Oztules
My situation is more like MaryB's. I have grid power. It is spotty. That means, constant outages at 1-20 second blips. Usually when the fridge is running, and you can see the lights dip pretty well, every time the power surges back on. The fridge has held up to this abuse, but, it makes all sorts of weird noises from time to time.
We have had light bulbs explode, literally. We have had 3 tv's burned out. No service people here to even try to repair. 3 computers burned out. Several telephones burned out, literally. Sometimes, there are 3-4-5 off on -off on episodes. The light bulbs get extremely bright and burn out. I know from X lineman experience how the power company regulators in the substations work. Did many call out jobs seeking line faults and restoring service. This is not always regulator induced surges, more shorts from tree limbs-leafy wet clumps hitting wires and causing surges, quicker than regulators can sense the problems. Sometimes, the roar of plasma arcing can be heard half a mile away.
A lot of our problems are lightning strikes, many from long distances away. May not be a cloud in sight and you can hear the snap as phones short out, phone connecting lines arc and need replacing. I keep a couple of the connection boxes and connectors on hand.
We are also at the "end of the line" and lightning often travels until the lines end, so, we get hit by that.
Being on fixed income, and paying 30 cents US per Kwh is costing us $100.00/month. Doesn't sound bad, right? Add up all the burned up stuff and possibility of lightning burning down our house, from tv's etc actually flashing and smoking, I have to do something.
I am about to receive a smart phone from my son, and use it to receive wi-fi and connect to my laptop. Disconnect the phone line modem. I'm about to install Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf battery bank to get away from power company to the laptop, am adding LED lighting, etc. Fridge is the main thing. IF I knew refrigeration, I just nearly bought a 12-24V fridge compressor, but, don't trust the locals to convert the fridge. Right now, I'm fighting with a shop for "losing" critical parts of my Stihl chainsaw, just from cleaning and rebuilding the carburetor.
I want to buy a 12V X 22" TV and run it straight battery power. Charging batteries at this time is where I'm at. Building a couple wind turbines, and trying to store rain water in a pond to create Hydro power. We get massive amounts of rain here, 8-9 months every year. I have a 30,000+ gallon pond I dug, by hand, and the liner is bought and my son will ship it down here next month. I am about to build the hydro turbine and place it 120' away and 100' below the pond. I don't drive much anymore, so, have built an electric motorcycle/bicycle to get around locally, otherwise use the buses. Gasoline is equivalent $6.00 a gallon and diesel is slightly higher.
My shop power tools are always subject to lightning, so, I'm constantly plugging and unplugging them, even while working on projects. Ever cut wood on a tablesaw and have the power go off-on a couple times. That can have the wood thrown up into your face or worse !!
So, you see why payback is not my concern. Protection and longevity of items and mind are my priorities. I am even thinking about selling out and use that money to travel before I check out. At 72 years old, that can happen at any time.
I will gladly entertain ANYONES ideas on alternative ways to live a simple life with modest items. We grow most of our food and taxes are not an issue. Phone and power is where my money goes.