Spending a few days off grid.

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JAC

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So I'm off grid for a few days in the mountains. While I can access a cell tower I am running everything off a battery bank and have no acess to water other than rain harvest and what I brought in with me. I recharge battety bank off of a eu2000i each night
I have solar panels but never set them up here for fear of them being stolen. I don't suffer here. I have a chest freezer converted to a fridge that draws 350 watts in a 24 hour period. Tv hooked to a laptop to watch movies but it will find 6 channels over the air. Hot shower provided by a tankless water heater by ecotemp. Cooking on a gas stove running off a propane bottle and a gas grill. Wood stove for heat. Its been raining all day
I hurried in this morning to make it across 2 water crossings before it got too high to get in here. At this point due to weather I cant leave until saturday when the weather clears. This is my fall back location.
 
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Just because I can't leave well enough alone. Mount the solar panels on a roof rack that you put on the car when you go to the cabin. Park the car in the sun facing South. If necessary, hinge the panels in the front and raise the rear to the proper angle for the season.

It sounds really nice. With any luck it will keep raining for another week. :)
 
Thanks
Just because I can't leave well enough alone. Mount the solar panels on a roof rack that you put on the car when you go to the cabin. Park the car in the sun facing South. If necessary, hinge the panels in the front and raise the rear to the proper angle for the season.

It sounds really nice. With any luck it will keep raining for another week. :)
Thanks for the idea but my panels are not small. They are around 4 ft x2.5 feet and i have 4 of them. Also i dont want panels mounted on my car. The gen charging setup works well. The eu2000i is about the size of an overnight bag and runs very quiet. Im not here often enough to warrant all the panels here. They will be setup on a stand alone system at home where they are secure.
 
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I also have a eu2000i. You can carry on a conversation right next to it. While it can be heard at a distance that distance isn't all that far as compared to other generators. If I ever want to make a super quiet generator that is the one I'll start with.
 
Thanks

Thanks for the idea but my panels are not small. They are around 4 ft x2.5 feet and i have 4 of them. Also i dont want panels mounted on my car. The gen charging setup works well. The eu2000i is about the size of an overnight bag and runs very quiet. Im not here often enough to warrant all the panels here. They will be setup on a stand alone system at home where they are secure.

Ours are big too Jac. 290 watts. Someday we may even put them to use. I wanted them on my van but hubby said 'no way'. he was right of course.
 
We installed some 285 watt panels on some equipment at work last spring. Our boss had us run a wind load calculation on them before installing. I was amazed at how low the wind speed was to make them become sails If they came loose. we had to install steel cables to retain them if they broke loose from the mounts.
 
I also have a eu2000i. You can carry on a conversation right next to it. While it can be heard at a distance that distance isn't all that far as compared to other generators. If I ever want to make a super quiet generator that is the one I'll start with.

So, I've heard they have made a new EU2200I. Added 200 more watts Made some needed changes too.
Made oil drain easy to get to. Also made fuel shutoff so the carb won't gum up. .
 
So I'm off grid for a few days in the mountains. While I can access a cell tower I am running everything off a battery bank and have no acess to water other than rain harvest and what I brought in with me. I recharge battety bank off of a eu2000i each night
I have solar panels but never set them up here for fear of them being stolen. I don't suffer here. I have a chest freezer converted to a fridge that draws 350 watts in a 24 hour period. Tv hooked to a laptop to watch movies but it will find 6 channels over the air. Hot shower provided by a tankless water heater by ecotemp. Cooking on a gas stove running off a propane bottle and a gas grill. Wood stove for heat. Its been raining all day
I hurried in this morning to make it across 2 water crossings before it got too high to get in here. At this point due to weather I cant leave until saturday when the weather clears. This is my fall back location.
I totally understand solar panels being stolen. I have heard of them going missing from people's cabins and mountain properties. I knew a couple who had a mountain property where they parked a fifth wheel trailer. One weekend they drove up there and it was gone. There was another family that had a large shed delivered to their property, which they were going to develop as a cabin / home. They went up one weekend and it was gone. I believe it was a drone that located it not that far away on someone else's property.
 
funny, I always thought going off grid meant living without electricity, well it does to me, not taking it with you.
Living without electricity is absolutely off grid. Living with only the electricity that you produce is also off grid. As long as you don't receive electricity from "the grid" you are off grid. That can mean solar, wind, hydro, generators, or candles and lamps. People had generators, particularly on the farms, before there was a grid. The grid is convenient and probably less expensive. The old Lister 1K gensets were so bulletproof that some are still running today.
 
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/washington-family-finds-cabin-woods-stolen-property-n338396
This cabin was lost — and found.

A missing cabin in the woods north of Spokane, Washington, was discovered Thursday morning by deputies, Stevens County Sheriff Kendle Allen told NBC News. The cabin’s owner first reported the structure stolen Tuesday. Within the last two weeks, someone managed to pry the 10-by-20-foot structure from its foundation, leaving behind only the cement blocks, the owner said.


