Off the Grid

Off the Grid
Badou, Togo West Africa
Friday, May 4, 2007

Off the grid of the electric company, or is this not participating, what if there is no grid.

I think this is the jargon or buzzwords of the solar, hydro-electric, wind and any other ways. I am not off the grid, I am going where there is no grid, or I am slowly trying to go there.

Electrical Grid

I am coming to believe the problem is simple math.

Take the electric bill and figure out my yearly kilowatts of electricity used. Divide that by 365 days, then I have how many kilowatts I use per day.

Go to the world of solar panels and say, I want to produce and store this X amount of solar energy per day, l think the sun shine hard for about 4 hours per day. How much for the solar panels to produce, and how much for the batteries to store, and please include all the other toys needed, like inverters, wires, etc and such.

There are people that just love to do this type of math and answer these questions that work with solar toys.

I have a village in Togo, it has 50 homes, how much does it cost buy the solar panels, and batteries to put two 25 Watt Light bulbs in the home and run all night. The technology exist, this is not difficult science.

I was just in this village of Akloa, there is a Cascade or waterfalls, theu are off the grid or as they say on the,
- Group -

This means they have a group generator, that supplies the one village from 6 at night to morning, this is not reliable information, but I do think they turn on the electricity at night.

I think, hmm, there is no need for electricity here, or they would turn on during the hours when a person work or not work. Sewing machine are those seesaw pedal things, not always electric.

Electricity is a convenience, not a need, unless you need it for work, I suppose I need it for work, to run my computer. I am trying to think of one job here where they use electricity and need it, nothing that I can easily think of, maybe this is a luxury, not a need in life.

I would need electricity to read, still a luxury, and I would want my children to read. I do not see reading materials, they do not read much, not like India, a newspaper everywhere for the cows to eat and the people to read.

Bottom line in the USA, if I could invest 2 years of electricity payments and go off the grid, I would say,
- Do it. -

Math, I think a solar energy person should be able to calculate and it they cannot, seems like the wrong person.

All this work, solar, water, wind, etc is not really the essential problem, the problem is to get the governments of these countries hand out of the pockets of the citizens. Any good idea and the country will put there hands in and want money.

I really appreciate the USA, a government official cannot just walk up and ask me for money, 80 percent of the planet they can and they do.

Off the Grid, Electricity, Water Power Electriicty, Solar, 12 Volt, Togo,

Off the Grid

Goal Togo 10 Days No Electricity

Goal Togo 10 Days No Electricity
Atakpame, Togo West Africa
April 2007

I am making a goal and care package list to be sent from the USA to me by my friend Chris.

GOAL
Live up to 10 days with no electricity.

I can buy 12 Volt Motocycle Batteries easy here in Togo, made in China for about 6 US dollars.

A. Use my Sony Camera with AA Batteries,
12 Batteries would easily do this.

B Use my HP Laptop computer for 40 hour or about 4 hours per day.
I think the top off 12 Volt solar energy thing would do this.

C. 100 Hours of 12 Volt Fan Power and a 8 - 12 inch 12 Volt fan or something like that.

NEED TO BUY

1. Adapter that will allow 12 Volt power to be used to power my Hewlett Packard Laptop Compter.

2. Dozen AA Rechargable Batteries.

3. Solar Charger to charge 10 AA Batteries that also works on both 220 and 110.

4. Wind up Cell Phone Battery Charger. I need maybe to connect to 12 Volt system.

5. Small trickle Solar flat panel to keep 12 volts of lead-acid battery storage topped off

6. 12 Volt Fans

7. Indigo Windup light that runs on 220-110 also.
NOTE!!!!! This is semi-NOT needed as lights is not a problem.

8. LED Light that runs on 12 Volts, I think it would be more efficient and easier than the motocycle lights

Solar, Togo, West Africa Electricity, 12 Volt, GPRS, Cellphone, Computer,

Goal Togo 10 Days No Electricity

6-12 Volt Fan and Lights

6-12 Volt Fan and Lights
Kpalime, Togo West Africa
Friday, April 20, 2007

I want to buy off the shelf products to carry in my backpack; I want to be capable of buying replacement parts, when one piece is lost or broken. Nothing worst than having a favorite piece of gear lost that cannot be replaced while traveling.

I have found on the shelves here in Togo.

1. Batteries to run lights and fan.
- Six Volt Sealed Motorcycle batteries for 5500 CFA or about 11 U.S. Dollars.

2. Charger I think or hope will work.
- I am 90 percent sure I can buy a 8-12 Volt cell phone charger, that works with both 110 and 220 or in a really drastic move, I can splice into the charger I use for my portable phone.

IF I can find…

- A computer fan, or a some 5-15 Volt fan.
- A light that runs on 6 or 12 volts.

I have a 12 Volt one cup coffee cooker.

There is a converter I can purchase in the USA, which will allow me to plug my computer into a cigarette lighter, which in the USA is 12 Volts. I need to place two six-volt batteries in a row to have 12 volts.

I am excited as this would solve many problems, and make my life more pleasant. I wish I could calculate how long my computer would run on two six volt made into a 12 volt system would last. I can purchase 8 hours batteries for my computer, and one cost 150 US dollars and, this set up would cost around 40-50 US and could be fixed or replaces anywhere, with the hope it works of course.

