OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
And Pot
How long can you (and your family) survive if the grid went down for an extended period?
- Thread starter Solarcabin Channel
- Start date
12VoltInstalls
life passes by too quickly to not live in freedom
My grand experiment is off-grid. I have a couple power poles on my property that run to another house but I am not connected to grid.
In summer I could go ‘forever’ if I don’t run any power tools. ~6.3kWh of storage. In winter with fully vaccinated batteries (?) that is 2-4 days depending on sun; good sun it would be fine ‘forever’ but where I am in Vermont I pretty much won’t have good sun until January now. Propane heat and hot water so there’s an issue…
I do have plans eventually to make hot water with solar, and I have some materials to make a compact, sailboat-style woodstove but that won’t be for a while, maybe next year.
So basically I’m autonomous; I have an additional 2500W of panels not installed that are my ‘overpanelling’ plan; time is not on my side!! If I get them going they should let me ‘coast’ through The Dark Months by trickling in enough bad sun to not run the generator unless I’m welding or running the big tablesaw.
Longterm the extra 2500W of panels will likely feed a separate 48V system with minimal battery capacity to basically run power tools and I can use that system to charge my current 12V system. Some say ‘that’s inefficient’ but really? The “lost energy” is lost in heat! Since the need for supplemental power is only during the winter… it’s not really lost energy, now, is it?
It’s just some heat!So basically once my whole act is in play regardless of how I accomplish it my only issues on going on ‘forever’ is hot water and winter heat.
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
Solarcabin Channel
Solar Addict
I just woke up and read it.Ok, so the guy called Half-Baked liked my post about storing POT...LMAOROTF
I don't know if having pot that gives you the munchies is great for a survival situation but at least you die laughing.
Nobodybusiness said:
Very Basic.
Schwinn Meridian trike with a Crystalyte 2000 watt hub motor on the front with Thumb throttle.
Got a 72v 30ah battery in the basket.
Battery in picture.
I also put a disc brake on the front.
The little rubber one didn’t like going 30 MPH.
That is pretty cool.. If we ever get to the walking dead thing or something like that. A small stealthy quiet and light utility vehicle like this would be great for going out and doing scavenging runs.. You say it does about 30 tops ? Will it get to 30mph pretty quick? 3-4 second quick? Is a 72 volt motor about the biggest size they sell I a$sume? Dont mean to derail the thread, I just thought the little electric vehicles a few of you guy's showed were interesting to me.. Thank you
i
Very Basic.
Schwinn Meridian trike with a Crystalyte 2000 watt hub motor on the front with Thumb throttle.
Got a 72v 30ah battery in the basket.
Battery in picture.
I also put a disc brake on the front.
The little rubber one didn’t like going 30 MPH.
That is pretty cool.. If we ever get to the walking dead thing or something like that. A small stealthy quiet and light utility vehicle like this would be great for going out and doing scavenging runs.. You say it does about 30 tops ? Will it get to 30mph pretty quick? 3-4 second quick? Is a 72 volt motor about the biggest size they sell I a$sume? Dont mean to derail the thread, I just thought the little electric vehicles a few of you guy's showed were interesting to me.. Thank you
i
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OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
The Pot is for barter - maybe Zombies! - oh wait, should the zombies get the muchies, that could be bad...
12VoltInstalls
life passes by too quickly to not live in freedom
If you are thinking of outrunning a man in near proximity… 3-4 seconds means you have to be at least 20-22 feet away to maybe ‘outrun’ a person at 0-30mph in 4 seconds, probably more like 30’ away.
Yes getting away from bad people quick if needed. I guess I was trying to ask how quick it goes from zero to 30-35mph.. Do you have to pedal abit to get these going before hitting the electric throttle hard ??
Solarcabin Channel
Solar Addict
My Ariel X has a 1200 watt motor and will do 35mph. Faster than even most cars off the start.
Just jam the throttle and it will spin out from under you if you aren't ready.
I would trust it in a zombie situation!
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Probably one of the most important things that many prepper ignore is being discreet and covert. It’s bad enough the world see those big panels, but it’s catastrophic if you have to spend every moment telling the unprepared no or defending your supplies because everyone knows you got it. Stress to your family and/or your network about the importance of secrecy without being provocative about the subject. In the event the SHTF the value of portraying yourself as also being in need is priceless. If you must trade for goods, avoid your homebase for transactions. Sadly, many aspects of a cordial community will be out the window.
My scooter will go from 0 to 18 mph in about 4 seconds and stay there for 40 miles
That said in a zombie outbreak I'm going to be in my 600 hp F250 diesel with the 4wd locked in... Going for extra points ! SPLAT!
Nobodybusiness
Collecting the leftovers of the Great Sky Reactor.
You can’t actually run it at full speed.
Speed wobbles.
If you just mash the throttle at stand still it will burn the tire off
It will easily go 30 but that’s about as fast as you want to go on it
It an old 8 year or more Crystalyte hub motor
They were the only ones who made anything over 1000watts.
If I’m hauling a trailer then I usually pedal and apply a little throttle until I get moving but it will still burn the tire off even moving if you go full throttle.
I got that hub motor mainly for long hills and pulling stuff.
Does a decent job.
No complaints.
OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
Suggestion for those who live rural: fence lines.
4" PVC with caps,
post hole auger
keep on the fence lines, where these don't appear out of the ordinary.
put your stuff in the PVC tubes in mylar sealed bags.
make a map of what ya got and where, keep the map secret.
Put other stuff in the Pantry in plain sight, never use the stuff in the pantry, that is for those that show up to take yer stuff. Help them load it. don't tell them what you added to the pantry supplies...they will not be back.
