i am *out* of the van
and
i am *in* the bunker

so far, so good 🤞

#offgrid #solarpunk #stb

I'm enjoying the breezy autumn winds from the vast wetlands from the south as the birds are gathering up seeds and nuts for the winter months. The breeze reminds me of the endless days next to the sea, the largest body of life on this world. The salty mist with every crashing wave, released billions of microbes that would enter my sinuses and some would become part of me. Here, birds travel from around the world sing and share the news from afar. Some birds have left, some have arrived, and many choose to stay. The native wildflowers have abundant seed pods they helped plant and pollinate that are drying and will help provide throughout the winter.

The solar garden has the house batteries charged. The sun offers so much and has helped life thrive this year. We had excellent rain that helped doubled the mass of wildflowers. The trees are all healthy and strong. I only lost one tree due to a lightning strike, which another tree survived and recovering.

#offgrid #SolarPunk

I'm enjoying the breezy autumn winds from the vast wetlands from the south as the birds are gathering up seeds and nuts for the winter months. The breeze reminds me of the endless days next to the sea, the largest body of life on this world. The salty mist with every crashing wave, released billions of microbes that would enter my sinuses and some would become part of me. Here, birds travel from around the world sing and share the news from afar. Some birds have left, some have arrived, and many choose to stay. The native wildflowers have abundant seed pods they helped plant and pollinate that are drying and will help provide throughout the winter.

The solar garden has the house batteries charged. The sun offers so much and has helped life thrive this year. We had excellent rain that helped doubled the mass of wildflowers. The trees are all healthy and strong. I only lost one tree due to a lightning strike, which another tree survived and recovering.

#offgrid #SolarPunk

Refreshing my knowledge of grounding and bonding and earth grounds and what not as it applies to off-grid solar. This video series explains it all rather simply. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky5luEx6R2M

Learned something new though. Many of the cheaper stand-alone inverters and the power stations DO NOT work like regular grid power. Instead of 120VAC on L1 and 0VAC on Neutral. They are +60VAC and -60VAC.

So if you were to backfeed a 'solar generator' to one of your house outlets during a grid outage (illegal and dangerous, but people do it all the time). Your house wiring is going to have a neutral/ground bond, so you'll get a 60VAC short and blow up your inverter or solar generator.

#OffGrid #DIY #Solar #SolarGenerator

Refreshing my knowledge of grounding and bonding and earth grounds and what not as it applies to off-grid solar. This video series explains it all rather simply. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky5luEx6R2M

Learned something new though. Many of the cheaper stand-alone inverters and the power stations DO NOT work like regular grid power. Instead of 120VAC on L1 and 0VAC on Neutral. They are +60VAC and -60VAC.

So if you were to backfeed a 'solar generator' to one of your house outlets during a grid outage (illegal and dangerous, but people do it all the time). Your house wiring is going to have a neutral/ground bond, so you'll get a 60VAC short and blow up your inverter or solar generator.

#OffGrid #DIY #Solar #SolarGenerator

So I live on a #boat now and everything gets organised through one Meta product or another - seemingly mostly Facebook and WhatsApp.

I have grudgingly joined some WhatsApp groups, but I refuse to book face.

So I’m trying some hashtags. Is #fediboat is a thing or maybe #Boatstodon? #BoatLife? #Boativerse? Obviously #boating. I can’t tell if any of these are used as I’m on a tiny server! #houseboat
#offGrid #offGridLiving

Or maybe local- #London #RiverLee #LeeNavigation

Anyone out there?

So I live on a #boat now and everything gets organised through one Meta product or another - seemingly mostly Facebook and WhatsApp.

I have grudgingly joined some WhatsApp groups, but I refuse to book face.

So I’m trying some hashtags. Is #fediboat is a thing or maybe #Boatstodon? #BoatLife? #Boativerse? Obviously #boating. I can’t tell if any of these are used as I’m on a tiny server! #houseboat
#offGrid #offGridLiving

Or maybe local- #London #RiverLee #LeeNavigation

Anyone out there?

Yale Climate Connections: ‘Solar suitcases’ bring safe lighting to more than 10,000 clinics across sub-Saharan Africa

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/10/solar-suitcases-bring-safe-lighting-to-more-than-10000-clinics-across-sub-saharan-africa/

#solar #offgrid

So... rain and dark cloudy skies for perhaps the week ahead. That means not much sunshine to even activate the solar panels. I'll be fine for a few days, but the batteries will need a charge.

