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Meerkat

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I just went back to PS to review my old solar threads.

I got so much help from many of you here from that site 'Prepared Society',so much knowledge so I want to tell all members here they have some really informative people here. I'm banned from there but glad I found yall. Hope all our old gang can find us here. I need to get a solar for dummies book in case web goes out in shtf situation though.

Our next project soon as spring things are done to to hook it up. I started this thread there in 2011 or earlier and have all we need stored for our set up. Finally bought what we need in 2016 .
When I sometimes get upset with some of my old buddies here I need to remember the good in you and accept the human part in all of us and how much stress we are all under and hope yall do the same for me. :Thankyou::huggs:
 
Most of the mods are banned from PS. If they didn't outright ban us they made it all but impossible to function over there. They slowed down my access speed so much that pages time out and won't open most of the time. It can take me close to half an hour to send a simple PM over there due to having to restart the process.
 
I was looking at a piece of land near me that was being promoted as being ready and licensed for 40 gigawatt wind farm, solar power and geothermal power. I know a little about the area and at least one farmer uses his well to heat his home in the winter but the water is below 212F so I am unsure what potential is there for geothermal power. I may look into it more but the property is closer to a small town, zoned for industrial use and straddles a major highway. It really isn't a good place for survival and the fact that it is geologically active could foretell geologic activity. That could be VERY bad.
 
Most of the mods are banned from PS. If they didn't outright ban us they made it all but impossible to function over there. They slowed down my access speed so much that pages time out and won't open most of the time. It can take me close to half an hour to send a simple PM over there due to having to restart the process.

I'm not sure what I said that got me banned but it was about trying to bring BushPilot here. Bless his heart.
 
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Put it in my shopping cart for amazon, great to have for the library! We place an Amazon order at least monthly unless I get carried away then I just buy it then! LOL

My daughter has some kind of thing going with Amazon so she just orders for us. I don't like asking because she won'take money but I only do it now and then .
 
My daughter has some kind of thing going with Amazon so she just orders for us. I don't like asking because she won'take money but I only do it now and then .
We have Amazon Prime. The wife does all the ordering, all I do is send her the link and pick it up at the PO. She tells them what she wants and then clicks on the address to ship to, easy peasy. The first time to a new address means that she has to type that in. My mom has her order stuff all the time. Mom doesn't do internet. She does do phone, OMG does she do phone. I bet the NSA is sick of listening in on her phone calls.
 
I was looking at a piece of land near me that was being promoted as being ready and licensed for 40 gigawatt wind farm, solar power and geothermal power. I know a little about the area and at least one farmer uses his well to heat his home in the winter but the water is below 212F so I am unsure what potential is there for geothermal power. I may look into it more but the property is closer to a small town, zoned for industrial use and straddles a major highway. It really isn't a good place for survival and the fact that it is geologically active could foretell geologic activity. That could be VERY bad.

I know a few people that live on the opposite of the mountain down here that don't even have a hot water heater because it comes up from the well hot enough to be uncomfortably hot. They said its been hot enough to almost burn you. My water is nice and cold though. They can keep that hot stuff on their side.
 
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Since this thread was brought up I thought I'd post some of my standby system pics. I'm going to try to get my solar array in before the ground dries out. The inverter/charger is 4,000 watts at 120/240 volts AC, solar controller will take care of eight 195 watt solar panels and the batteries supply 24 VDC @ 1,025 amphours. This system can run two refrigerators, a chest freezer, some lighting and TV/DVD. Presently the
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eries are charged off of the grid but hopefully I'll have the solar array taking care of that, soon.
 
Sorry, my downloads doubled. The shunt is for checking charge and battery conditions and the fuse is 250 amps. Due to some very serious power, only totally insulated wrenches or other tools are used around the battery banks.
 
