Easterdown off grid is going ahead!

[biff]

Mart.You are absolutly correct,
                           Rogerico is the very man.His daughter is now at school in the UK and He will be looking for work if he has not already got fixed up.
  I am kicking myself that I did not think of before.
    Vicky, Roger is one of our most respected members who would be among the leading lights in off-grid installations.He has built and installed some of the most beautifull off grid installations i have even seen pics off and still takes time to help anyone with a question to ask.
     So  quick PM to him should get a reply,
        Roger would be an extremely helpfull chap and very clued up. He has no connection to Navitron apart from helping us with problems and showing us his latest installations.I just hope he can find his feet in the UK.
                                                    Biff

[V]

PM Sent!

Vickie

[V]

NEWS FLASH!!

Via a PM from this forum I have just been told that it is possible/likely that my nearest neighbour may be bringing a grid connection close to our location. The decision may be taken next month. But it is unlikely that this could happen by the time we need to move into Phase 1. And some kind of storage/self sufficiency makes sense given Easterdown's remote location.

Does this call into  question the size of battery bank we might need going forward? (not my 'mean gene' kicking in again, I hope!).

Does the possibility of a grid connection in the next year change whether to go with Sunny Island or Outback or ??

Vickie

[clivejo]

wow, I wish someone would PM me and tell me they are bringing broadband to my area 

If I was you I would still plan on being offgrid and purchase an inverter capable of grid-tieing (most are).   Even if it is near you, it will still be very expensive to get a new connection.  This way if you did decide to get connected to the grid you would only have to rely on it as a backup and to stop your batteries getting worked as much.  You could then sell excess power back to the grid.

[todthedog]

What ho Vicky, been following this thread with great interest.
Completely off topic what sort of cheese do you make.

[V]

What Ho, Mr Dog, I make a newly invented cheese see here:

http://www.vickiescheese.com/

It is a rind washed cheese made using British Truffles, supplied by the amazing Marion Dean trains dogs to find truffles in Somerset. http://www.trufflehuntersdogschool.com/

It is unusual because all other truffle cheeses add the truffles after the cheese has been made. This is because truffles contain an enzyme that will 'gel' the milk and won't work properly with standard recipes using rennet. Because Marion is my friend I had lots of truffle bits to experiment with so I decided to see if I could get this alternative curd making effect to work consistently. The result is very successful, (I sell my cheese to Fortnum and Mason!) and I've now caught the bug to try and invent other cheeses that use plants and/or mushrooms as alternatives to rennet.

If I was you I would still plan on being offgrid and purchase an inverter capable of grid-tieing (most are).   Even if it is near you, it will still be very expensive to get a new connection.  This way if you did decide to get connected to the grid you would only have to rely on it as a backup and to stop your batteries getting worked as much.  You could then sell excess power back to the grid.

You're right, I think this is the way I should go. Just looking at forklift battery sites right now. Trying to understand what OPz and ...Pz means.

[Greenbeast]

The result is very successful, (I sell my cheese to Fortnum and Mason!) and I've now caught the bug to try and invent other cheeses that use plants and/or mushrooms as alternatives to rennet.

Nice one, really good to hear

[todthedog]

Vicky, Looks yummy, a bit short of truffles here, but mushrooms aplenty but not really suitable as cheese additives.
Mrs T makes cheese, but just simple hard cheese or hard blue. Matured from 3 months+
Nice to hear of others who do make it, ours is just for home consumption.
Will go now and let everyone get back on topic

[chasfromnorfolk]

Alternative cheese / renewable energy... now you're talking. Order on its way.

Chas

[billi]

 Nice cheese Vicky ......,  but do not mix it with those  

Trying to understand what OPz and ...Pz means.

 

As far as i know the "O"  of the PzS Cells  stands for "Ortsfest" that is German for "Stationary "  so basically similar to PzS , that have a smaller housing  and lesser electrolyte  for mobile(traction) applications like forklifts (to save space) i guess its also German were the Name comes from PzS "Zellen mit positiven Panzerplatten " ... but not sure ....

Nowadays  many manufacturer  supply  now so called SPzS cells ( i mentioned a supplier  here before ) that are bigger  with more electrolyte as well but not as fancy as the shiny OpzS  , with similar or same characteristics

..... i bring my Bavarian beer , then we translate this PDF file  
http://www.akkusolar-notstromtechnik.de/data/files/SPzS%20AT.pdf

I as well,  suggest to stick to PV and off grid  , ok if its easy to get a powerline than still think about PV and a smaller battery ,

The cycle graph out of this file here

Regards Billi



 

[V]

es war einmal ich studierte an (in?) Berlin, Just 6 months, but my german never got good enough to translate that!

Thanks for all of the lovely compliments on my cheese, the truffles are very hard to get reliably, so I'm trying a Porcini,  a Morel and a Ginger at the moment. I could ask for Navitron Forum Guinea Pigs.... Where I used to live I had a group of tasters/reviewers who I referred to as my 'Cheese Board'.

I've been told that the grid connection on the Brendon Hills is fairly flakey, especially in winter, so having PV and self storage is sensible anyway. If the grid comes to me in a years time, it means I don't have to worry so much if I need to grow my cheesemaking.

Full Steam Ahead!

[todthedog]

Chilli cheese?

[V]

Will have to do a test to see if they have proteolytic enzymes. Haven't seen them mentioned in any of my reading. I'm thinking of combining, like fig and ginger, both of which gel milk. Ginger and chilli cheese, nearly a Curry!

Or were you referring to temperature?  First thoughts on Billi's recent post is that one of the charts in the linked document doesn't go below 10 degrees C. I can build insulation around the batteries, but will I need to have some heat nearby?

[Alba]

Hi V

I've been off grid for just over a year now. I installed PV, Outback charger, controller (flexmax) and Rolls batts. I have no electrical or engineering background so I needed a system that was as "plug and play" as possible. I'm sure other brands are as good or better than Outback and Rolls but I'll give you my take on what I have installed and what I've learned in the last year....
Install as much PV as you can 15 panels (3.5kw) each on both East/West slopes sounds good. You'll have a good steady production the whole day.
The Outback system is very user friendly and when you use the HUB and MATE, all components can communicate with each other and all programming(well almost all) can be done via the MATE which can be flush mounted in your living room wall if you want while all other components can be housed in a small room in/next to the shed.
Outback is very robust, so no need to have the equipment in a heated room. If you build an insulated (5 - 10cm)box for the batts they will be warm enough through charging and discharging cycles. This is only needed in winter and even then I wouldn't want them higher than 20c. Heat is worse than cold for batteries.
Plenty of good deep cycle batts on the market but I have hydro caps on mine which saves a ton of time and water not having to top up the batts so often.
A very easy system for a beginner,  quick to install,  easy to add on more charger/inverter/controllers at a later date, can be grid tied if you get a connection at a later date.
If you plan to have a generator for a long time,  maybe instead of grid tie, then a good strong Lister is the way to go.
Keep it simple, buy the best and have years of hassle free power (and CHEESE  ) production

Ali
 

[billi]

Nice/good post  Alba .... thanks