"When the Lights Go Out"...

[Steven Lake]

Hey, if you guys haven't seen "The Colony", you probably should. I just got around to watching season 1 of it, and they really come up with some interesting green energy solutions. For one, they salvage some solar panels from an abandoned highway road sign and put those to use, and do quite a few other things. Now sure, what they had in total batteries to use vs solar panels wasn't that great a combination, as they had way too much battery and far too little solar panels for their setup. But since they decided to keep their lights as "emergency use only", they were pretty much fine with the small setup they had.

Now my only question is, what was the inverter they were using. I liked that one. It even told you the total amount of energy left in your bank, the voltages, everything right on the inverter. It was big enough to be a 2-3k inverter, but I couldn't see what brand or model. Did anyone recognize it? Or what about the solar panels? Sure, I'll probably never end up in that kind of situation, but that doesn't mean I can't be curious about their setup. :)

[bmet]

never seen the show, but one had to expect a certain amount of creative licensing and not to spend too much $$$ on actual facts

[Steven Lake]

Well, obviously, since it's a reality TV show. But some of the techniques, ideas, and systems they work with are pretty good and would work in a pinch. I'm not saying you shouldn't use better solutions when it comes to surviving, but in a pinch the stuff they came up with is pretty good. :)

[SteveK]

Waynefromcanada.....YOU ROCK!

I am a (here it comes..lol) a prepper (that wasn't so bad now). I also understand Niel's position. It is one I need to defend against every so often. Fact is I haven't been to a hospital in ages and hope I never will again. My family is most always well. That's a blessing and makes me not worry so much about needing professional care regularly in dire times. Natural selection is still alve and well no matter the diversions from it's existence...some solar panels will not really change that. The legacy is bring the family along for the ride on all of this so they can respond to disasters without me there for whatever reason.

I don't foresee a major catastrophe, I prepare for it. We feel we are in advanced stages of preparedness as a matter of fact. But we still live life normaly taking advantage of sales and coupons and long term food storage. We work to develop talents like gardening, power generation/conservation, fieldcraft, canning/drying and carpentry even though she's a nurse and I'm a millwright living faily comfortable, modest but debt free existences.

It's a good feeling that I would encourage others to try even on a small scale. You can't go wrong with food storage...it has increased in value far beyond 401K's in recent times. And it tastes better than money too!

Yes, the neighbors think we are a bit over the top with the gardening and solar but that's all they really see on the surface. When another Halloween Storm hits, I'm sure they will enjoy the fresh brewed coffee as much as they did the last storm...lol

[waynefromnscanada]

@ SteveK: Hahaha Amazed at how much we think alike on these things. We are aware that no matter what we do, life for all of us will eventually come to a close, of that there is no escape. But in the meantime, it's awesome to do what we're doing, even as others shake their heads and wonder - - - - :)

[niel]

don't get me wrong here as i agree with some preparations and was just more critical of the term "doomsday" and that no matter how much or how long you prepare for something that there will be something else not anticipated or thought of as nobody can prepare for all let alone foresee all. i actually wish i could do more, but like most others i have limitations due to $, circumstances, etc. maybe in a strange way we are nuts, but it's in a good way for most of us.

although i don't term myself as a prepper i do prepare as best as i can for some things.

[SteveK]

don't get me wrong here as i agree with some preparations and was just more critical of the term "doomsday" and that no matter how much or how long you prepare for something that there will be something else not anticipated or thought of as nobody can prepare for all let alone foresee all. i actually wish i could do more, but like most others i have limitations due to $, circumstances, etc. maybe in a strange way we are nuts, but it's in a good way for most of us.

although i don't term myself as a prepper i do prepare as best as i can for some things.

Naw Niel I hadn't read anything like that from you and you certainly are correct about not being able to prepare for every event. Didn't mean to imply anything else. All we can do is do as much as we can. Storing stuff is a baby step process for us that has been going on for years to minimize the financial impact. In most any disaster situation the basics are really what matter. To have enough for my family and neighbors is important to me. If after 12 months I need to form an earthworks, and mount gun nests to keep and hold my beans I'm not sure I'd want to stick around longer anyways..lol. We have guns but not enough for a defense of castle...as if we even had a castle...

To me I'm kind of sad that the portayal of the series became "Doomsday" oriented too. It is a defeatist label that assumes there is no tomorrow after an event for anyone. I do not subscribe to that theory.

On a lighter note you may be interested to know that one of the new "Doomsday Preppers" was stripped of his weapons three days after the show aired.... Just goes to show the pressure of celebrity status in this country!!. LOL! Here's a link: http://offgridsurvival.com/doomsdayp...ntaldefective/

To stay on topic, the reason this post caught my attention is a poster that set-up the battery backup without RE in his home was reminescent of my initial setup. I have not been without enough electricity since.

[Steven Lake]

LOL! Here's a link: http://offgridsurvival.com/doomsdayp...ntaldefective/

Geez, that's nuts. To make matters worse, some further digging on this one topic shows a whole bunch of conflicting information out there. According to FEMA "you need to prep and be ready for any disaster." But according to DHS, "if you prep, you're a terrorist, and we will confiscate all your stuff". I give up. I just give up. With a screwed up federal mentality like that, it makes prepping pointless. You're better off to not even bother prepping and just take your chances rather than be labeled a lunatic because you did what FEMA told you, causing you to lose everything you've worked so hard to collect. Good thing I never bothered to start. Hopefully DHS won't consider my FEMA suggested bugout bag or battery backup to be a terrorist activity. *rolls eyes*

To stay on topic...

Yup, back to topic. As for the person with the battery backup, were you by chance referring to my setup?

[SteveK]

Yes we used to do what you are doing pretty much minus the transfer switching. We never transfer switched because we heated with coal and were always around the home area within a couple hours. I think everyone should have a safe battery bank and inverter as a minimum. It's a good safety net for not alot of money. Keeping the essentials powered-up for a 2 day run gets through most outages then recharge from the grid.

It's a good way to get into off-grid solar RE in a modular fashion, a little at a time, if the bank is sized properly in the beginning. IMO of course.

About the prep thing. There are lessons to be learned from this guy. Don't prep on cable TV. Don't go flashing the guns around no matter how harmless. Don't feel the need to tell it on the mountain. Don't go for psychiatric treatment for any reason and expect to keep your guns.

Did I mention don't prep on cable TV?........

[niel]

oh boy, i guess i better quit kidding about being nuts.
that video disturbs me that they would railroad him like that.