I got this email today with some very useful information. So I thought the AWRM forum was the best spot for it.

RD6


Electric has become a necessity in modern day life. While it is possible to a pre 1900 life style, it becomes very inconvenient.

First may I suggest you check out: http://www.homepower.com/home/

They put out a GREAT magazine. I subscribed to it for several years and have kept all my back issues.

GENERATORS:

The common thought is just go out and buy a generator and your electrical problems are over. Well if you have a 1,000 gallon fuel tank and plenty of money for fuel that may work. Large generators will consume 1 gallon an hour or more of fuel. At $3.30 a gallon for gas or $4.00 for diesel that gets expensive real quick.

I own a 2,000 watt Home-light generator. Ohms law tells us watts divided by volts = amps. So 2,000 divided by 110 volts (household current) = 18.18 amps. This is about what you have on one standard circuit (or breaker) in your home. This means running on generator power you should be able to fill any of your needs at one given time.

IMPORTANT EXCEPTION: If you have your own WELL for water you will need a generator with a 220 volt out put. This may be true for heating needs, if you do not have a wood stove.

You will not want to run your generator 24/7. First it is to costly and second these generators were not designed for constant use. The ideal situation is to have a "mini power plant". Your generator will "manufacture" your electric. Batteries will STORE that electric. And an INVERTER will convert that stored 12 volt DC electric back into 110 volt AC electric.

BATTERIES: There are two common storage batteries, one like in your car. But these are poor type batteries for our use, but will and can work short time for emergencies. What we want is a "DEEP CYCLE MARINE or GOLF CART" battery. Golf cart batteries are generally 6 Volt so you will need a minimum of two. Or use (as I have a large 12 volt Marine battery) these are designed to run electric boat motors. The important thing here is the battery be of "DEEP CYCLE" type designed for maximum discharge and repeated recharging.

THE PLAN: My home has a family room connected to my kitchen for an overall area 11 ft. x 28 ft. that I can close off to the rest of the house. On the hottest day, I can cool that area with my garage 8,000 BTU air conditioner. This will require I have my generator running. At the same time I can plug in my refrigerator / freezer while recharging my deep cell battery. I have purchased two "under counter" 14 watt florescent lights and a 20 inch fan, plus computer and TV can all be run off the battery via the INVERTER. The idea is to run the generator ever two to 4 hours as needed for cooling (or heating via electric space heater .. I live in FL) at that time recharge my battery. While the generator is off supply my lighting and fan and communication needs via battery / inverter.

SAFETY: VERY IMPORTANT.... if you do not want to DIE only operate your generator OUTDOORS! Carbon monoxide WILL KILL YOU. NOTE: Your battery will put off explosive and flammable HYDROGEN GAS while being recharged. Keep it OUTSIDE away from open flames or other source of ignition.

Thank you RD6!

I just got me a subscription. I have been interested in solar for some time now. I want to try and install it on my camper first and then the house.

DOH! Double post!

My best friend and myself are working on a wind/battery combo right now on the cheap. I will update you guys as we get our shit together.

( think VERY large edison cells , NOT portable , but homemade construction. )

wasnme:

Ever think about getting a battery from an electric forklift? Those batteries can store a lot of amp/hours.

You'd need a converter from 48 volt to 120, but that shouldn't be difficult to find, or build.

Good idea on the fork lift batteries.
A person should be able to step down the voltage.

In fact you can step it down to run 12 volt appliances of a 48 volt system. So it might be cheaper in the long run to convert it to 12 before you run it through your system. That would give you a back up power in cae of problems with your system.
http://www.powerstream.com/dc48-12.htm

Got to remember the loss acssociated with the down conversion process, -not very efficient. 85% efficiency, 15% loss on that convertor.

Now using those 48VDC forklift batteries to power a 120VAC invertor...that's where they will be more helpful.

sure there would be a loss with the down conversion but as a backup source you could deal with that .

I thought the loss was around 15%. The size of the batteries would certainly have more than enough reserve to compensate.

Question RUDY: Does a fork lift battery have the old style strips on the top of the battery to interconnect the cells? If they do, you can cut the one at each 12 volts and go parallel with all 4 to give 12 volts at 4 times the ampeage!!

Im surprised no one has mentioned Solar Generators...
http://kensolar.com/tek9.asp?pg=products&specific=jnnngoi8

The great thing about it, is its very portable...get a nice base-camp tent...a portable wood stove...and you can survive on your own in the woods with electricity.

If things begin to look hairy, you can pack up and move on.

Or wind generators. There are more portable versions available now.

But, of course, they depend on sunlight/wind to be useful. That's where the battery banks come in. Most of those run the 12v/6v battery setups.

Personally, I wish I could run a small setup at home. Initial cost is the problem. Getting enough batteries for the 'bank' to be useful is quite spendy. Have to go with an small, but expandeable, setup solar-wise. Then add the wind generator.

As to the forklift batteries, I'll check and see what is available and their cost and capacity.

Anything with batteriess will be difficult to just pack up and move unless you have a large truck or trailer.

Where I live, the wind generator rules! The terrain is so flat that I swear I can see Canada 500 miles to the northwest. In the winter there is nothing that stops that wind!

For a DIY wind generator check out

http://www.otherpower.com/
There is a lot of handy info on that site.