Solar Baby

posted by katlupe on Jul 14

It has lately came to my attention that there is what is thought of as a movement.  A movement to live off-the-grid, like the back-to-the-land movement or the hippie movement or whatever particular movement you can think of. Funny, I didn’t think of living off-the-grid as having any political stance. I can only speak for my husband and myself, but we had only one reason in mind on moving into a house that was off-the-grid. That was because we wanted to be in a secluded location………..but close enough to some small towns to be able to drive a horse and buggy. The other house we were looking at had 25 acres of land with it and was hooked up to the grid but the whole electrical system had to be over hauled and we figured we would just not hook it up. We were leaning toward that property but what was keeping us from it was that it was on a main road and at the time our dog, Nikita was an active puppy and we were afraid of her getting hit by a car. So when the realtor gave us this listing and we finally went to see it we liked it immediately………..because it was surrounded completely by the state forest.

I like the independence. I like the freedom. I love the fact that we do not have to pay an electric bill. I also think we both love it that there are no ugly wires strung to our house. Even our wires to our telephone are underground…………even under the road. Our wires to our solar panels that are now on top of our barn roof are underground to the barn and then go upstairs and out the roof. You don’t see them. I feel our home is a mix of old fashioned living with high technology. We use some old fashioned methods but not because they are old fashioned, but because those methods might be best suited for us. We do not like to use gasoline powered items unless we have to. Like gas lawn mowers, rototillers, trimmers, etc.

We like relying on ourselves as much as we can. Yes, we have to interact with some outside forces. Such as internet connection, telephone company, propane company, tax man and a variety of business expenses but for the most part, we are left alone. This year, I expect to get a lot of food stored up and hopefully get more work done on our house. We see progress every year but it is never enough for us. Slow…..but sure is our motto. This year we have done quite a bit here at Peaceful Forest Homestead. Such as:

1. Battery room is almost all walled in with cinder blocks.

2. Pipe going into our well to be hooked up when we can get our pump and pressurized tank.

3. Electric wire going to the barn from the house.

4. Solar panels on top of the barn roof.

5. Midnight Solar box installed in barn.

6. Pantry gutted.

7. Root cellar all cleaned out.

8. Stone bench built in root cellar.

9. Cherry tree trimmed in back yard.

10. Fence line on front of paddock moved back.

11. New door on the upstairs entry into barn.

It doesn’t sound like a lot but combine those jobs with the job of horse care, household chores all done manually, wood work, gardening and preserving food and running a home-based business consisting of two websites and four blogs and selling items on Bonanzle, Amazon and Homesteading Today’s Barter board, three cats and one big dog…………….whew!

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

posted by katlupe on Jun 30

When we first started out here at Peaceful Forest Homestead using solar, as I have told many times before here, and on my other blog, Homesteading On The Internet, we had one 55 watt panel, a very tiny charge controller (so tiny in fact, it has no name on it anywhere) and used an automotive inverter from Walmart and two fork-lift truck batteries. If we needed to charge our batteries we had to bring our car up to the window and hook it up and let it run. Yuck! You can imagine the smell and the noise! I always remember my pet hen, Lil’ Red for some unknown reason, would hang out around the stinky car while it was running. We went through a lot of gas that way. The one panel we had was on a wooden frame and we would move it around the yard to try to keep it in the sun! Of course, we were new to this solar power stuff.

So here it is eleven years later and everything has changed. We still have a small system. Though it has, and is still growing. Our panels have grown to five, they are now on our barn roof. Every morning they are getting good sun. We have had them bringing in as much as 21 amps which is the most we have ever had. Right now as I am writing this, they are bringing in 15 amps. What a difference!  And for longer periods of time too.

The important thing is that we are independent of the utility company. No matter what, we are on our own and not dependent on the electric dictator. Our power has never gone out unless it was from the fault of something in our power system. Which we did have that happen a few years back. But once it was fixed with the expert advice from Backwoods Solar, where we purchased a good share of our equipment, we were up and running. Haven’t had any issues since then. Never have to call the electric dictator to complain about the bill or make arrangements to pay it. Nothing like that! And no matter how cheap your bill is………..you still are giving someone else money to run your house. I don’t care if it is thirty or forty dollars a month or less, you could be putting that in your pocket instead. It is your choice though and I am not writing this blog to convince anyone to change to using solar or any other alternative power system. I am just telling you that it is possible to do even if you are on a strict budget. Our system went together little by little, dollar by dollar.

So not only am I happy every morning when we have sun for my garden but for my solar system as well. July should be a good sunny month for us here but you never know as the part of New York we live in gets lots of rain. I know on the horizon is solar panels that get charged even on cloudy days and I know my husband would be happy to have those panels. Because someday we plan on having an electric car that is charged with our own power system.

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

Powered By KG Lupole LLC

posted by katlupe on Nov 30

This is my attempt to teach the average people about solar energy.  To the average person the thought of solar or wind power is way beyond their world. Yet they think nothing of throwing their hard earned money to the grid powered systems daily. Most people think you have to be making a six figure income to put one in their modest homes. I am here to tell you that is not so. I know because I live with it….every day and have since July of 1999. Yes, it is a learning experience over time, but it is VERY affordable for the simple living folks like us.

Presently we live with 185 watts of power coming from three solar panels. In the dark days of winter, like now, we have to use our generator more often. In the summer though, it was a very different story. We only had to run our generator about once a week. In case you didn’t know, we have to run the generator to charge our batteries if the sun doesn’t shine enough to do it. I call our system a “add as you can system”. Meaning that we add a component as we can afford it. It’s best to buy good equipment so you have to spend some money on each one. That is better than buying cheaper equipment that doesn’t last.

Right now we have 24 used locomotive batteries that we replaced our original fork-lift truck batteries with. A charge controller is essential to any alternative system as it controls how much of a charge is going into your batteries. Our controller is the Xantrex C-60 charge controller (60 amps, 12 volt) and back in 2004 it sold for $245. at Backwoods Solar. We have never had any problem with this at all. I would highly recommend it to anyone just building their system. A meter comes in handy for letting you know how much power you have going into the system and how much is going out or what you are using. The meter we have is the Tri-Metric meter made by Bogart Engineering.

The generator we use is made especially for off the grid systems and is sold at Backwoods Solar. It is a DC only generator and has made the biggest difference in our system. When we started out we used an old car for charging the batteries and not only did the exhaust stink, the car was noisy and the gas was expensive, which it did use alot of. The generator isn’t as loud as most generators, but you can definitely hear it. Works great and uses way less gas. Some day when our system is built bigger, we will use our generator less and less.

The thing is that anybody can do this. How many people complain about the cost of their electric bill every month? Just start small. Hook up one 50 watt solar panel with a small charge controller and pick up a couple of the golf cart batteries. Then hook up an automotive inverter that can be bought at Walmart or any truck stop store to your system. Now you can run your lights and tvs without adding to your electric bill. And you know what the best part is! You will not be without them during a power outage! Everyone else will be in the dark, and your house will be all lit up.

I will be adding more information for you every day or close to that. So please check back and if you have questions that need an answer post a comment and I will try to find out the answer.

Copyright © 2008 Kathleen G. Lupole

Powered By KG Lupole LLC