. The system is great as long as the sun shines but during the short days of December, power comes from one of several generators, whichever one is up and on line at the time. My inverter has a battery charger in it and automatically switches on when the generator is running. It usually runs 2 hours per day to charge the batteries enough to get us through the day. We do not use very much power as the refrigerator is propane powered, and we do not watch much T.V. My solar panels are mounted about 16 feet from the inverter which is in the house and out of the elements. The battery bank is enclosed on the outside of the house so it has a short 8 foot wire run directly to the inverter. unlike AC power, DC power loses voltage fast and the wire runs must be kept to a minimum.
I had best get off the computer before I run the batteries down.

Toepopper

[Toepopper]

I have received 2 private messages from members asking me to explain how I got off the grid. First off, living off the grid is a lot of work. You will become your own power company and will be responsible for installation and maintenance of all electrical equipment. You must have a basic knowledge of electricity, know how to wire a house and have COMMON SENSE. The ideal situation would be to live in an area where you can have cheap power from the power company. The Tenn. Valley Authority and the Washington State electrical grid provides the least expensive power to its consumers. I have lived and worked in 36 states in the construction trades and got sick and tired of killing myself just to pay the power bill. While living in Florida in the seventies, my power bill went from $28. a month to $320.per month when FP&L decided to restructure and elimenate the door to door meter readers. I had no air conditioning or other big energy devices so I called them up and told them to come out and turn off the power because I was not about to pay them. I was angry, peeved, distressed and dismayed and vowed never to pay these energy crooks again. This is what got me thinking in the direction of solar power. I moved clear across the country and bought some cheap land way out in the boonies, and off the grid. My first purchase was 2 small solar panels to charge a 12 volt car battery to power a 28 foot trailer that we were living in. Each year I saved some money and purchased 8 more solar panels , 1 or 2 per year. These panels were on sale and are all different models, but are all 12 volts. Then I bought 4, L-16 large capacity batteries. These are designed for solar power and have large lead plates in them. They are rated at 350 amp hours each. During this time period I was building my house up on the ridge and between my masonry business and building the house, I was putting in at least 80 hours per week. Once the house was roofed and the windows were installed we moved in and it took another 4 years of working nights and weekends to finish the house. At about this time all sorts of well made solar power products came out on the market. I saved for a year and bought a Trace model 2012 12 volt inverter and a charging voltage regulator. The regulator is similar to the one on a car but has a 60 amp capacity. This is necessary to keep the batteries from overcharging and frying the plates. The inverter is hard wired to the battery bank and converts the batteries D.C. power into A.C. power. This allows you to use conventional household appliances such as T.V. computer, stereo system etc. like you would in a house which is on the grid. The inverter also slows down the amount of D.C. current being drawn from the battery bank so your appliances can run longer on the amps being stored in the batteries. The inverter has a built in, programable battery charger which switches on to charge the batteries whenever it senses power coming from a generator. I set it at 50 amps and it takes about 2 hours of running the generator to charge up my bank of 8 batteries to get us through another day without sun, in the winter months. If the sun shines then I do not have to start the generator as the solar panels will charge the batteries. Here where I live we can go approx 8 months per year getting our power directly from the sun. Even on a cloudy day the solar panels will still produce about 2 amps of charging power. For those of you on the grid, storing 2 - 12 volt solar panels in with your survival gear might be a worthwile investment. If the grid goes down, your radio and flashlight batteries will eventually fail and having panels to charge a car battery might make things a little easier on you.
I hope this little bit of information helps some of you who are considering making the move to solar power.

Toepopper