The more I learn about modern survival and being prepared for SHTF (which is one of the reasons I want to live off-grid), the more interesting concepts I undertand. Not being english native for some time I didn’t get the difference between self-sufficiency and self-reliance. It took me some time, and now it’s clear.

You measure self-sufficiency in percent, while self-reliance is measured in hours or days.

If you’re 100% self-sufficient in terms of electrical power, it means that you can produce all the power you need, all the time. In such a case, your off-grid energy source is able to produce enough power for all your appliances, day and night, during winter and summer. (more…)

For those of you who read my blog for a while it won’t be a surprise when I write that I own a Volkswagen Vanagon Camper (RV) and spend some time camping in it each summer.

This year I had my first fully off-grid holiday. Last year I connected the camper to the mains on the campsites I wisited, while this year I didn’t and relied entirely on energy captured by my solar photovoltaic panels and stored in my two gel batteries.

The batteries have total capacity of around 80 Ah (ampere-hours) which is roughly 900 kWh (kilowatt-hours). That’s more than enough for my laptop computer, some chargers, water pump. Even lighting in my camper (two fluorescent bulbs) would get enough power if I finally connected them to the camping batteries (at the moment they suck power from the starter battery). (more…)

If you want power your off-grid home by yourself, you need to look at this idea on three levels:

• producing the energy in any source,
• reducing the energy use,
• storing it for future when supply exceeds demand.

There are only two ways to deal with this problem with one simple solution. But none of them is a good one. (more…)