Working off a tip, deputies found the tiny vacation home less than 10 miles from its original property, and Allen said charges are pending in the case.

“We think someone stole it to live in it,” said Allen, adding that the property where the cabin was located was also home to “heavy equipment.”

Chris Hempel, the owner of the cabin, told NBC affiliate KHQ that her family knew something was amiss when the gate to their property in the community of Springdale was cut open.

“Drove up to (the cabin) expecting it to maybe be broken windows, maybe a little vandalism, something stolen from the front of it," Hempel said. "We walked up and it was gone."

The Hempels have a name for their $7,000 home on 20 acres near a lake: "Hempel Hideaway."

But the Hempel matriarch said they were in "total dumbfounded shock" to see their weekend getaway gone — and contacted the sheriff’s office to investigate the strange cabin caper.

"It's frustrating when you work as hard as you do and get things you enjoy to have," she said, "and someone comes in and steals it from you."

But Allen said he called the Hempels with the good news Thursday. “They were overjoyed,” he said.
 
Living without electricity is absolutely off grid. Living with only the electricity that you produce is also off grid. As long as you don't receive electricity from "the grid" you are off grid. That can mean solar, wind, hydro, generators, or candles and lamps. People had generators, particularly on the farms, before there was a grid. The grid is convenient and probably less expensive. The old Lister 1K gensets were so bulletproof that some are still running today.
I've never had solar, wind or hydro, I had candles and lamps when I was off grid.
 
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/washington-family-finds-cabin-woods-stolen-property-n338396
This cabin was lost — and found.

A missing cabin in the woods north of Spokane, Washington, was discovered Thursday morning by deputies, Stevens County Sheriff Kendle Allen told NBC News. The cabin’s owner first reported the structure stolen Tuesday. Within the last two weeks, someone managed to pry the 10-by-20-foot structure from its foundation, leaving behind only the cement blocks, the owner said.


Working off a tip, deputies found the tiny vacation home less than 10 miles from its original property, and Allen said charges are pending in the case.

“We think someone stole it to live in it,” said Allen, adding that the property where the cabin was located was also home to “heavy equipment.”

Chris Hempel, the owner of the cabin, told NBC affiliate KHQ that her family knew something was amiss when the gate to their property in the community of Springdale was cut open.

“Drove up to (the cabin) expecting it to maybe be broken windows, maybe a little vandalism, something stolen from the front of it," Hempel said. "We walked up and it was gone."

The Hempels have a name for their $7,000 home on 20 acres near a lake: "Hempel Hideaway."

But the Hempel matriarch said they were in "total dumbfounded shock" to see their weekend getaway gone — and contacted the sheriff’s office to investigate the strange cabin caper.

"It's frustrating when you work as hard as you do and get things you enjoy to have," she said, "and someone comes in and steals it from you."

But Allen said he called the Hempels with the good news Thursday. “They were overjoyed,” he said.

I know of stories like this in Colorado, lost and found cabins. Someone had a tiny house stolen in Texas, and it was eventually found. I think there are people whose lives are about stealing whatever they can get their hands on. Probably having some building delivered also makes it easier to take. What I like is the rest of the story: who was it that took it? What happened to them in court? I'd bet they had a record prior to taking this cabin.
 
I spent a bit of time around the jail. My theory is that most of them are locked up for being criminally stupid. They also truly enjoy the rush of committing crimes. Like some people gamble or drive fast cars these people get a feeling that is only enhanced by the risk of jail.
 
I had a small solar panel on my boat but most was from the windmill. I had a towed generator as well till the propeller disappeared, probably a great white or a giant squid. Broke? What do you mean it just broke? This is my story and I'll decide how it met its end.
 
Anybody here use wind for electricity? My great grandparents had a little two blade setup on their roof that powered a battery bank for a freezer, back in the 1930s. I'm curious about the viability of such a system in today's world...
Until the late 1930's, many people had limited power from windmills with electricity stored in batteries. Then REI, Rural Electric was developed across the places that did not have electricity. My grandparents had a propane refrigerator until that time.
 
until the 1930s electricity in houses didn't exist( in the UK), now people act like they cant survive without it.
They act like they can't live without it because most of them couldn't.
Weedy is correct. Life is much easier and better with electricity. The old ways aren't always better.
 
The old ways were time consuming and they had to put in many hours work to do what we do with electricity today. Many of the pioneers worked from sun up to sun down.

Could I live without electricity here yes I could as I have other back up plans in place but I do prefer having electricity. Thinking down the track of putting solar in the home to operate things and look into battery backup but that is an expensive option and the current batteries don't last that long either and need to be replaced every 5 - 15 years.
 
