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Author Topic: 5 Years Offgrid and Loving It  (Read 1514 times)

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ruddycrazy

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5 Years Offgrid and Loving It
« on: December 25, 2008, 03:41:39 AM »
Hi Guys,

        Well xmas is always special here as it's the day we officially moved on to the farm and today marks 5 years. We've gone from a pultry solar array that was on the house when we bought the place to a 3kw/hour pv array which has been rock solid now for over 4-1/2 years.


         My shed is also fully powered by RE and i'm nearly there getting a full blown RE machineshop going. Today I converted my toolroom lathe to 3 phase/vfd drive and my bridgeport mill also has a VFD. The next vfd project is my 4' centre lathe then the surface grinder.


         The 2hp motor conversion is also well underway and now I'm waiting for the neo's to get here before I can go much further.


 All in all the last 5 years has been great and I expect the next 5 to be even better.


 Merry Xmas everyone and have a safe holiday


Cheers Bryan

         

« Last Edit: December 25, 2008, 03:41:39 AM by (unknown) »
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motoman465

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Re: 5 Years Offgrid and Loving It
« Reply #1 on: December 25, 2008, 08:40:01 AM »
Merry Christmas to you, Bryan.  That is an awesome achievement!  Hopefully one day I will have my own place and be able to achieve what you have.  Just one question, what is VFD?


Todd

« Last Edit: December 25, 2008, 08:40:01 AM by motoman465 »
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vawtman

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Re: 5 Years Offgrid and Loving It
« Reply #2 on: December 25, 2008, 08:43:17 AM »
 Great job Bryan and Happy Holidays back at ya.
« Last Edit: December 25, 2008, 08:43:17 AM by vawtman »
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TomW

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Re: 5 Years Offgrid and Loving It
« Reply #3 on: December 25, 2008, 08:46:15 AM »
Bryan;


Been watching your progress over the years and I find it inspirational.


Great stuff and hope it gets better.


What do you miss [if anything] not having grid available?


I know you manage to keep a few slabs chilled for emergency use so I suspect you don't miss much.


Probably helps keep the kids from watching the TeeVee too much which has to be good.


Keep on keeping on.


Tom.

« Last Edit: December 25, 2008, 08:46:15 AM by TomW »
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oztules

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Re: 5 Years Offgrid and Loving It
« Reply #4 on: December 25, 2008, 01:23:33 PM »
Happy anniversary Bryan.

Sounds like your enjoying the freedom


.........oztules

« Last Edit: December 25, 2008, 01:23:33 PM by oztules »
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Flinders Island Australia

ruddycrazy

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Re: 5 Years Offgrid and Loving It
« Reply #5 on: December 25, 2008, 02:28:56 PM »
G'day Todd,

           A VFD is a Variable Frequency Device that is a small box where you put 240 volt single phase in and it pwm's 3 phase out. With being able to vary the frequency you can have a full range of speeds keeping the full torque rating of the 3 phase motor. Also you have the option of forward/reverse, ramp down to stop or sudden brake and a RS485 Modbus output to a computer.


           As we sell them at work I get them real cheap and I now have 3 of them, in the end my goal is to have every machine in my workshop hooked up to one. So what this means being off the grid doesn't stop one having a full blown machineshop.


 Below is a pic of my current project, converting my toolroom lathe to VFD drive. Yesterday I did a trial cut and under load it only drew 800 watts. :)





Cheers Bryan

« Last Edit: December 25, 2008, 02:28:56 PM by ruddycrazy »
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David HK

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Re: 5 Years Offgrid and Loving It
« Reply #6 on: December 26, 2008, 05:36:47 AM »
What you write is very interesting, but could you tell us a little more.


Which country are you in? This would give us an idea on seasons, temperture and climate generally.


How do you cook meals? How do you refrigerate foods?


It's very difficult to imagine being totally off the mains grid so anything I (or others) can read about the experience is of great interest,


David HK

« Last Edit: December 26, 2008, 05:36:47 AM by David HK »
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vawtman

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Re: 5 Years Offgrid and Loving It
« Reply #7 on: December 26, 2008, 06:08:56 AM »
« Last Edit: December 26, 2008, 06:08:56 AM by vawtman »
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ruddycrazy

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Re: 5 Years Offgrid and Loving It
« Reply #8 on: December 26, 2008, 04:31:04 PM »
G'day David,

            My farm is in the Adelaide hills in south Oz and our fridge is a Consul lpg one but soon we'll be upgrading to a converted electric fridge twice the size. I have a mate who is a fridgie mechanic and he's been converting fridges for boaties for over 20 years. The main power on the house is a 3kw/day solar array that cost 18K with the govt rebate. My shed array cost under 5K for the lot and is about twice the size of the house array.

            For water we have 3 5,000 gallon tanks and 3 buildings for catchment. I bought a new 1,000 gallon tank last week so I can move the big tank from my shearing shed to my main shed. About 3 months ago we got in-direct mains mainly for watering the sheep but I plan on plumbing it up for a backup supply.


 Vawts a few things wrong with that U-tube video



  1. they have a yankie accent
  2. the enviroment looks like outback Texas
  3. NO Ozzie in their right mind would drink bud light


so in conclusion isn't that utube video really RonB's cousins on a day out in the texas outback....


Cheers Bryan


 

« Last Edit: December 26, 2008, 04:31:04 PM by ruddycrazy »
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vawtman

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Re: 5 Years Offgrid and Loving It
« Reply #9 on: December 26, 2008, 05:50:39 PM »
Geeez your right,there are simularities there.Sorry bout that.


 It's all in fun for most of us :)


 Cheers Mark

« Last Edit: December 26, 2008, 05:50:39 PM by vawtman »
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