Thunderstorms at the beginning of the year prompted a desire to have a back-up inverter
12. January 2020
Power Problems - When Thunderstorms Strike
12. January 2020. Off-grid power
An off-grid life means taking responsibility when things go wrong
18. August 2018
Off-grid - making do and mending
18. August 2018. Off-grid power
A bit of resourcefulness and "it'll-come-in-handy-some-day" hoarding saves the day
13. July 2016
A new battery bank for our off-grid power supply
13. July 2016. Off-grid power
The final piece of the recent power revamp
17. April 2015
Off-grid power update - phase 2 - solar power
17. April 2015. Off-grid power
In spite of being so far north, we get a lot of power from the sun... except in winter
7. April 2015
Off-grid power update - phase 1 - the wind turbine
7. April 2015. Off-grid power
The cost of a mains power connection makes continuing to live off-grid attractive
27. February 2014
Our off-grid power supply
27. February 2014. Off-grid power
When we first saw what would become our home here in the north west Highlands, one of the attractions was that electricity had never been delivered to the house. It is on mains water, probably a result of the 1950s large-scale connections that were made in the Highlands, or maybe earlier, judging […]
26. February 2014
An update to "Linux services without mains power"
26. February 2014. Off-grid power
Some years ago, I wrote a piece for Alastair Otter's much-missed Tectonic online magazine dealing with Free and Open source technology about how we run a full linux-based office server environment on 20w of power. That article is archived here. The response to the article was gratifying, but while […]
Controlling a runaway wind generator
26. February 2014. Off-grid power
I have an ambivalent relationship with the Futurenergy 1000 wind turbine that supplies most of our home's power. Twice in 5 years we have had to replace the turbine after it burnt out in high winds. On both occasions, Futurenergy were very helpful and even generous in the way they handled the […]
