Living Off the Grid

[cob]

PP most automotive led lamps are available and most expensive at the local autoparts. $15@autozone vs.
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1& ... ulb%201156" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

your assumptions on the strips are correct 4"- 3 leds solder points on both ends.

i bought from this supplier because $9.99 put 3' of tape in my hand (enough for the tractor)

other suppliers were ~$30 - 15'+shipping, check the wattage/foot as the leds i got were 50% higher than some others.

almost anything that fits a fixture is available in 12v. and almost the same is true for led 12v.

edit; pp the leds of 5 years ago can't compare to todays led technology.

[Prairiepiss]

Update. We didn't get a damn thing done this weekend. Birthday and bike ride an all. But Friday was my last day at work here. We have a week to get down there and get set up. Before I have to start work down there. Fun fun.

We have a few final things to get done here. Along with final packing. Then make the first trip. We will be busy as bees for the next week. And without climbing the hill to get phone service. I don't know how much I will be on here. Let alone updating our progress. But I will try to at least give you an update. Before I start work a week from tomorrow.

And somo I will get in touch with you. Once I'm down there. So we can meet up about the pup.

It really hasn't sunk in yet. On what we are actually getting ready to do. It still seams like a dream. I don't think it will really hit. Till the first night we are there. Basically camping in the middle of nowhere. Until we get some things established.

On our ride yesterday we rode through the flint hills of Kansas. I've been all over Kansas. And thought I have seen all that it has to offer. From the hilly treed areas over here on the east side. The rolling plains around Topeka. And the completely flat nothing for miles out west. I had never been through the flint hills. And I was blown away by its beauty. A nice mix of corn, soybean, wheat, and huge cattle ranches. Beautiful old houses. I am glad we took this last ride. It gave me a wonderful picture of what Kansas is made of. And also will make me miss it that much more. I may be moving to Missouri. But I will always be a Jayhawk at heart.

Now to the point. The ride gave me some more inspirations. From homemade gates and fencing. To dry stacked field stone walls. One ranch had probably a mile and a half of field stone wall along the road. That had been there for ever. The amount of time and work that was put into building that is just amazing. Especially knowing what little mechanical help they had when it was built. And saw probably 5 one room school houses. 4 were stone and 1 wood. All beautiful craftsmanship. That has stood the test of time. I've been on many rides. Through many different places. But there was a 20 or 30 mile stretch of road. That all you could see was green rolling hills and trees. No power lines. No houses. And a perfect road going right through it. Amazing. And being on a bike. Just made observing it. That much better. Those that ride know what I'm talking about.

Sory for rambling. But just for those of you who think Kansas is all just flat nothing. You just haven't been to the right places. Or just took the wrong road to nowhere.

[Jimbo]

Sory for rambling.

You could write pages and we'd appreciate it, ramble all you want. Im following this thread with respect, and envy.

[Halfbaked]

How is this gonna effect you visiting us? I hope you are not going to have to climb a tree to get cell service or internet.

[Prairiepiss]

How is this gonna effect you visiting us? I hope you are not going to have to climb a tree to get cell service or internet.

We already know that we don't get service down where we want to build. And there is a few places that we can get service. But we have to climb the hill. Eventualy we will get satilight internet. But not on the priority list.

So for a while it will be hit or miss while I'm at the homestead. While I'm working ill have access. Well ill be in areas that have service. So I'm sire you will see me around. If I'm not to busy.

[Prairiepiss]

Peaches peaches peaches. If I wasn't moving I would be makin some peach brandy about now. Just picked two 5 gal buckets full. And stopped cause had nothing to do with that many. To much other stuff going on. I wish I had known about his peach trees last year. But I got to see how his place is set up.

There are 4 beds full of young peach trees. Said we could come get more anytime we want.

Here is a field he just tilled and threw out some seed. Cause its fixing to rain here. But this shows what hr was saying. Where he plants a garden around the young trees.

Here is a section of growing garden. Around some other young peach trees.

[MoonBreath]

Mmmmm ...Peach Heaven ..
So you're not taking any (peaches) with you?..Won't be hard findn a peach source in MO.

[Prairiepiss]

We are taking two 5 gallon buckets. And he gave us like 6 gallon freezer bags full cut up and frozen. We will be canning them when we get down there.

[superdaveva]

P p I have sat. Internet, its OK . Very limited use for a lot of money, I get 5 gig reg time 8 am to 2 am and 5 gig extra, 2 am to 8 am. I tried to watch a movie on net flix and it wiped out my band with for the hole month in 20 min.I would look into finding an area where you can get a hot spot to work and wifi it acrost your property. I see your going with a battery based system, batt. Maintenance is very important, its real easy to ruin a battery bank. I've been reading a magazine called home power, it covers everything. I upgraded my solar panels last year with panels from Canadian solar, love them. Good luck

[Prairiepiss]

I've had sat internet in the past. Hated it. I will be trying to get a hot spot setup to work. When I get the chance. At the moment I get mixed connection with my phone.

