My family has lived off the grid for the past 25 years. No power lines, no phone lines and no utility bills. Over those many years, we have primarily used solar panels for our electricity needs. They do a stellar job, however, occasionally in rare multi-week cloudy periods we still need a good backup generator. We have used a variety of generators over the years, with our traditional favorite being Honda. However, four years ago I bought my first WEN generator.
This morning I performed a couple simple maintenance tasks for our off-the-grid solar system: Washing the solar panels This is actually optional maintenance, as you don’t have to wash your panels. However, keeping solar panels clean and free of dust etc. can appreciably boost your power output. After washing the panels (it has been pretty dry and dusty lately) I had about 10% more electricity being generated. Woot! Adding distilled water to the batteries Flooded lead acid* batteries periodically require distilled
Going off the grid A friend’s dad is serious about going off the grid and doing it with solar. This man has worked hard for a long time and is ready for a new challenge, I think part of that challenge is to be more self-sufficient and independent. There is definitely something to be said for being self-sufficient. 🙂 I am not going to get into the merits of on-grid vs off-the-grid, but I can say that for particular situations
Our new house is coming along nicely and we will continue to live off the grid. As such, it is nice to have a backup charging solution for batteries in the event of super cloudy weather over the course of multiple weeks. Here are some resources toward that end: DC generators: AlphaGen Portable 3.0kw Portable 36/48Vdc Generator Systemhttp://www.alpha.ca/web2/products/generators/item/alphagen-portableCompact portable generator lets you deploy power when/where you need itDC technology requires no UATS (Universal Automatic Transfer Switch)No need to disconnect or
Summary: brief article describing a setup for running a good sized air-conditioner using solar in an entirely off the grid environment. My family has lived off-the-grid for a number of years and generally it has been a wonderful experience. However, summers in Missouri can get rather warm so this year I set out to cool our entire house with AC. Previously only our bedroom was air conditioned and the other rooms had ceiling fans or stationary fans. Prior to the
Exciting news for satellite internet users! From 12 midnight to 5AM, local to your installation time zone, you can download an unlimited amount without it affecting your monthly bandwidth quota. Woot! 🙂 Late Night Free Zone: free downloads and uploads every night from 12 midnight – 5 a.m. local to your time zonehttp://www.exede.com/exede-customers/late-night-free-zoneEvery night during the wee hours, we’re giving Exede customers a free hall pass to enjoy their superfast Internet service just a little bit more. Or a whole
For my jobs I am fortunate/blessed* to be able to work from anywhere that has a reliable internet connection. *my wife might say it’s unfortunate/cursed… 😉 Since my personal and work life takes me all over the USA and sometimes the world, this page is meant to document a few of the places I do my work from… The Architect’s Loft I’ve spent many an hour working in this ultra-modern man-cave which is ironically most known and loved for its
I recently ordered a Ryobi riding lawn mower. Living off the grid and relying exclusively on solar panels for power, I was especially intrigued by a mower that could be off the grid as well. Any reduction in trips to the gas station is a good thing in my book 😉 For those that are inquisitive like me, here are some of the battery specs: 48V battery system [(4) x 12V batteries in series = 48V] AGM batteries ~2 hours or