I think that's the whole point, once SHTF happens having mains electricity will be a thing of the past, the electricity grid is the weak link in all our systems, everything seems to run off it in one way or another,(mother always used to say "don't put all your eggs in the same basket"), take that away and modern life would cease to exist.
yes it is possible to live with solar or wind electricity but even that is a short term thing, depending on how long the batteries and spare parts last, (solar panels could bring unwanted "guests") eventually we will be back to the old manual ways of doing things whether we like it or not, of course by then the population will be much smaller.
 
I think that's the whole point, once SHTF happens having mains electricity will be a thing of the past, the electricity grid is the weak link in all our systems, everything seems to run off it in one way or another,(mother always used to say "don't put all your eggs in the same basket"), take that away and modern life would cease to exist.
yes it is possible to live with solar or wind electricity but even that is a short term thing, depending on how long the batteries and spare parts last, (solar panels could bring unwanted "guests") eventually we will be back to the old manual ways of doing things whether we like it or not, of course by then the population will be much smaller.
This is true. My home town (800 people) had its own power plant for decades, and at some point in time in the last few years the power plant was removed. Now they are totally dependent on the grid. When they had the power plant, they were connected to the grid, and when the electricity went out, someone would go to the power plant and flip a switch to turn on the power plant and they would have all have electricity in about 10 minutes. This last year they had a power outage that lasted hours. It was unheard of prior to this. Personally, I wish they had kept the power plant. My guess is that they had repairs that were expensive in keeping it running or a government agency put pressure on them to remove it.
 
weedy...alot of folks dont understand that our..here in u.s. power grid was not built one giant grid..it is and was built piece mill in areas as time and money and needs allowed it. yes it has become tied to each one but like you said one flip of 'switch' and its disconnected and like yours it can/could/might/maybe function....like you said yall use to flip a switch and get power even in a grid down because you could isolate your power generating station.its like that in many places...here in my area we have at least 9 power stations..they were all built separate but now are connected by a few lines and few key sub stations that can be flipped off and isolated again.

my closest village had a power station like yours and they done some stupid finance stuff instead of fixing it...well it took them about 4 years to pay that deal off but in that time theres been lots of power failures..well guess what..the city folk decide that power station needed to be repaired back to working order....the population foot the bill to have their own power station again.its repaired and back in service now.

heck my family didnt get power till between 63-66 so they could power a drilled well pump...lol...it wasnt here before that..in fact in the 60's they still were putting up poles in areas that had never had electric..

the guy that invented the d-lights systems was in africa once when he seen a family using kerosene lamps...not like our lamps they are small bottles with only a wick and no glass globe things...awful...well anyway..a kid turned one over and fuel spilled out and caught fire burning kid severely.he decide then to do something to prevent that from happening again and fix a way so the poor could have light simple and easy and not have fire dangers nor spend xyz amount of time going to get a few cents of kerosene.its an 'on site' solution to a simple easily fixed problem with an $18 solar lantern.they work great too..i have the cheap knock off version and use them alot.be bad to burn one home down in a shtf deal.

edit to add...another reason to have some headlamps or other type solar lights and eneloop batteries and at least a single solar panel to recharge...medical emergencies in the night. you cant render aid to a wife/husband/children in the dark. people get sick and need to get up at night to puke,vomit etc. ever hunt through a dark home on a cloudy night..impossible to see. i was in a situation once at night and i couldnt see my hand in front of my face just inches away.in a shtf or grid down we will be using the outhouse...guess what...you dont walk at night here without a light...period..rattlers and copperheads...step on one of those in the dark head to the outhouse. you just got a serious problem to deal with now that might not end well.theres more.....i hope yall see the wisdom/reasoning behind certain preps.
 
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edit to add...another reason to have some headlamps or other type solar lights and eneloop batteries and at least a single solar panel to recharge...medical emergencies in the night. you cant render aid to a wife/husband/children in the dark. people get sick and need to get up at night to puke,vomit etc. ever hunt through a dark home on a cloudy night..impossible to see. i was in a situation once at night and i couldnt see my hand in front of my face just inches away.in a shtf or grid down we will be using the outhouse...guess what...you dont walk at night here without a light...period..rattlers and copperheads...step on one of those in the dark head to the outhouse. you just got a serious problem to deal with now that might not end well.theres more.....i hope yall see the wisdom/reasoning behind certain preps.

I wouldn't be going outdoors to use the potty at night. I have a few luggable loos that I bought at a sporting goods store for $15 each. I would stay indoors for the reasons you mentioned and including security, conserving body heat, and dodging skeeters (depending upon the time of year). At daylight, I'd then properly dispose of it. A simple bucket with lid could serve as a portable loo, so even if I couldn't utilize my "upscale" loo, I'd still improvise. However, having some sort of sustainable light at night would always be a good idea. There's lots of options to that end including headlamps, candles, lanterns, glow sticks, flashlights, utilizing outdoor solar lamps, etc. That said, again for security purposes, I'd want to keep that light to a minimum so as not to attract attention.
 

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