Hedges
I See Electromagnetic Fields!
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2020
- Messages
- 21,055
We do that on the highways in San Jose (they're allowed to live under bridges and in interchanges.)
Called in a zombie sighting one Saturday night (more like 12:15 very early Sunday.) Spotted him just a few car lengths ahead of me, plodding in my direction (fortunately he was in the fast lane, I was in the next one over, or I would have had to swerve hard; I was in the Civic not the K2500.)
911 said he had been on the shoulder 20 minutes earlier so it wasn't treated as urgent.
Monday, the lighted highway signs said, "Always watch for pedestrians on roadway."
He had been in the slow lane when he tangled with a BMW, shortly after we passed.
Fortunately, the driver was cooperating, which means the zombie didn't come through the driver's side of windshield.
A coworker today said she had tried to participate in the Guadalupe Creek cleanup this morning (sponsored by work and Trash Punx), but was turned away because there were too many hypodermic needles.
Solarcabin Channel
Solar Addict
Drugs are an issue everywhere even in wealthy communities.
Fentanyl is killing people and turning them in to zombies and we have had several deaths in my area and almost all were well off before they got on drugs and came from good families.
The homeless situation can also happen anywhere and people can lose a job they had for years through no fault of their own or get hit with catastrophic health care expenses or become disabled.
I provide free plans on Instructables for simple cheap off grid structures if anyone is trying to help people.
But for the grace of God go I.
September 22 1989...
Hurricane Hugo went through SC to NC and beyond...
It spawned thousands of tornadoes...
My parents house was without power for over 2 months.
As well as the surrounding towns in rural SC we had a 5kW generator in our motor home. And a well on the property.
Neighbors for miles around d came to our jouse to fill barrels with water, some brought gasoline, some didn't.
I was living in Charlotte by then, power was out there about 30 minutes... give or take... I lived on a main highway near the downtown corridor, and it was the first place Charlotte crews focused.
The homestead being without power so long really put a strain on my little sister, and my parents dealing with the younger brothers.
I helped where I could.
Charlotte has had a few ice storms that shut down the city for weeks without power.
My aquarium froze solid one year... I gave up on fish at that point... so sad.
I divided then I didn't wanna be without power again when I bought my place in mount holly, so I took my parents old 5kw generator when they sold the place.
It has run nonstop for several days at a time when ice storms come through... one year when I first started playing with solar (two harbor freight 45Wkits, and another crappy panel tied to a honking big bank of Mercedes diesel batteries and an old MSW 2kw inverter...
Heat and lights ran fine off it, but no way could it start my ac system... that summer was brutal, but I made it through... till the batteries couldn't recharge, and I went back to duke power.
Anyway... I still have that old setup, minus the car batteries... what a mess that was to clean up.
A single 100Ah LFP battery and a 600W inverter power the shop lights etc just fine now, and I play with various solar generators here and there.
I have panels on two of my vehicles and I'm working on setting up an array on one of my vans...
This Christmas power was out for 3 days at my girlfriend/baby mama's place... I discovered the main panel was inaccessible so I couldn't tie in my generator, but I ran cords in and powered a few space heaters, and the solar generators kept the internet and various items running through it.
Plans are afoot to remedy the access issues to the panel.
Hurricane Hugo went through SC to NC and beyond...
It spawned thousands of tornadoes...
My parents house was without power for over 2 months.
As well as the surrounding towns in rural SC we had a 5kW generator in our motor home. And a well on the property.
Neighbors for miles around d came to our jouse to fill barrels with water, some brought gasoline, some didn't.
I was living in Charlotte by then, power was out there about 30 minutes... give or take... I lived on a main highway near the downtown corridor, and it was the first place Charlotte crews focused.
The homestead being without power so long really put a strain on my little sister, and my parents dealing with the younger brothers.
I helped where I could.
Charlotte has had a few ice storms that shut down the city for weeks without power.
My aquarium froze solid one year... I gave up on fish at that point... so sad.
I divided then I didn't wanna be without power again when I bought my place in mount holly, so I took my parents old 5kw generator when they sold the place.
It has run nonstop for several days at a time when ice storms come through... one year when I first started playing with solar (two harbor freight 45Wkits, and another crappy panel tied to a honking big bank of Mercedes diesel batteries and an old MSW 2kw inverter...
Heat and lights ran fine off it, but no way could it start my ac system... that summer was brutal, but I made it through... till the batteries couldn't recharge, and I went back to duke power.
Anyway... I still have that old setup, minus the car batteries... what a mess that was to clean up.
A single 100Ah LFP battery and a 600W inverter power the shop lights etc just fine now, and I play with various solar generators here and there.
I have panels on two of my vehicles and I'm working on setting up an array on one of my vans...
This Christmas power was out for 3 days at my girlfriend/baby mama's place... I discovered the main panel was inaccessible so I couldn't tie in my generator, but I ran cords in and powered a few space heaters, and the solar generators kept the internet and various items running through it.
Plans are afoot to remedy the access issues to the panel.
Nobodybusiness
Collecting the leftovers of the Great Sky Reactor.
That was interesting time.
Was living off Mallard Creek which at the time was in the boonies.
Didn’t have power for 2 weeks.
Worse part was all the trees and shit just strewn all over the place.
Took months , years to get back to normal.
Solarcabin Channel
Solar Addict
I am reading that Florida has lost most home insurers and prices have skyrocketed on insurance because of hurricanes.
In CA it is the forest fires and insurance companies are pulling out of high risk states.
Has that affected you and your state?
NCislander
Solar Enthusiast
Indefinitely except to replentish Food staples. Water, Wood Heat, Septic no limits.
Solar is a given.
Solar is a given.
