Preparing for troubled times ahead - Advice on what is needed.....
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26 foot poles on a transit were bad enough!!!!Oh fab. I used to supply poles for some of the bigger tipis! Thinnings from the woodlands they were and a great way to see some lovely parts of the UK and meet some interesting folk.
26+ feet on the roof of a LWB Land Rover probably wasn’t quite legal……but great times.
S
Yes, good times, sadly gone now, but we never realise at the time, we were just young busy and happy doing whatever we were doing.
Patrick is a sad loss. He just knew so much. Many happy days sat outside his tepee or thatched hut after work , kettle on the fire, chattin and chillin .
I can still hear him yelling at me for sewing on the tipee flaps upside down!!! Whoops!
Must have been an interesting drive down that steep track to the yard and workshop with those poles on board!
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I am in Australia surrounded by floods, the last time this occured I saw how quickly supermarkets emptied so have been preparing. Bought bags of rice, oats for porridge and various beans and stored them in drums to stop rodents getting them, also stocked up on tinned food: fish, beans, fruit etc, got a limited supply of uht milk other essentials and my medicines. When we had a glut of fruit or veg I made up jars of marmalade, fruit salad, chutneys etc and stored them.
Now we are in the middle of what they are calling a 500 year flood. We live on a hill out of town safe from the water but cant go anywhere so we are now using the food we stored, hopefully the water will go down soon.
Wherever you are it doesnt hurt to keep a stock of supplies for emegencies!
Now we are in the middle of what they are calling a 500 year flood. We live on a hill out of town safe from the water but cant go anywhere so we are now using the food we stored, hopefully the water will go down soon.
Wherever you are it doesnt hurt to keep a stock of supplies for emegencies!
A pic pls, though a tough situation still probably not as depressing as the ones we are getting from Ukraine.
Sounds like a time to invent the boat. Sorry. I faintly recall that in Northern Oz there are regions where a yearly flood is expected.
We are in the Northern Rivers NSW and big floods occur every few years but this one is not normal. Sorry dont know how to post pics, sun is out now but not far from here people are being evacuated, helicopters buzzing around pulling people off roofs. News from Ukraine is terrible, think I would be on the move heading West, lots of angry people with guns is something to avoid
Glad to hear that you are ok and doing well.
We've done the same thing for similar reasons. House on a hill but all the roads in and out risk getting cut off by flooding on a regular basis and we don't have any shops nearby anyway, so we need to be able to manage if we can't drive for some reason, be that adverse weather or illness/injury or broken down car. Luckily, the type of stuff you want to have on hand in case you get ill (easy to make and with minimal prep time) is also great for when you got a powercut and rely on heating things on a camping stove in the light of a headtorch.
For those of you whom have solar power, solar thermal or wind power supply systems, I would be grateful to see your setups.
Cheers Gra
Cheers Gra
There's not much to see with my solar. Panels, wires to a little box, more wires to batteries. It's nothing like my neighbours set up, mine is just a few hundred watts. I run smaller panels to the 12V batteries running the electric fences too but they are just little 20W jobs trickle charging. Happy to answer any questions that you might have ( if I can of course).
My solar photovoltaic panels are vertical on my south wall. They don't function very well under a foot of snow so there's nopossibility of laying them to face the sky. In the house downstairs is the little charge controller, then the deep cycle 6VDC batteries. Plate area matters. The 6's are connected to give me 12VDC. They usually sit about 13.5VDC. Next comes the pure sine wave inverter, just 1.5kW.
One free outlet on the inverter. The other feeds a line to the upstairs kitchen where I have installed a quad outlet box on an out-of-the-way corner wall.
That's it.
I need to go downstairs and push one button on the inverter. The scrolling display shows V, A, consumption and time.
Back upstairs, I'll put the kettle on.
One free outlet on the inverter. The other feeds a line to the upstairs kitchen where I have installed a quad outlet box on an out-of-the-way corner wall.
That's it.
I need to go downstairs and push one button on the inverter. The scrolling display shows V, A, consumption and time.
Back upstairs, I'll put the kettle on.
