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Wireless Internet In An Off-Grid House
matt20 writes "This is an interesting article of a family living off-grid using solar panels. In such a setting, every watt adds up. The typical home computer and monitor use almost 150 watts. What is the best computer arrangement in such a setting? Here is what worked best for them. Anyone know what percent of our national power is used on computers? Should we be thinking wireless on laptops?" Even on-grid, this article raises some good points about power consumption and convenience.
nuclear power only SEEMS cheaper. The companies that own the plants can make big profits only because they do not have to pay any of the massive insurrance costs that should go with nuclear power. Our government foots this bill but not directly.. they simply provide the insurance themselves thus buttfucking we the taxpayer if there ever is a major nuclear accident in the USA.
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WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
You better make sure you're not powering the grid unbeknownst to the power company. Linemen really hate getting zapped when they think the line is dead.
I think the problem with current solar cells is they are hard to produce and less than efficient.
I had a dream the other day about algea that could convert solar energy into electrical energy. I envisioned giant ponds of green murky water with evenly spaced rods to collect the electricity the little buggers give off.
It's probably just a pipe dream, but considering our current biotech and genetic technology, is electricity producing algea possible? I mean we already have algea (or was it bacteria?) that live off of sulpher given off by thermal stacks deep below our oceans.
Consider this...
You can see the crystals on a solar panel with the naked eye. Very large, sort of wasteful. Can you see a single celled organism with the naked eye? Theoretically you could pack a whole lot more algea into a square inch that you could solar crystals.
This is just a question, it's been buggin me for the last few weeks, and if anyone has an answer please share.
--toq
> It's the law. The utility has to buy power back from you.
Yes, but then you can run into local troubles with insurance, your town suddenly considering you to be a small utility company, and taxing you accordingly, etc.
My brother's got a reasonable solar setup on his house (Montrose, northwest L.A. area), but decided against the selling-back route due to the hassles/costs related to it. He's still happy with it, but would've preferred to be able to sell power back w/o incurring those other costs.
Linksys PCMCIA 10/100 ethernet card
Power:
5V 260mA, 60mA sleep mode
3V 180mA, 30mA sleep mode
Linksys PCMCIA 802.11b wireless card
Power:
5V or 3.3V
275mA TX, 225mA RX, 20mA standby
Or to put it simply, when operating, the wireless card operates at up to double the power requirements of the wired interface, while giving a maximum of 1/10th the speed. (That's a very optimistic maximum, as well.) There are a few added power drains for wired networks, such as powered hubs and switches, but I'd have to go with the wired net, every time.
>My computer (which caused a 300watt power supply to fail) Somewhere between 300 and 465 watts
I think that you will find your PC rarely uses peak power. When a PC POSTs it will use peak power. If you happen to be using all the devices and have the CPU at 99% you may be sitting near 300 watts. Most of the time, It will be about 150 watts.
>Speakers, 100 watts
Here I think you have some confusion about power sent to the speakers and power as it comes out of the wall. If your speaker system has an AC to DC converter like mine, you can read the wattage rating off that. The "100 watts x 4 channels" is refering to audio power at peak. I think the draw from the wall socket would be much lower. Maybe an audiophile can back me up/discount me on this.
I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
so he tests the line and it's dead. 5 minutes later the homeowner starts producing excess power and feeds it back into the grid. Bang!
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour Isaiah 3:5
Coolness factors, nifty things, and enjoyment, are what life is for. They are the whole reason that the financial bottom line matters at all: so that you will have money for spending on geeky things.
Solar panels are romantic.
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