Energy Backups II

The first thing we need to do is to sit down and design a comprehensive plan of what we want. Buying or building a power system could backfire on you if you go to plug something in and find out that your system will not handle that item. So, get a sheet of paper and list what you think is necessary to have in the event of a power outage. List the items in importance to you. Along with each item list the wattage it takes to run it. The wattage can be found in one of several ways. On some appliances it is listed in the owners manual or on the specification tag on the appliance itself. On other appliances only amps and volts are given. In this case simply multiply the amps times the volts to find the watts. For instance, a circular saw that draws seven amps at 230 volts needs 1610 wats. All three of the numbers are important, so list them all on your list. Include voltage, amperage and wattage. The reason voltage is important is that there are several types. The most common types are 12v DC, 120v AC and 240v AC. These are the three voltages that are most common in today's world. These are the ones we will generally need to deal with, so I will not go into the various other voltages. Schould you come across something in 6v DC, 24v DC, 440v AC or something even more rare, you will just have to do some research. The reason for putting voltage as well as wattage on the list you are making is that you may need to change the voltage you generate by the use of a converter or inverter. A 110v appliance will not run on 12 volts nor will a 12v appliance run on 110 volts. Amperage ratings are needed because when using batteries they are rated in amp hours. By knowing how many amps something draws, you will know how long your battery will last without recharging. Batteries are important in that when generating electricity, we normally need storage capacity. Except for gas or diesel powered generators, it is rare that you would be able to run your household directly off your generating unit. The sun does not shine at night or even every day and the wind is intermittent, thus the need for storage batteries. Let us take a quick look at some different types of generating systems. I will go into more depth later. First, you have diesel or gasoline powered generators. These are the easiest to use but the most expensive to run. Plus you do not know if you will have a continous supply of fuel to operate them. They can be had in sizes from 2500 watts to 15 kw (15,000 watts), at a cost of from around $400 to $4,000 or more. The smaller ones are usually only 120v AC, so if you have anything of 240v that you want to run, you would need something bigger. Now solar. Solar energy is free but getting set up for its use is not. You will need two or more solar panels and they may cost five or six hundred dollars apiece. Now you need to add in the cost of the batteries and an inverter to operate your ac equipment. Wind power tends to be the same. you need the tower and a turbine and you also need the batteries and inverter. Neither wind or solar is 100% reliable as the wind does not always blow and the sun does not always shine. What you need is a combination of both and unless you can build what you need that can be expensive. That is why I am going to geve you some ideas on building your own. Water power for electrical generation is tricky. You need to be in the right spot, have the right drop to the flowing water, etc. I will not go into this type of setup in this explanation. You will need to do your own research should you want to try it. There is also the consideration of going completely to dc power. With the plethora of 12v appliances now being made for the camping and rv industry, it is an option you may want to consider. That saves the price of an inverter and also the power it takes to run the inverter itself. Next we will look at each one of the three methods individually to see what the advantages and disadvantages of each are.