I know all about battery maintenance. I deal with people the don't do it every day.

I will try to give you all an update latter today.

[Prairiepiss]

We have been here for two weeks now. And I can't say much has gone as planned. Where to start? I guess the beginning.

Moving week. What a mess. Two day packing window. Turned into five days. From the rain and pore planning. Got the stuff all packed in the truck, motorhome, and trailer. And the motorhome wouldn't start. It has always been a little hard to start. After sitting for a little while.

Got it started. And got on the road. Figured out I had it loaded to heavy. And positioned all wrong. Slid through a stop light. Because the trailer brakes and the front tires were almost off the ground. Pulled over in the family dollar parking lot. Not even a mile away from the house. So I could turn around and go back home. To redistribute the load. And the damn thing died. And would not start. There was an advance autoparts across the lot. But it was late at this point. Real late midnight to be exact. So we spent the first night in the parking lot of family dollar.

Was waiting at the parts store when they opened. Got my part and fixed the motorhome. Then drove it back home. This was Friday night into Saturday. We had planned to be down there late Tuesday or Wednesday. And I had to be at work that next Monday. For my first day at the new shop. I was getting antsy to say the least. Got the trailer brakes working manually. Good enough for a one time trip. Took a little over 1000 lbs out of the nose of the trailer and back of the motorhome. And put it in the truck. Still a little off. But safely drivable.

And back on the road we go. During the hottest part of the day. I like driving at night better. Around 6 pm Saturday we made it here. I shot past our road. Because the hill was to much and the brakes got to hot. Got it shut down. Backed it up and started down the road to our land. I'm glad someone had gone through and mowed the road. LOL Yes it was mowed. Apparently there is very little traffic on our road. So the gravel road turned to grass. Little bumpy and a nice steep section put the motorhome to the test. Scraping tree limbs the whole way in. Got the mess down here to the clearing. And just parked it on the flattest open spot we could find. Everything is so grown over. Compared to our other trips. There was no way we could have pulled it into where I had planned to set it up. So we waited till Sunday to figure out where to setup the home base.

Sunday we explored around and found a nice little spot. That gives us some nice morning and afternoon shade. Moved everything around. And started setting everything up we could.

One of the first things I did was go check on the spring. And guess what? Yep dry as a bone. So here we sit with no water. Except for what we brought with us. So plan B went into effect. I have a 55 gal drum in the back of my van. And fill it up at work. And bring it home. Transfer it to one of the other drums I have. I've kept up with it. And now maintain around 200 gallons here now. Which has been plenty. For everything we need. So now I need to work on water plan C. Or should it be D? I don't know anymore.

Work is going great. I think I will really like it here in this shop.

Let's see what else? Besides its hot as hell out here right now.

The sawdust mountain. Well we have found some pockets of really nice decomposed sawdust. In the pile. This stuff is like black mud. You just have to be careful not to dig to deep. Or you find more regular sawdust. Down where the oxygen can't get to it.

The clearing after a little digging and looking. I have come to realize that its packed gravel and funky red dusty dirt. That is damn near impossible to dig. So its gona take a lot of work to get it to where we need it. For growing anything.

We have set up some raised beds. Using a mix of the decomposed sawdust. Rabbit manure. And some good black dirt. We are getting from under the tree canopy. The wife planted some seeds for a fall garden. And already have plants growing.

With it being so damn hot. And working. I haven't got as much done as I wished. I started building a building. That the solar panels will go on top of. But I realized. I won't get it up and ready for the panels quick enough. And I'm not really sure how I will get them up there anyway. So I built some temporary stands for the panels. I now have the batteries and the panels up and going. Today was the first full day with them setup. I can't really tell much. Because they don't have a load on them. And they were already charged. But so far so good.

I'm currently trying to get the main inverter up and going. But the heat has slown me down to a crawl. I will have it up and going before bed tonight.

We have been running on the generator. Which has been dealing us fits. And I have been spending to much time messing with it.

I have a nice lead on two 1000 ah 24v batteries. They weight 1900 lbs each. So I'm not sure how I'm gona get them moved around. But would be the cats meyow if I can get them. Price is looking great at free.

Lots of other little stuff. But to much to post about.

Oh our oldest dog isn't doing well. And the younger one has attacked him twice. If the goat goes and smells him. She freaks out. Runs away jumps up and down. Curling her lip up. We think he is dieing. And the young one is trying to be the alpha. The young one was doing a lot better then we expected here. Until this happened. So now we have him chained up. For now.

