Are you ready to take positive real steps towards that dreamed of, move off grid? This weekend plan will result in concrete action that moves you forward in your plans, and provides some real numbers and experience for your future off grid power system! Your weekend will be used to collect power data, and to take actions to move forward.
The whole idea behind the Move-Power weekend is to actually live with your simulated off grid power system. We will only run items that we expect to use when we are off grid this weekend. You will arrange the power to all the appliances to go through one or more kill-a-watt meters to collect the power data. You will as best possible try to simulate your daily activities off grid and much as possible. The second part is less simulation and more action, during these days where you don’t use power, we take positive steps towards your move.
You will need some realistic numbers and experience to have a feel for what powered items will fit in your power budget, and future power system budget. So here’s a simple plan to get some experience without a large expense.
Power simulation
1) Make a list of items you have and would use normally in you off grid power system. From that list select the items you actually have and can use now. For example, stereo, Compact Florescent lighting, or cooking appliances like a crock pot or electric grill.
2) Purchase a quality power strip and a Kill-A-Watt meter. You will need a supply of various extension cords, and some may need to be heavy duty extensions for a larger appliance like a refrigerator or cooking appliances.
3) Select a centrally located wall plug, and plug in your Kill-a-Watt meter with the power strip plugged into it. Now arrange the other extension cords to plug into the power strip and power your devices for the weekend. If necessary this system can be scaled up to run from multiple locations by using more kill-a-watt meters and power strips. Always check the ratings of your extension cords to match the loads you use them for! This may look a little messy for the weekend with the cords all over, but it should not be unsafe!
4) You’re now ready to start the Move-Power weekend. Once you start by plugging in the meters, do not remove them until you have recorded the data from each one.
5) Start your power simulation. Attempt to operate items as you anticipate you might when operating your off grid power system. Run a few lights at night, read, or TV. Use some of your cooking appliances to cook your meals. During the day, your assignment is real action towards your goal.
Real Action
Okay, collecting power data is one thing, now its time for some real action that will move you forward. You started the power simulation? Great! That is some positive action to build upon. Now lets talk about a few more concrete actions you might take during the daytime.
- Not enough money saved to consider the move? Simplify your lifestyle. How much time and money do you spend on stuff that doesn’t move you forward in your goals? What about all that suff in your garage or in storage? What can be sold? What is really necessary? Downsize and de-clutter your life. Think garage sale, ebay and craigslist to sell things you don’t need.
- Planning:
- Where: Research good locations to move. Questions to answer are; Do I want to move and keep the same income producing work? Or, is an entire change to another state being considered? Research the Internet, make phone calls about possible properties.
- Some folks love financial planning and spreadsheets, while others may not be so fond of them. Either way, planning and “counting the cost” is a crucial element to your project.
- Learning:
- There is a large trade off between money and skills. The more useful skills you have to create and build your off grid life with, the less you spend on others for help!
- Learn more about small motors, or brush up on some welding skills. Take a class at at the community college or take on line courses where helpful. Just get started on new skills today!
When you’re done with your off grid Move Power weekend, you should walk away with more clarity about your goals, You will have some real experience and numbers to work with on your Power Budget. You will have more experience with the power side of things, and have started or continued refining plans and new skills necessary to achieve your goals!
What do you think? Was this power simulation a helpful idea? What additional elements would you suggest to this weekend project? Tell us more in the comment section below!
Related posts:
To Marshall & Jackie,
I do like the way you folk are going forward with your advice to others, quite sound and by asking the people
who are genuinely interested to help them
selves, to assess their electricity needs is the basis for a good start, and it has now stirred me into action to find measuring gear to cover my 240 volt supply out here in
Tasmania, Australia…Accurate load figures are essential before any serious design work
can be done…Out here I checked the records for 2 years back for UV shined on us and the
wind supplies, both are very good here in this area for me to gain from…First up I just simply added up my thoughts for my power needs, but I’ll now try to be near perfect with my figures, I do know in advance what I’ll possibly need, hence me building up a wind generator of 2.6k output..
We often get wind all day and night of
decent useable strength, 14 MPH, sometimes for days, that power source combined with the 8 solar cells with keep my batteries full and I liked greatly the remark by Marshall about not looking for cheap near
worn out batteries, in my mind it is far better to buy a couple of new heavy duty truck batteries, use them while you save for some Deep Cycle units as replacements, many
people will howl me down possibly for saying that, but it does get reliable working faster
and some breathing time while a person saves
for more superior Batts, and I live on the old age pension now days so I look at all costs carefully…I am so pleased I found this site, and seeing the applied common
sense being printed, ‘Nuff Said…
Thank you,
David Ponsonby…
Thanks David. I looked, and the folks who make the kill-a-watt don’t have a 230Vac version. I searched Amazon briefly with no luck. I’m certain something similar does exist, please let me know what you find, so I can update my posts.
One useful parameter to consider is peak surge loads in addition to overall average consumption. Knowing ‘free power’ periods are sometimes available will lead most people to become over optimistic in their planned used of this free power regardless of the actual numbers for any given genverter system. It doesn’t matter if the system uses a 2 kW generator or a 25kW generator. I have encounters customers who will always try to push the envelope.
@David Ponsonby.
I recently came across an Australian company selling Nickel Iron batterie.(NiFe) This is old technology but given the nearly indestructable nature of the batteries plus the fact theplates do not w4ear out only needing new electrolyte to renew the batteries and their ability to stand up to repeated deep discharge cycling they are cost competitve with lead acid and far more durable. Look up
Ironcore Power.com for more details.
The general search string “power use monitor” produced a number of hits like http://www.powercostmonitor.com and http://www.powermeterstore.com
However be aware that Google has refined their search engine to filter results based on origin of inquiry. So a North American based query will not necessarily show hits from Australia and vice versa. This has been an ongoing problem for me when looking for equipment sourcing in other continents on behalf of clients having boats built overseas.
Addendum. Look to industrial units if you want to read higher than 120V or multiple phases or split phase as with a 120/240V genset output. Most of these units come with separate current transformers and look more complicated but really are not.
Awesome things here. I’m very happy to see your article. Thank you so much and I’m looking
forward to touch you. Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?
Pure Leverage´s last [type] ..Pure Leverage