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Listening off grid with batteries

Finished the design phase for my new home which will be in a remote off grid location. The design and modeling process has taken over a year. Absolutely amazing what can be done by a talented architect, computer modeling, shading,virtual tour etc. Now it's down to the music room details before we start.

Electric Power will come from solar and micro hydro. Gen set for back up, but only as a last resort.
Does anyone here on Agon have any first hand experience with this kind of set up.
Thinking of a split electrical system where one grid is for the hifi and the other is for the home. Some say it's a waste of time and money but I want to get it right the first time.
Is this necessary when using a solar set up ?
Building homes for 25 years but this will be my first off grid home.
rugyboogie
rugyboogie OP
199 posts
 
Hi T bone
In order to get to my building site I need to cross the creek.
My creek runs trough a 36 steel pipe which we have tried to measure the flow.
Fills a 5 gallon bucket in less than .5 of a second. The water fall projects past the end of the pipe approximately 2' .
If I build a 14 ' penstock the fall would be close to 25 feet. Could install four micro power turbines that would get me 4-5 Kilowatt.

Peter s
Great idea of asking for a special DC version pre amp and amp.
My pre runs on batteries and so can the Verdier.
Will contact the company that is making my new amp to see if a switch foe ac/dc can be incorporated.
We are in the Pac West as well, just a little north from you, in BC, CANADA.
The island that we are on is in the Howe Sound, Gambier Island.

Ngjockey
Thanks for your insight.
The inverter and regulator will be located in the mechanical room along with a remote monitoring station. I have heard that they can be noisy and that they will generate some heat as well.
Xantrex is what seems to be popular up here. Will get this info to my sparky and will do as much research on this subject.

Have emailed Twl.

Thanks to all for the help,
simply_q
124 posts
 

Check out Red Wine Audio
t_bone
1,182 posts
 
Rugyboogie,
Thanks for the details. I wouldn't figured that much usable power was available from that little flow but I need to learn more. If you can get that much, it certainly makes life easier. One of my interests is learning more about energy storage - i.e. energy transformation to the most efficient and flexible "battery" possible, whether physical or not (with hydro, usually the physical battery is a dam), and how to do so with the lowest monetary and energy cost to create the battery (it makes little sense to build a "green system" if building the green system costs so much excess energy beyond existing usage that it is difficult to "break even" on an energy basis. But that's me doing some philosophical navel-gazing...

There is an interesting site called Wattzon.com and it has a bunch of interesting tools which can help people learn about their own electricity consumption and energy consumption, and an especially interesting introductory article called the devil is in the details.

Best of luck in a successful implementation. Please share your results when you are done!
peter_s
1,348 posts
 
Rugyboogie - I'll have to keep my ears open next time I get up that way kayaking! Maybe I'll be able to hear your system from the water! I've not been up in your parts exactly, but nearby off of Vancouver Island. Looks beautiful up there.
bjesien
1,316 posts
 
What are the spec's of your inverter and do you have any battery backup? Having two "grids" makes no sense. The inverter makes two grids one.
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