Off the Grid

Going off the Grid is a choice of survivalists or remote homesteaders, but what if it were not a choice? Electricity can be generated from a Wind or Water mill, or Solar Panels, or even charging a battery by churning a bike. The Troubled Times nonprofit explored these issues in dept a decade ago, and the wisdom they hold then still apply.


The grid may be destroyed and petrol products quickly consumed by generators and vehicles, and then these too will be idle. What to do for electricity? Windmills can be constructed from trash such as from lawn mower parts.or a ground based Nebraska windmill.



A ground based Nebraska windmill is easy to maintain as one does not have to climb a pole. The Nebraska windmill is set to catch the prevailing winds and can be easily shuttered for protection during storms.


William Kamkwamba. a 14 year old boy in Africa, demonstrated that he could build a windmill from scrap to irrigate the gardens in his village. If this 14 year old boy can build a windmill from junk parts, so can you.

Malawi Windmill Boy with Big Fans
October 1, 2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8257153.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8257153.stm

The teenager had a dream of bringing electricity and running water to his village. When not helping his family farm maize, he plugged away at his prototype, working by the light of a paraffin lamp in the evenings. Neighbours were further perplexed at the youngster spending so much time scouring rubbish. Mr Kamkwamba knocked together a turbine from spare bicycle parts, a tractor fan blade and an old shock absorber, and fashioned blades from plastic pipes, flattened by being held over a fire. Out went the paraffin lanterns and in came light bulbs and a circuit breaker, made from nails and magnets off an old stereo speaker, and a light switch cobbled together from bicycle spokes and flip-flop rubber.  Then he built a new windmill, dubbed the Green Machine, which turned a water pump to irrigate his family's field.

Water wheels can be large or small. One can even be constructed to twirl during a rain storm if set within a drain pipe. Large hydroelectric generators are set within dams. Where the slope of a hill is significant, a High Head setup can take advantage of the automatic force of the water.  Ram Pumps can convert the force of water flowing downstream to push water uphill.


If you live in a hilly area where there are small streams, you can develop a very adequate power system with very little flow. This is called a High Head System and it involves as little as a 50 foot drop with only a one gallon per second flow to yield an average power of a steady 300 watts. This is enough power to drive your lights and other small appliances. With a battery support, or flywheel or spring support, you'll be able to develop a really adequate power system for almost no money and at very little expense. You want to use the batteries to store power during the period of little use from 10 PM to 6 AM. You can vary the output by the diameter of the pipe, the length of the pipe, and the amount of water you can get into the pipe. It relies on a large vertical drop rather than a large volume of water. Thus a power plant near a small stream waterfall, or a contrived water fall.

Hydraulic Ram Pumps are a class of water pumps that use the inertia of water to pump water to say 10 times the height that water falls. No power source needed. For example let us say we capture a water head pressure of 140 ft into an automatic running Hydraulic ram pump. This might pump 1/12 the volume that enters the pump up the side of a hill to about 1400 ft to a holding tank above where your site is. This would run 24 hrs/day for free. Any excess water you don't use can be converted to electricity. With prevalent rain after the pole shift one could divert water to your holding tank from further up the hill. Once the rains stop or slow down, implement the Hydraulic Ram Pump. The process can be implemented at relatively low cost. The items don't take up much space. They are simple construction and easy to repair. The concept of a hydraulic water mill can be demonstrated.

Water wheel construction: One soon will get tired of hand cranking and will want to find a better way. In the near continuous raining condition as is predicted after a pole shift, water flow in uneven land conditions creates some interesting opportunities. Even small areas collecting water will create a significant amount of run off water flow. All one need do is position a portable constructed paddle wheel where there is as small as 1 to 1.5 foot water flow drop at a rate of at least about 20 gallons/min and use two cordless drills wired in series as generators. 12 small plastic containers and several 5 gallon bucket lids can be used to create a water wheel. Stack one plastic container on top and nested in the lower one. Drill in a hole in the middle of one of the longer sides. Use a #8-32 by .5" long machine screw and nut to fasten them together.

The containers are positioned so the overlap is just barely enough to bolt them together. Use one container of a different color to aid counting revolutions in a given stop watch timed run to determine RPM. One can measure the time it takes for say 20 revolutions to determine RPM. I used 12 containers (Good Buy Mini Container distributed by PTS long Beach Ca) and two 5 gallon bucket lids. These were purchased at a $.99 store for 3/$.99. Once all 12 are bolted together on the back side then unbolt the bottom container and place it on top, drilling and bolting it in. Now take a disk sander and sand off the lips on the sides that will be bolted to the bucket lid. This makes it so one has a fl

Mark and drill holes in one lid then use this lid as a guide to drill the holes in the other lid. Add a ring of "silicon-I" sealer and centered the now circular ring of plastic containers and drill-bolt the buckets to the lid. Cut a 4.75" long .5" diameter aluminum or copper tubing put 3/8" washers at each end and glue with silicone sealer. I used a threaded rod and a couple of nuts to hold it until the silicone sealer set up. Use this pipe as a spacer between the lids in the center when assembling the last side. One water wheel weight is about 3 lbs two is about 5 lbs. Caution: the 3/8"shaft will bend if nuts are tighten against a pipe that has a non-square end. Use a pipe cutter and get a square end.

The threaded shaft sticks out about 4.5" on each side. Use in this order a garden hose rubber washer, finder washer, normal washer, lock washer and two nuts locked together to hold the shaft from slipping on the 5 gallon plastic lid. To keep the water form over time getting to and rusting the drill chuck (spray with oil at assembly time) of the drill take a small square shaped plastic container and drill a hole in the bottom and pie shape cut the lid. Bend some (3 in my case) of the pies up and all the rest down. Drill a small drain hole at the lowest corner so that if any water leaks in, it will drain out. The pie tabs will be taped to the drill to hold it in place.

A bike generator can likewise be made from a discarded bike. All one needs is an alternator, which can be found in any car and many appliances such as lawn mowers.



The Troubled Times nonprofit explored battery maintenance and this wisdom is still pertinent today.



To prepare for the time when rebuilding from junk might be necessary, gather some of these inexpensive items available now at stores. Collect clean rain water using gutter pieces. Tack screen in place to keep the mosquitoes out. Gather hand tools, which can be purchased off the Internet ahead of time and secure some camping equipment too.


Another piece of junk that might prove to be immensely important when all your light bulbs burn out. Yes LED bulbs last longer, but eventually you might be producing electricity but unable to have light. The answer is Carbon Arc lamps, used in the past to turn the streets of London as bright as day. A Carbon Arc is created when direct current is forced to jump from one piece of carbon to another. Pencil leds are Carbon/Graphite, and work as the Carbon points. Discarded battery cores are also Carbon, and are found in the trash.

Accomplished junkmen are sometimes depicted in the movies, for instance in the movie Waterworld, where the group seeking “dry land” takes off in an air balloon composed, no doubt, from shark and whale skins stitched together or from whatever has been dredged up from the bottom of the ocean. Houseboat living is featured, with container gardening and fishing and distillation of drinking water. Houseboat communities are also featured, surviving on methane gas. All from junk.