Well gang... As of 3:07pm yesterday we lost power to a tree that fell throught the power and phone lines. It remained out for over 14 hours. But also brought forward the fact I need to do some maintenance on my power plant. The batteries are nearly wiped out They would barely hold up for about 1-2 hours with just a few small appliances running. Then after that going out and fighting with the gasoline generator to get it started... :banghead: But all in all we had power till about 9pm and I shut down the genrator. The pelton wheel could hold a refridgerator and freeze for the night. So I need to look into new batteries for the system...

Hey Mike, if you want some really interesting ideas about off grid power with respect to what worked well and what didn't, here is a link to a post of a couple here in TN that went off grid. In addition to all of the building, landscaping, well, and other issues, they had a picture loaded large number of posts on their electric power set up. It is kind of a long read but their is a wealth of info. in the entire thread. I have it book marked. http://www.city-data.com/forum/tennessee/359683-going-off-grid-east-tennessee.html I wish I had half the skill and imagination this couple has. Mike and Lisa were just amazing in how they were able to pull this off and end up with such a beautiful place. I figured, this thread might help you out with some ideas.

took a couple of weeks, but i finally finished that read...wow it came a long way.mopar1973man, what kind of batteries do you use in your system. the cable company i work for uses both battery backup and natural gas generators in OKC, and battery backup only in Tulsa. we only use AGM batteries(in both markets). i don't think i ever remember seeing batteries that were over 10yrs in any "cabinets" that i have worked in. when you do replace your batteries, call around to scrap yards and find out who will give you the most for them. most people pay someone for disposal, but we always get paid. often its only 2-3 bucks a battery(i have seen as high as $6), but when you have pallet loads of em. it can be worth your time.

The batteries I just bought where $2,800 bucks for the system. This included freight and disposal of the old batteries. These are Trojan lead acid batteries and will have a life of about 12-14 years. http://www.trojanbattery.com/Products/L16RE-B6V.aspx http://www.trojanbattery.com/Products/RenewableEnergy.aspx Typical battery maintenance... http://www.trojanbattery.com/BatteryMaintenance/Charging.aspx