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| Off-Grid Living with Free Power - Here's How| 2137980 | Florida | | 586155 | -- | | $Unspecified | -- | | | 61 | 34 days | |
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Off-Grid living, (not using a power company) is a requirement for some remote locations like a cabin at the lake, hunting lodge, campsite, barn, field station, mobile home or a yacht. To live Off-Grid you need to make your own electricity. Conventional ways could include a gas or diesel powered generator that costs $1,000 - $5,000. The fuel cost alone to make energy will be expensive as much as ten times what a Power Company charges. What if you could make free power? Consider the Sun, Wind and Magnetism as free energy sources.
Living Off-Grid can be a way to save money but that would require free energy. Making energy with solar panels, wind generators or magnetic generators is how you can make free energy to get Off-Grid. You need to know how to put these free energy generators together for a reliable system. Concern for reliability may still include a gas or diesel generator but need a much smaller size and cost.
Evaluating Your Power Load
Your primary electrical loads are appliances, cooking and lighting and in some cases hot water heater, heat and air-conditioning. Each has a calculation and a duty cycle. For example a refrigerator draws between 350 – 550 watts when the compressor is running. The compressor “ON” ratio to compressor “OFF” is the duty cycle. In 24 hours the 350 watts times the duty cycle of say 30% would calculate to 24 x 350 x 30% = 2520 watts per day or 105 watts per hour average. Your power source and energy storage would need to be large enough for this load. Repeat the calculation for all the loads and you will determine the size of the Off-Grid system.
Power Sources
If you have a lot of sun you should consider Solar Panels. These devices can produce 70 – 175 watts of free power per panel for a fraction of the day. By having more than one panel 1,000+ watts of free power is possible. Wind generators can produce 450 – 1,000 watts of power all day long. How much free power they make will vary with the wind patterns. Magnetic generators are much smaller devices in the range of 24 – 100 watts. Their advantage is making free power at a steady rate all day long, every day regardless of the weather. Multiple magnetic generators should be a consideration. A conventional gas or diesel powered electric generator can make power too but not free energy.
Energy Storage
All the above power sources need to store their energy production to get completely Off-Grid. Energy storage is in the form of deep cycle storage batteries. Deep cycle batteries are different than your car batteries. Car batteries deliver a lot of power for a few seconds then get recharged. Car battery's chemistry will be damaged if they get heavily discharged. Deep cycle batteries can deliver power for hours by design an are not damage by heavy discharges. Deep cycle batteries approximate cost each is: $129 @ 33 Amp Hour to $200 @ 450 Amp Hour. The battery Amp Hour rating should be two times the expected load. The batteries last longer that way. To properly charge a battery from the above power sources you need a charge controller (regulator). The controller will take a variety of power source voltages from 14 volt to 48 volts and regulate it to charge the batteries safely. Over charging protection circuits are included. Charge controllers cost from $24 to $84 for 4 – 30 Amp models.
Energy Inverters
To use the free energy that you have stored you need to take the battery voltage and direct current up to household voltage and alternating current. Household voltage of 110 Vac or 220 Vac are electronically made with a device called an “Power Inverter”. Inverter power output range is important to consider. This power output needs to exceed your peak power load. Inverter cost range is at $36 @ 400 Watts to $852 @ 2,000 Watts. Having more than one inverter gives you built in backup.
Backup Systems
Backup systems are required for Off-Grid living. By definition you do not have access to the Power Company's power. Your stored energy is your first line of backup. That should be designed for a 24-hour load. What do you do after that? If your solar, wind and magnetic power sources no longer work you will need a gas or diesel generator. Because you have energy storage, you only need to recharge the batteries and that will take a much smaller generator. A 400-watt gas generator will cost $102 and a 3,750-watt gas generator will cost $500. Don't forget these generators have a fuel and maintenance cost and don't provide free energy.
Conclusion
Off-Grid living is an exciting idea and can have free power. Live or play anywhere without a Power Company. If you purchase Solar Panels @ $5 per watt or Wind Generators @ $1 per watt you will be paying 3 to 10 times what it would take to make your own Solar Panel or Wind Generator. Magnetic Generators are near impossible to buy. To make your own power sources buy a guide. The guides will show you how to make these power sources at home. Free power is the way to go Off-Grid.
by Woody Wilson | | | | |
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