Thank you, at the moment I am unsure just how much is enough, or good enough in relation to solar power generation and battery storage.
My home is pretty much a blank sheet, and just a shell, so in a way fortunate in designing it ourselves, so along side a 240v system, was thinking of a direct 12v system for led lights through out and power points.
So one of the questions, is to run dedicated 12v, in addition occasional 240v inverter use, how many 12v batteries would be recommended.
Also 12v versus 24v batteries, which would you recommend?
Pictures of your solar battery storage / plant room would be of interest, to help me design mine.
In addition to stated above, to insure suitable use when needed, I would be grateful to understand how long your system is operational, when in primary use.
Also the I understand pure sine wave is the most preferable inverter, but if I understand your post, there is only enough capacity for 4 electrical items in operation at any one point?
Pictures of your solar battery storage / plant room would be of interest.
Although power generation is an interest I am also thinking about about solar thermal vacuum water heating system, this would be my main interest, for where we are.
On the farm, years ago, mains power only came here in 1950s, all electricity was generated using a diesel engine and 58 x 12v batteries, I still have the engine, but not working.....i wish I had the presence of mind to take more note of the setup before it was removed in 1998.
My pure sine wave inverter does have a 12VDC outlet port. But the juice attenuates with the length of the copper wire run. Even 10m is a long wire. 117VAC or 240VAC is a far better carrier.
I added up the running currents needed for common appliances that I might have running together. (TV and kettle). Inrush motor starting currents with universal windings are 2X so just double the whole load.
Next step: how long does this consumer appliance unit need to run? That will allow you to figure out how many amp-hours your system has to put out. I installed a quad box of outlets since we have no hex units and I can't imagine needing 6 appliances running all at once in a storm. I like to mess with the variety of camp stoves that I have. So that's all the cooking energy needed, right there. Maybe watch satellite TV or listen to Sirius XM (120 channels of radio).
The ceiling in my upstairs kitchen is a clean off-white color.
I have a clamp-on 9W LED spotlight that I can aim at the ceiling. Nine watts. That lights up half my entire upstairs house floor level.
I added up the running currents needed for common appliances that I might have running together. (TV and kettle). Inrush motor starting currents with universal windings are 2X so just double the whole load.
Next step: how long does this consumer appliance unit need to run? That will allow you to figure out how many amp-hours your system has to put out. I installed a quad box of outlets since we have no hex units and I can't imagine needing 6 appliances running all at once in a storm. I like to mess with the variety of camp stoves that I have. So that's all the cooking energy needed, right there. Maybe watch satellite TV or listen to Sirius XM (120 channels of radio).
The ceiling in my upstairs kitchen is a clean off-white color.
I have a clamp-on 9W LED spotlight that I can aim at the ceiling. Nine watts. That lights up half my entire upstairs house floor level.
I still think that fuel, energy, for heat and light and thermoelectric power, is the thing to stockpile. That stuff works day and night. Done carefully, it is invisible.
I need fresh. I can dump the old stuff into the Burb.
I need fresh. I can dump the old stuff into the Burb.
Some of these questions need a lot of information to answer. Let's start with
1) Is your system intended for a backup to mains power for a few critical items or a replacement for grid power On a day to day basis?
2) Do you anticipate having other sources of heating?
3) What is the daily, maximum, consumption of your intended setup in kWh?
4) What is your planned peak consumption in terms of Watts?
These questions are vital if planning a "whole house" system. Some items draw power steadily (lighting), some use a surge of power then settle down (freezers), some use a lot of fluctuating power (washing machines), some just consume huge amounts of power (kettles, fan heaters).
If you run a washing machine a lot, you need to both generate and store a lot of power. If you use a kettle occasionally, you need a big inverter, decent storage, but not necessarily huge panels.
Some experiences learned during 20 tears of PV/diesel and batteries.
