Says it required 12 55AH batteries to keep up with the highest flow rate.  And those are the same types of numbers I keep seeing.  I have no idea why sump pumps drain so much electricity.

For one thing, a 55AH battery isn't very large or impressive.

Take golf cart batteries for example. They're only 6V, so you need 2 of them to get 12V. But if you bought 2 of these for about $300

https://www.batteriesplus.com/productdetails/SLIGC110

You'd have *215* amp-hours. That was the size of my first tiny off-grid solar backup system.

So maybe they're right -- just that they're using dinky, tiny batteries, and I don't know why you'd use batteries so small. You could go with deep-cycle 12V batteries as well, but usually they start around 135 AH.

If you were draining a pond the size of mine, which might take days with a 1/4 HP pump like the one I linked above, then yeah, you might need a good battery bank. They don't know how big the "room" or pond is, nor do they know how deep the water is. How long the pump will have to run is the 10 million dollar question.

Thanks, guys! It's been a dream of mine ever since the recent unpleasantness (two years ago) to become energy independent. It seems like the two options are fuel and generators, or solar energy. Fuel seems a lot easier, but the problem is that you will eventually run out of fuel, whereas you will never run out of sunlight.

Unfortunately I don't understand most of the terminology you guys are using, but I'll try to keep up. Unfortunately, when I looked into the idea two years ago, what I found was that solar panels don't provide nearly enough electricity to run a home, at least not enough to make you independent of the power grid. And that's even before you want to use it to heat or cool your home, which I don't think is possible.

I've heard, though, that solar panels are becoming more efficient all the time, which if true, might mean that a few years down the road it'll be easier to run your whole house off solar panels, but I don't know. You would certainly still need batteries, and those definitely don't last forever and never will.

This website sells solar generators (ie., basically just big battery with outlets, charged by solar panels).  You have to buy the generator and panels separately, or as a bundle.  Not cheap, but essential for off grid living.

https://www.jackery.com/products/explorer-2000-pro-portable-power-station

Note that these are WAY quieter than using a gas or diesel generator (but not as powerful), or even gas inverters, which will be important for not giving away your position, or drawing attention.

I've got one of these (not the real expensive ones.)

It would be so cool to build a large solar farm on your property that would be big enough for you to disconnect your house from the grid completely and still use a first-world, 21st-century amount of electricity. I'm sure such an array would be expensive. Is such a thing even possible?

It would be so cool to build a large solar farm on your property that would be big enough for you to disconnect your house from the grid completely and still use a first-world, 21st-century amount of electricity. I'm sure such an array would be expensive. Is such a thing even possible?

I think that your best bet would be to use solar shingles all over your roof, if you have a decent amount of roof area and live in a resonably sunny climate.

Matthew,

What frequency, and what time do you transmit?

Any other good Ham operators in the Texas-Louisiana area that we should listen for?