I have two generators as a backup, one a traditional loud inverter generator. As a smaller engine, it isn't very efficient and no emissions system means a lot of carbon monoxide and NOx that is a big risk for inhalation (headaches and other mortal health risks.) It's only a few kilowatts, which is good for topping off the batteries. The other is my hybrid car, which can supply several kilowatts from its 350 volt inverter or about 800 watts from the 12 volt inverter. Each one has their own risks and safety requirements. I have run the 350 volt system to my solar inputs before, but the risks are high. If a fault happens, will my DC high voltage fuses blow correctly or turn into a 100,000 watt arc lamp? I've seen fuses fail before and a bad safety circuit can be worse than no safety circuit. Safety circuits need to be redundant and diverse, because they do fail in my experience.

The 12 volt inverter is a much safer choice as I don't need too much power this week. But I will continue to design a safety circuit for the high voltage inverter distribution system. Hopefully, I can make the communications to automatically connect with the car's high voltage system. That requires working with the relay disconnect safety check sequencing.

#offgrid #solar #SolarPunk

Yale Climate Connections: ‘Solar suitcases’ bring safe lighting to more than 10,000 clinics across sub-Saharan Africa

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/10/solar-suitcases-bring-safe-lighting-to-more-than-10000-clinics-across-sub-saharan-africa/

#solar #offgrid

Over the weekend @meph added some mind blowing new features to lorapipe.

- APRS over LoRa
- Ethernet over LoRa

https://social.treehouse.systems/@meph/115365077448221139

#hamraadio #radio #lora #meshcore #meshtastic #lorapipe #aprs #ax25 #kiss #tnc #packetradio #networking #cybersecurity #offgrid

Over the weekend @meph added some mind blowing new features to lorapipe.

- APRS over LoRa
- Ethernet over LoRa

https://social.treehouse.systems/@meph/115365077448221139

#hamraadio #radio #lora #meshcore #meshtastic #lorapipe #aprs #ax25 #kiss #tnc #packetradio #networking #cybersecurity #offgrid

What a beautiful day to subvert #capitalism by lending people tools, helping people learn to fix their bikes, and I even got some #offGrid #solar charging of #eBikes / #cargoBikes in for a thumb in elon's eye. #superCargo #pdxBikes

What a beautiful day to subvert #capitalism by lending people tools, helping people learn to fix their bikes, and I even got some #offGrid #solar charging of #eBikes / #cargoBikes in for a thumb in elon's eye. #superCargo #pdxBikes

I've seen comments about sodium-ion cells getting down to US $10/KWh in the near future.

I think it is optimistic (to say the least) but if production rises I could imagine them at $25 - $35 per kwh for large systems in 3 years. This would be a game changer

If they could get them down to $10 - $15 per kwh for cells with limited cycle endurance then domestic seasonal storage is very interesting. Having a couple of MWh for £20K would be game changing for UK off-grid.

#solar #battery #offgrid

Hello you knowledgeable beings of the fediverse.
I have a heat recovery unit waiting to go in while I seal up my house, but it's becoming increasingly obvious now that where I live in about 10 years time the climate will necessitate some kind of cooling as well, so as I've not purchased the originally planned air to water heat pump, what would be my options?

Location is the South West bit of Ireland

Boosts appreciated

#hvac #passivehouse #offgrid #ventilation #erv #hrev #heatpump

Hello you knowledgeable beings of the fediverse.
I have a heat recovery unit waiting to go in while I seal up my house, but it's becoming increasingly obvious now that where I live in about 10 years time the climate will necessitate some kind of cooling as well, so as I've not purchased the originally planned air to water heat pump, what would be my options?

Location is the South West bit of Ireland

Boosts appreciated

#hvac #passivehouse #offgrid #ventilation #erv #hrev #heatpump

I'm looking for recommendations for reading materials (prefer physical book format) on UK solar installations for a complete beginner and non-technical/engineer brained person (it's me!). Preferably not grid-tied and providing a good base knowledge that will help me understand options when looking at the mahoosive number of kits out there.
#askmastodon #askfedi #solarpower #offgrid