Going Solar
Currently, while on the ranch, living is pretty rough. There's no toilet, the only running water is in the stream, no wired telecommunications (coaxial cable, fiber, DSL, or telephone), and no connection to an external power grid. In fact, there is no power grid to connect to. To reach the power grid I would need to pay the utility to extend there coverage to my property. I'm not complaining, though, 'cause I actually prefer things this way. As things in this world have become more and more connected, wired up, and "smart," I've found myself becoming more interested in unplugging from a lot of technology. It's not that I hate or fear new technology, it's just that I've become more selective in how I allow it to becomes integrated into my daily life.
Anyway, regarding electricity, as things stand now most electricity on the ranch is provided by AA and AAA batteries, one deep-cycle 12 volt marine battery attached to the Scamp, and the F-250. The Scamp battery is used to power Scamp appliances such as the heater thermostat, ceiling fan, and small inefficient lights that we intend to convert to led lights. It's charge is replenished by a small portable solar panel I eventually purchased to avoid having to recharge the battery in the F-250 every month or so. Infrequent recharging is an easy thing to forget to do and it really sucks to have the thermostat stop working on a cold spring morning, so the small panel seemed like a good solution. The F-250 is a pretty good source of electricity, but, for long-term applications, I would need to keep the engine running and that has some issues associated with it. Diesel isn't cheap. Also, my 2008 F-250 has built-in technology designed to produce cleaner emissions that seems to not like it when the truck sits in idle for long periods of time. When I've kept it in idle for too long I start getting increasingly urgent dashboard warnings that I need to start driving faster so the truck can clean the soot deposit from the exhaust system. At that point the exhaust will smell pretty bad until I've made the dashboard happy by driving the truck around for a while. For these reasons, I've really only used the truck for charging things like cell phones or laptops, while I'm in transit to or from the ranch. Given the above mentioned circumstances, it's understandable why, thus far, AA and AAA batteries have been used to power most of the electronic devices used on the ranch. Initially, we would buy disposable batteries, but that gets pricey over time, so I recently bought a bunch of rechargeable AA and AAA batteries, which, when exhausted, can be recharged with a high-speed charger in the truck. This works pretty well for powering things like my hand-held GPS unit, led headlamps, flashlights, led lamps, a portable radio, trail cameras, and walkie talkies.
While this current electricity supply system is tolerable, it is unlikely that it won't work for us in the long run. Eventually, we will want the ability to use laptops, watch an occasional DVD, and charge a host of appliances with embedded batteries. I will also want to set up a weatherized array of wireless Raspberry Pi video and acoustic monitoring devices based upon the one I developed for monitoring the inside of a beehive (more info on this can be found here and here).
To fulfill our power requirements, Jess and I have determined that setting up a battery bank charged by solar panels would be the way to go. Some have suggested to me that I try using a gas generator, which I have considered and determined not to be as good a long term solution for us.
Because our power needs on the ranch are modest and I don't like spending money on things I can do myself, I've decided to set up my own system. Before I can set up the system, I will first need to determine how much power our appliances consume. To do this I've purchased the "Kill A Watt." This product, produced by P3 International, can measure the power usage of any home appliance. All you do is plug the Kill A Watt into an electrical outlet and then plug the appliance you wish to measure into the Kill A Watt and you can immediately start seeing power usage measurements in volts, amps, and watts. There is also a feature that measures the total amount of kilowatts used. For instance, with the Kill A Watt I measured the power usage of a Dell Latitude D620 playing one full DVD movie. According to the Kill A Watt, the laptop used between 30 and 45 watts of power for a cumulative total 0.06 kilowatt hours of power. The Kill A Watt also indicated that the laptop drew 0.32 amps of electricity at 122.5 volts. All of this information is begin recorded on a spreadsheet that I will use to determine the electrical output of my system.
Anyway, regarding electricity, as things stand now most electricity on the ranch is provided by AA and AAA batteries, one deep-cycle 12 volt marine battery attached to the Scamp, and the F-250. The Scamp battery is used to power Scamp appliances such as the heater thermostat, ceiling fan, and small inefficient lights that we intend to convert to led lights. It's charge is replenished by a small portable solar panel I eventually purchased to avoid having to recharge the battery in the F-250 every month or so. Infrequent recharging is an easy thing to forget to do and it really sucks to have the thermostat stop working on a cold spring morning, so the small panel seemed like a good solution. The F-250 is a pretty good source of electricity, but, for long-term applications, I would need to keep the engine running and that has some issues associated with it. Diesel isn't cheap. Also, my 2008 F-250 has built-in technology designed to produce cleaner emissions that seems to not like it when the truck sits in idle for long periods of time. When I've kept it in idle for too long I start getting increasingly urgent dashboard warnings that I need to start driving faster so the truck can clean the soot deposit from the exhaust system. At that point the exhaust will smell pretty bad until I've made the dashboard happy by driving the truck around for a while. For these reasons, I've really only used the truck for charging things like cell phones or laptops, while I'm in transit to or from the ranch. Given the above mentioned circumstances, it's understandable why, thus far, AA and AAA batteries have been used to power most of the electronic devices used on the ranch. Initially, we would buy disposable batteries, but that gets pricey over time, so I recently bought a bunch of rechargeable AA and AAA batteries, which, when exhausted, can be recharged with a high-speed charger in the truck. This works pretty well for powering things like my hand-held GPS unit, led headlamps, flashlights, led lamps, a portable radio, trail cameras, and walkie talkies.
While this current electricity supply system is tolerable, it is unlikely that it won't work for us in the long run. Eventually, we will want the ability to use laptops, watch an occasional DVD, and charge a host of appliances with embedded batteries. I will also want to set up a weatherized array of wireless Raspberry Pi video and acoustic monitoring devices based upon the one I developed for monitoring the inside of a beehive (more info on this can be found here and here).
To fulfill our power requirements, Jess and I have determined that setting up a battery bank charged by solar panels would be the way to go. Some have suggested to me that I try using a gas generator, which I have considered and determined not to be as good a long term solution for us.
Because our power needs on the ranch are modest and I don't like spending money on things I can do myself, I've decided to set up my own system. Before I can set up the system, I will first need to determine how much power our appliances consume. To do this I've purchased the "Kill A Watt." This product, produced by P3 International, can measure the power usage of any home appliance. All you do is plug the Kill A Watt into an electrical outlet and then plug the appliance you wish to measure into the Kill A Watt and you can immediately start seeing power usage measurements in volts, amps, and watts. There is also a feature that measures the total amount of kilowatts used. For instance, with the Kill A Watt I measured the power usage of a Dell Latitude D620 playing one full DVD movie. According to the Kill A Watt, the laptop used between 30 and 45 watts of power for a cumulative total 0.06 kilowatt hours of power. The Kill A Watt also indicated that the laptop drew 0.32 amps of electricity at 122.5 volts. All of this information is begin recorded on a spreadsheet that I will use to determine the electrical output of my system.
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