Sorry, my downloads doubled. The shunt is for checking charge and battery conditions and the fuse is 250 amps. Due to some very serious power, only totally insulated wrenches or other tools are used around the battery bank. s


Most electrician who have survived ,have learned that lesson. High amps will melt metal and YOU. Good safety practice. I also notices the covering on most connections too.
 
View attachment 6717 View attachment 6719 View attachment 6721 View attachment 6722 View attachment 6723 Since this thread was brought up I thought I'd post some of my standby system pics. I'm going to try to get my solar array in before the ground dries out. The inverter/charger is 4,000 watts at 120/240 volts AC, solar controller will take care of eight 195 watt solar panels and the batteries supply 24 VDC @ 1,025 amphours. This system can run two refrigerators, a chest freezer, some lighting and TV/DVD. Presently the View attachment 6717 View attachment 6719 View attachment 6721 View attachment 6722 View attachment 6723 eries are charged off of the grid but hopefully I'll have the solar array taking care of that, soon.

Viking your one of them who gave us so much help. and your solar looks great. :great:
 
This is what we have to set up and bought with what we could spend.

Trimetric 2030 Battery Monitor
Midnight MPPT Kid 30 Amp charge controller.
Kotec SK PSW 2000 W Inverter
2-290 W Suniva solar panels.
6 Trojan T105 [I think] battery's. Which are in golf cart till we can buy more.
Also wires,fuses,etc..

Also I like this but start at 14:19 minutes into video to skip time. I forgot a whole lot about fuses, circuits,etc,etc,etc, I learned, DH is good at things so hope he may remember lots of it.

 
All that stuff is still stored so hope it will be ok till we can hook it up. Its been stored now for a couple years.

Our utility trailer will be the house for it . everytime we think to set it up something else happens.
We really like our new DIY Solar book too.
 
This is what we have to set up and bought with what we could spend.

Trimetric 2030 Battery Monitor
Midnight MPPT Kid 30 Amp charge controller.
Kotec SK PSW 2000 W Inverter
2-290 W Suniva solar panels.
6 Trojan T105 [I think] battery's. Which are in golf cart till we can buy more.
Also wires,fuses,etc..

Also I like this but start at 14:19 minutes into video to skip time. I forgot a whole lot about fuses, circuits,etc,etc,etc, I learned, DH is good at things so hope he may remember lots of it.



@Bacpacker did you see this presentation? I think it is neat.
I forgot what we had stored away so went back here to see what the heck we have.
 
The video was pretty good and accurate. Breakers are good for some things, but fuses are better for high current loads.
Sounds like you all have a nice system.

Don't know ,we never set it up .Thinking about it now. :D
 
Don't know ,we never set it up .Thinking about it now. :D
Shawmut has been used for decades by us "former" professionals.
You can see one on Viking's setup above too.
When you have a pile of batteries that can push 500 amps without even breaking a sweat, you need a good fuse.
Even a 25 volt system pushing 500 amps is making 12,500 watts (about the same as 10 space-heaters running).
If it is all being dumped into a small space, you have FIRE!
 
Shawmut has been used for decades by us "former" professionals.
You can see one on Viking's setup above too.
When you have a pile of batteries that can push 500 amps without even breaking a sweat, you need a good fuse.
Even a 25 volt system pushing 500 amps is making 12,500 watts (about the same as 10 space-heaters running).
If it is all being dumped into a small space, you have FIRE!

We got fuses forours but so much going on plus now and then hubby gets down and that puts a stop to thingd for awhile too. He wants ot get back to the Mayflower to see if its the starter or what. Plus put marine carpet in it we got last year .Other carpet shedded like crazy.
 
Many people live in off-grid homes that are not hooked up to the power lines. It is certainly something that can be done and you can live a normal life but it is expensive.
For people that have access to utility power, the online calculators will show that you need to live to age 118 to break even.
The answer to his question is yes*.
People also sink money into a yacht with no expectation of ever breaking even.
If it is something you really want, they will build it for you.
The big benefit of solar is as a backup power system should utility power fail.

When that happens, it is PRICELESS!
 
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