I get sporadic cell service here. Can't make calls. But can get texts and emails. From time to time. And sometimes a little internet. So don't expect to see me around much. I mite get one post off. And loose service.

I have some pics to post. But it needs to wait till I'm in town. Where I have service.

[SoMo]

Pp if there's anything I can do to help just give a holler, that red dust is Missouri clay will be nice in building your earth ovens, once it hardens it takes a jack hammer to bust it loose. Good luck bud, sounds like a Clark Griswald adventure.

[MoonBreath]

That tears me up about your oldest dog ..Is the spring lost, or will it come back ...I'll pray for ya'll and for a good water source tonight when I go to bed ..
Stay hydrated and don't push yourself to hard in this heat ..
Take care.

[goose eye]

Yup its a Marathon aint no sprint.
dogs is feeling it to.


So I'm tole

[superdaveva]

Check all over where your spring was flowing, you can dig down a little and find what water is still flowing under ground. You can then build a spring box once you found the best place to install it.wish I was closer, I'd give ya a hand.

[Prairiepiss]

Sory I typed this out yesterday. And couldn't get it uploaded.

Yup its a Marathon aint no sprint.
dogs is feeling it to.


So I'm tole

So true. It took me a little to get into this mindset. But I think I'm settling down into that groove now. Slow and steady.

Everything is being powered by the solar system as of this morning. So far so good.

Thanks for all the good thoughts. And this morning the dog is acting like his old self. He shot out the door and went around marking everything he could. He went for a nice little walk with me. The wifes doctering seams to have paid off. I still don't think he will make it through this winter. And we knew that going in. But we just couldn't leave him in the city. Since he is really out middle boys dog. And he is here with us. Pore thing can't hear, can't hardly see, and has hind end problems. But when he isn't sick he acts like he likes it better out here. Even though he can't hear or hardly see. He still alerts on stuff we miss. Last weekend we were sitting here after eating lunch. And he alerted. Turned around and there was two horses standing over where our drive comes up to the clearing. They had wondered down our drive way. The young dog started barking to. But he had no clue as to what he was barking at. Ol boy still got it in him. We just don't know for how long. I've already picked out a spot where we will lay him to rest. When the time comes. Up on the hill overlooking our place. So he can still each over us. He will be hard to loose a dog we have had for 15+ years. But he has been the best dog we have ever had.

Speaking of dogs. Somo I have to get with you about getting that pup. Sory we have been dragging our feet. But with little time and money. It's hard to make time to do it. And the damn truck is killing us in fuel. We will have to arrange it so I can swing by there after work. In my service van.

I'm finding the people around here. To be an interesting mix of people. And certainly all have been nice. We went into town yesterday morning for the farmers market. Not a big affair as I thought it would be. From what everyone had talked it up to be. But it was nice. Got some nice produce. Most of which were heirloom varieties. So we are saving the seeds from the ones we liked. For next year. But the people there was just a strange mix. From what I would have expected. You had the normal farmer good ol boys along with hippies, bikers, and what I would call uppity city folk. As I was walking through this old I mean OLD farmer sitting on the back of his truck selling his wares. Says where'd you get that tattoo. I thought he was talking to someone else. And the wife grabbed my arm and said he's talking to you. Now both the wife and I have leg sheaves. Mine is about half done. Hers is done. When we spun around to talk to him. He said where did the both of you get them from? I told him where we got them. And he looked at them another second. And said. I knew nothing that good would have come from the tattoo shop here in town. LOL He just didn't strike me as one to look or know about tattoos.

The town is nice. Got a nice little coffers shop on the square. That can pull a nice shot. Nice little healthfood shop. That carries a real nice assortment of organic grains in bulk. Along with the largest selection of herbs and spices in bulk. I have ever seen. Prices are a little high on the non bulk stuff. But the bulk prices are pretty much on par with what they were in the city.

We have found that the grocery prices here. Are way more then back in KC. Meat is outrageous. But gas and cigarette prices are lower.

Got a dish washing table built. Out of a pallet and some 3x3 dunage. It's basically a 55 gal drum with a spigots in the bottom. On top of a stand. With a counter below it. The wood was all warped. And all reclaimed. So its a little wonky looking. But functions for its purpose.

Got an awning up over the motorhome. Got another bigger garden bed started on. It's where we will put the hoophouse.

I started typing this out early this morning. And now at 10:30 I have 20 amps of charge going into the batteries. Along with the draw to power everything. Not bad. We will see how it goes.

[Prairiepiss]

Here are a couple pics.

This is where we have been digging out the sawdust for the garden.