It is easy enough to find electricity every five days or so, and I do have a 12 Volt Solar Battery charger to try to use

Fans, Batteries, 12 Volt, Lights, Electricity, Togo, Batterie Charger, Cellphone,

6-12 Volt Fan and Lights

12 Volt Travel Power

12 Volt Travel Power
Kathmandu, Nepal Asia
February 11, 2007

A feasible solution to not having electricity, as solar charging is not much good without a way to store the electricity, the sun does not shine all night.

Chris the worlds greatest Internet researcher surfer has found an all-in-one solution that is the same as one of my ideas, and taken to finish. It is very hard to think of something that is not already made and sold.

I want to use 12 Volt Electricity Power in my room, Nepal has been a great training country on living without electricity as the country shuts the electricity off from 3 to 10 hours per day, and can be random. Therefore, are you ready, oops, no electricity now.
http://www.hobotraveler.com/2007/02/12-volt-travel-cooking.html

If I am typing on the computer, reading a book, and worst, trying to take a shower, all the world is disrupted on a random basis. The Hot Water here is electricity, they say it is Solar, yet that does not work good, not even close to adequate, so in the night, if the hotel is good, they will turn on the electricity. But some mornings they shut off the electricity at 5:30 til 8, therefore no morning showers because the heater has been off for the time needed before my shower.

To depend on the Hotel or Nepal for Hot shower, is not feasible, they are just not going to supply me with a Hot Shower.

12 Volt Travel Power

iSun BattPak 3-Way Battery Charger with 10 NiMH batteries

This product is cool, one problem. I could not find on page if I can charge with both 110 and 220 electricity. If I cannot do with 220 then not much good, better to continue on my system. On the other hand the cost of 10 rechargeable batteries is close to this, so I could buy it and dump the charger.

I do wish I could just call them and ask.

Solar energy is a great idea, however lets be real, spending 200-300 dollars to buy a charger I use for a few days a year I am without power is way to expensive. Yes, I could go hiking for a 20 day trip, and what I really want electricity for is both my computer and a reading light. Campfire do most of the normal lighting while in the brush or jungle at night.

I do not want to carry everything on the planet, I have a 40 Kilo limit.

If a person or I was in the jungle for 20 days, I would need 40 to 50 hours of battery for my computer, this is a lot of time. The problem with solar is moving, if I live in the same place for 20 days then solar become easy and very feasible, but who would stay in one place for 20 days in the jungle. I suppose I could be living on top of a mountain being the Monk thing, but still, this is probably not going to happen.

I tend to think if I was living on top of a mountain I would go for hydro power, or make a small dam, and get a couple of car alternators and charge my 12 Volt System... hehehe, just like the one here. Water flowing down a hill seems more reliable now, and I truly do believe I could make a few or many hydro chargers with parts from any junk yard in any country on the planet.

But, back to the problem, I need to store the electricity, then for me, I need to carry the batteries. Motorcycle and Car Batteries do me no good, I cannot run my Sony Camera on a Car Battery. I need AA batteries, I only buy things with AA batteries, this seems to be the best size.

The Truckers and Recreational Vehicle people are doing all the research and if I can convert my non electricity time to 12 Volt, I can I think easy handle a random 5 t0 10 days of no electricity. The problem with electricity is not a planned trip to the jungle, the problem is as here in Nepal, when they just randomly shut the electricity off for 3 days. It is the bigger problem, I have been places where they shut the electricity off for a week.

I was in Mexico and because of the corruption, the government punished the people and ME, by shutting the juice off for the week of Christmas.

No warning, no idea what is going on, there just was no electricity.

Travel is not so much planning to deal with a trip, it is planning to deal with the problems you did not plan on having.

12 Volt Travel Power

Water Pasteurization

Water Pasteurization
Pokjara, Nepal Asia
February 6, 2007

I learned a term form the FOST Solar guy in Kathmandu, Nepa, the term is Water Pasteurization, and the idea is to boil water until it safe.

I knew this, just did not know the term of the day, however with this device and my 12 Volt cooky thingy, I could also so this, in addition to cooking peas, corn, or hot water for coffee and tea.



12-Volt Beverage Heater Immersible

I am very excited, I am stopping at home to visit, I can buy many toys! The USA is just a convenient place.

Water Pasteurization

12 Volt Travel Cooking

12 Volt Travel Cooking
Pokjara, Nepal Asia
February 6, 2007

I am going to try to augment my list of ways to cook.

1. Alcohol
2. Candles
3. Normal 220 or 110

Now, I am going to add 12 Volt, I HOPE.



I have purchased a 10 pack for AA Batteries, or more correctly three of them. I only need one, but I may like them, so need more. I am hoping, with my calculations and understanding this will generate between 14 and 10 volts according to the charge level.

A person can buy anything from a small forced air heater, to a microwave. The reason is because of the RV or Recreational Vehicle market and the Marine or Boat industry.

I have to carry about 14 AA Batteries to run my cameras, GPS and other toys, I will only buy an electronic toy if it uses the AA Batteries. I have charger and you can buy all these batteries and apparatuses in most tourist zones.

The 12 Volt Appliances can be purchased at any truck stop, however if you search for 12 Volt Appliances in Google.com, there is an amazing amounts of pages of them.

Examples:
Roadtrucker.com
12 Volt Fry Pan

Nonetheless, I can use a little spoon type cooker to heat bean, hot water for instant coffee, corn, or many other appliances. They also sell the room heater, for the cabs of Semi-Trucks, that could heat my room.

I figure, I can buy a 220 to 12 Volt Transformer and somehow rig it up to work.

Another idea is for me to hook up a bicycle to a car generator, and pedal my way to electricity.

12 Volt Travel Cooking