Welcome to Solar Power Simplified!

This site has been designed as your simple one-stop site for your alternative energy solutions or off grid living.
Please Bookmark Us  now. You will want to come back often. We have resources for learning, calculating and purchasing just about anything related to solar power, wind power, hydro power, hydrogen power, bio diesel equipment, pumps, solar batteries, solar hot water heaters, chargers, power inverters and books.
Our goal is to make Solar Power Simplified!

As soon you enter our site, the Earth4Energy DIY System will appear in the main window. (This is the program I got started with and still use.) This program is a wealth of information and knowledge. Be sure to check out the entire program before you move on to our menu at the top of the page. Our menu is self explanatory. Just click on any link to go there. On the left side of all pages, some great resources appear and new ones are continually rotating out, so if you see something that interest you, go ahead and click on it, it may not be there when you come back. At the bottom of this page we have some great resources for calculating your alternative energy needs.

How I Got Started With Alternative Energy

As environmental issues become far more of an every day topic there are more and more people who want to do something to make a difference. I was concerned at the lack of action by the government and wanted to start making my own impact on reducing global warming and one of the best ways was to consider switching to solar energy.

When you stop and think about the impact that pretty much all our power stations have on the planet you can see just how much of a difference it would make if we all switched over to using solar panels to produce our energy instead. Not to mention the rising cost of electricity.

The thing I find when the topic of installing solar panels crops up in a conversation is that many people think that they are expensive to fit and difficult to do. The truth is that they can be very inexpensive if you are prepared to build them yourself. You can get started for less than a couple of hundred bucks in fact. With the three step process below, you don't have to be an electrician or a rocket scientists to build a great reliable system. This is truly Solar Power Simplified.

They are simple to construct providing you have a good set of guidelines to follow and if you have even modest skills with a toolkit you can get going in just a couple of days. The job would make a really great weekend project for the average handyman, or woman, who enjoys DIY. It is really a fun and rewarding project.

I purchased the best set of blueprints that comes with a comprehensive manual and accompanying videos that have been tested on non-techies (like me) to ensure that they work for the layman. They also have a list of the things you will need, and actually tell you were to find them, including the high quality deep cycle batteries. These would normally set you back around six hundred dollars each but the manual tells you where to get them free of charge. You can get it all here.

I started small with the intentions of adding on as I had the time and money. I initially built a system that would run a small freezer, small refrigerator, electric blanket and run my water pump to fill my tank twice a day if I needed it to. It will also accommodate my lighting needs.

I live in the mountains in New Mexico and the power goes off for a few hours almost every time we have a thunder storm. No problem any more! I will be off of the grid totally in a few months. Its been simple and fun!

I have (3) 200w panels that put out about 35~40 amps in full sun.

Inside the attic where the roof is painted black, I enclosed and insulated the area to create a "hot box". I cut holes in the inside ceiling and installed vent registers with small blowers to heat the house from the hot air now trapped in the attic area. Works great! Free heat!

With (4) 16' 4x4's and (4) 8' 2x4's and a few extra scrap 2x4's you can make a great windmill / water heater tower.

I painted an old water heater tank black (40 gal) and plumbed it in to feed my actual water heater. The sun heats the tank and produces about 105 degree water to my water heater which I have set at 125 degrees. That means my water heater only has to heat my solar pre-heated water 20 degrees instead of heating my well water (which is about 50 degrees) 75 degrees. Really has saved on my propane and is very simple to do.

Due to the winters here I can only use my solar pre-hot water system about 8 months out of the year. If you plumb it right, just valve it off and drain your tank for the winter.

On top of the tower I have a small wind generator to help charge my batteries on windy days. The 16' tower and 4' mount on the wind generator put my blades at about 20' high, which is a great height.

I built a 40'x40' pen 8' high (to keep the deer out)
and split it down the middle with another fence making (2) 20'x20' sections. Built a box 4'x6' and put an old truck topper on top of it and put nest boxes where I can collect the eggs when I open the topper doors.

During planting season, I close off one side of the pen for the chickens and plant my garden on the other nicely fertilized ground. I rotate the garden and the chicken pen every planting season. Otherwise the chickens roam both areas.

I also installed a solar electric fence along the bottom of the permiter about 6" high and 6" out from the main fence. This has been working great to keep critters (skunks, coyote's, coon) from digging under the fence. I offer this solar fence charger unit here if you would like one at a great price.

You can get all the details on how I started by using the steps below, and then entering our site.

Enjoy what we have to offer, good luck in going green and come back soon and
remember to bookmark our site.

Mountain Mike - Living off the grid!
Questions? 
Email me:  MountainMike@SolarPowerSimplified.com
Tweet / Follow me:  Twitter.com/@MountainMike52

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