Here is one of our small raised beds. That we already have a fall garden started in. We have 3 this size. And three big truck tires filled and planted. I'm looking for some good pallets. To get some more beds made.

And the solar panels in the temporary mounts.

[MoonBreath]

Glad to hear ya'll are getting stuff lined out and settling in ..
Also, that the dog is doing better ...Dogs sense change, especially a drastic change ...He's gained some comfort and claimed his perimeter ..Good ..Sounds like he's settled down a bit ...You've got your work cut out for ya...Take care and k.u.p.

[SoMo]

Garden beds look good Pp especially the green beans, pallets abound we may even have a few at the shop. There's also a guy selling food grade barrels that have had soy sauce in them will check on em. Keep plugging away like Goose said its a marathon, maybe even a relay, measure progress by the inch and soon it will be miles. To realize a dream is one thing, to live it a beautiful nightmare.

[hellbilly007]

PP, I'm happy as hell for ya. Your livin' my dream. If I could only get the wifey on board. Glad to hear you and yours is adapting well, the dog too.

[superdaveva]

What size panels are they, what kind of battery's you using?

[Prairiepiss]

The panels are 240 watt 24 volt. 1440 watts total. I have them setup in two series strings of 3 paralleled. So at full sun I get between 109 and 112 VDC out of them.

The batteries are 6v 220 ah AGM. Two banks of 4. For 24vdc 440 ah.

Edited to add. That is until I get my new batteries. They are flooded industrial batteries. 24 v 1000 ah each. There will be two of them. At 1900 lbs each. For 2000 ah of battery storage. That should get me through a get days of bad weather.

[Halfbaked]

PP I love the RV story. I think I have seen almost the exact story on TV only he runs down them mountain and ends up in a country club. I wish I had access to that many peach trees and a place to put them. I think I would be a hording on the peaches. Id keep a quart of peach goodness in the creek for sippin if you get it running again. When I used to have a garden I found that onions and kale work pretty good in the winter and a few potatoes that get you some good eating a little earlier than normal. It would be real nice to get you a green house going. I am sure you got more things that would take presidence over that. I was bear hunting in NC on a tree/shrub farm and watched one get put up a few years ago and it was reallly nice and reallly cheap. The guy used conduit that is used in electricle ( I think 3/4) and railroad ties and ends were wooded. He heated with wood and put it in a duct with a fan. The guy made a bender out of wood and plywood. It made every piece the same. You could make it have 2 or 3 pieces he said. The guy even insulated the top. He put 2 sheets of plastic and blew air into it for insulation. It was truly amazing and probly had couple hundred dollars in it and prob 30x60 and 12ft tall. Railroad ties buried in the ground and plastic to the bottom and dirt on plastic to hold down.

You are in for lots of work but its gonna be worth every minute.

[HDNB]

awesome that you can plant a garden now. it's 5-7 more weeks before the snow hits the ground here. already hada killing frost, the only thing left is the root veg. squash and tomato are done.
i wonder how many solar panels it would take here to ge though the winter...in dec, jan and feb it's dark from 4pm to 9am...thats a lot of using hours and not a lot of collecting hours...but the wind sure blows!...maybe windmills
good luck on your adventure!

[Tater]

peaches https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ6INAayEJI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[superdaveva]

Hdnb the first thing you have to do to figure solar power is to quit waisting power. Its a life style change that a lot of people don't want to do.those little transformers that charge your phone are called wall worts, they use electric whether something is plunged into it or not. I have no air conditioning. I use a gas stove to cook ,wood for heat, on demand gas hot water. Home power and back home are good magazines to read.when you live off the sun your aware of every watt you use ! Its a challenge and a love for our planet that keep us going, hope you join the ride!

[googe]

Just a heads up for you all regarding batteries for solar, this is from.aus but im sure it applies world wide. My mate got his batteries from a telstra auction (large phone company here) , phone companies and electrical companies have unmaned stations all over the place and run off solar, they replace there batteries well before there due date. My mate got 24 batteries for $500. They've been running his place for over 6 years now without a problem. There life span is something like 15 years from what he's been told.

[superdaveva]

Great find, I paid 250.00 each for my l-16s 3 years ago.

[Prairiepiss]

I can get Trojan L16s for $260 each. Maybe even less. And if I had to buy. That's what I would buy. But all the batteries I have were free. And I'm trying to get these two 1000 ah batteries for free. That would be the deal of the century.

[superdaveva]

Garden did great, been shelling October beans for 3 days, 3-4 hours a day. Best tomato year since I moved here. Potatoes are huge. Best pumpkins ever. Crazy weather too, dry early on but catching up. Hope to move west this spring, I need good dirt, sun, wind and work. Any suggestions co,ne, wy,ks.