- don't heat with electricity except surplus
- do your cooking with gas (or wood)
- calculate your consumption for batteries and inverter then add 2* for motors and on top 50%
- if you have seldom used motors (non self starting) etc. don't calculate those for the dimensioning except if they are large
- same goes if you have a small gen set, add 50%
- if you have a semi permanent diesel generator utilize the waste heat from coolant, easy and cheap to make, adds quite a lot to your efficiency
- don't heat with electricity except surplus
- do your cooking with gas (or wood)
- calculate your consumption for batteries and inverter then add 2* for motors and on top 50%
- if you have seldom used motors (non self starting) etc. don't calculate those for the dimensioning except if they are large
- same goes if you have a small gen set, add 50%
- if you have a semi permanent diesel generator utilize the waste heat from coolant, easy and cheap to make, adds quite a lot to your efficiency
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This is all good advice! My one addition, if considering a generator as well as solar for heavy use ( e.g. washing machine) is to give propane a thought. It stores pretty much forever, comes in safe bulk tanks that cost very little to install ( and can also run on cylinders) and burns cleanly. You can also easily re-jet cookers to propane so you have taken care of your cooking draw. Obviously have a wood stove as well but a propane cooker is handy in Summer.
That's the best bet, using it for light's and consumer electronics costs a fraction of using it for everything. Try to get one of those usage monitors ( you don't need a smart meter).
I'm sure you know there is a lot of info on 12/24v campers? Try the SBMCC in the UK for instance but you gotta pay up after a few posts. Starting from that small size camper view point (small inputs, small roof area, small water tank etc) you would not perhaps try to use mains power at all since you lose each time you convert. But a camper will not have long cable runs, your house could have a layout to put use close to the storage?
12/24v compressor fridge/freezers don't use much power at all, are expensive for good ones, and you'd need a couple. You can get TVs that take 12v (not necessarily 13 and a bit the batteries would be at) so minimal losses.
A washing machine uses a fair bit of power but not so much if you cold wash and feed it with water you've already heated. Some friends do that in their camper and run the machine from a Honda EU10 genny, 1KW, their hot water is heated either from the engine or an Eberspacher diesel heater. Their blog giving an overview of their build, leccy set up etc https://cloud9isborn.blogspot.com/
Another friend is in the planning stages of a new build and he's bought enough solar panels to almost entirely cover his roof, I think it will be actually instead of tiles, a container load at very cheap £/W. He sized his solar requirement based on winter sun at his latitude in winter. I have yet to fully pick his brains about his set up but can ask him more specifics if you like?
I would like to heat our house hot water via solar but I think I'd need a new water tank, current one is just electric so would be interested in more info on how to do that. There is a thing called a Solar Syphon which seems to allow me to do that but not sure if it's any good.
This man's blog is well worth a read I think. Experience based not manufacturer spin? https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/
If you start from scratch and minimise everything, focus everything at 12 or 24v your battery bank may end up being much much smaller. If you want a normal UK house just running from lead acid it will be a huge bank. 6V batteries are what I would use at home for that.
12/24v compressor fridge/freezers don't use much power at all, are expensive for good ones, and you'd need a couple. You can get TVs that take 12v (not necessarily 13 and a bit the batteries would be at) so minimal losses.
A washing machine uses a fair bit of power but not so much if you cold wash and feed it with water you've already heated. Some friends do that in their camper and run the machine from a Honda EU10 genny, 1KW, their hot water is heated either from the engine or an Eberspacher diesel heater. Their blog giving an overview of their build, leccy set up etc https://cloud9isborn.blogspot.com/
Another friend is in the planning stages of a new build and he's bought enough solar panels to almost entirely cover his roof, I think it will be actually instead of tiles, a container load at very cheap £/W. He sized his solar requirement based on winter sun at his latitude in winter. I have yet to fully pick his brains about his set up but can ask him more specifics if you like?
I would like to heat our house hot water via solar but I think I'd need a new water tank, current one is just electric so would be interested in more info on how to do that. There is a thing called a Solar Syphon which seems to allow me to do that but not sure if it's any good.
This man's blog is well worth a read I think. Experience based not manufacturer spin? https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/
If you start from scratch and minimise everything, focus everything at 12 or 24v your battery bank may end up being much much smaller. If you want a normal UK house just running from lead acid it will be a huge bank. 6V batteries are what I would use at home for that.
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