Growing food off of the Grid when the SHTF?

When the SHTF I do not only want to utilize my garden for growing food, I would also like to grow indoors however I can.

How can I design a system where multiple energy sources are directed to one destination, like a 1000 Watt grow light?

I was thinking of doing a combination of solar panels, wind, and riding a bicycle hooked up to a generator. How would I combine all of those things? And if it is not possible to combine those things together then can someone please help out with the solar panel aspect alone?

How many panels of how many watts would I need to have up in order to operate roughly 2000 watts per hour?

Please keep in mind that I am not very versed in electronics, other than knowing how to plug them into the wall.

Deep cell batteries. That is a good way for a house .
Charge a bank of batteries and then you draw you power off of them.

I agree with the deep cells.

Search the internet for plans for a bicycle powered 12v battery charger and that will take care of the bike portion. As for wind, look up savonius wind turbine and vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) and you will find some examples and some instructions for building these to harness the wind. The wind turbines with a propeller are more efficient, but not as easy to build.

I have yet to find a good set of plans for building a 12v battery charger that will take the varying input that a wind turbine or bicycle will provide. If anyone has suggestions for this, let us know.

Simple Savonius turbine

Hate to burst bubbles here but take it from an RV owner... Deep cycle battaries have a limited number of cycles then they just die...

Taken from Deep Cycle Battery FAQ

A battery "cycle" is one complete discharge and recharge cycle. It is usually considered to be discharging from 100% to 20%, and then back to 100%. However, there are often ratings for other depth of discharge cycles, the most common ones are 10%, 20%, and 50%. You have to be careful when looking at ratings that list how many cycles a battery is rated for unless it also states how far down it is being discharged. For example, one of the widely advertised telephone type (float service) batteries have been advertised as having a 20-year life. If you look at the fine print, it has that rating only at 5% DOD - it is much less when used in an application where they are cycled deeper on a regular basis. Those same batteries are rated at less than 5 years if cycled to 50%. For example, most golf cart batteries are rated for about 550 cycles to 50% discharge - which equates to about 2 years.

Battery life is directly related to how deep the battery is cycled each time. If a battery is discharged to 50% every day, it will last about twice as long as if it is cycled to 80% DOD. If cycled only 10% DOD, it will last about 5 times as long as one cycled to 50%. Obviously, there are some practical limitations on this - you don't usually want to have a 5 ton pile of batteries sitting there just to reduce the DOD. The most practical number to use is 50% DOD on a regular basis. This does NOT mean you cannot go to 80% once in a while. It's just that when designing a system when you have some idea of the loads, you should figure on an average DOD of around 50% for the best storage vs cost factor. Also, there is an upper limit - a battery that is continually cycled 5% or less will usually not last as long as one cycled down 10%. This happens because at very shallow cycles, the Lead Dioxide tends to build up in clumps on the the positive plates rather in an even film

Originally posted by Diplomat
How can I design a system where multiple energy sources are directed to one destination, like a 1000 Watt grow light?

I was thinking of doing a combination of solar panels, wind, and riding a bicycle hooked up to a generator. How would I combine all of those things? And if it is not possible to combine those things together then can someone please help out with the solar panel aspect alone?

How many panels of how many watts would I need to have up in order to operate roughly 2000 watts per hour?

Please keep in mind that I am not very versed in electronics, other than knowing how to plug them into the wall.

Are you planning on a hydroponics set up for indoor growing? It is an incredibly efficient means of growing with high productivity, although at times, it can be very labour intensive...it also uses alot of power with not only sodium lamps required but also pumps to keep the water moving. However, I am sure (and hope to try this for myself when I have the space) that a micro-hydro electric generator can be incorporated to utilise the energy created by pumping the water around. Plus, I would consider having the central water tank double as a fish pond as this creates natural fertilisers. The fertilisers used in hydroponics are very expensive and you have to mess with the pH and such like constantly to keep it stable, with the fish route you don't have to bother so much.

As far as power goes, the most efficient and cleanest form is hydro without a doubt. All you need is a reasonable gradient and permission to divert that water (which will run back in, clean and without pollutants)...a fall of 100' can generate sufficient energy to fully power several homes. Solar is good but the cells currently only have about a 15 year life span. A wind turbine is much more efficient.

I don't know the situation in the US but in the UK it is in some cases worth hooking up your power source to the grid as you get paid per unit you produce, even those units that you use yourself. Additionally you earn carbon credits that you can trade or sell. Should the SHTF as you say, it is easy enough (assuming you know an electrician!) to take it off grid and hook it up to a storage/battery system. Either way you don't need several sources of generation, just one reliable one...for hot water and heating though solar heating (where the water is passed through small capillaries in a roof mounted panel, the water heated directly by sunlight) or much better a geo-thermal loop or bore...the beauty of the latter is that it can heat in winter and cool in summer.

All, due to low demand at present, are expensive but prices should start coming down soon as manufacturers realise the huge profits to be made from providing renewable energy systems.

reply to post by DaddyBare


Yes, deep cycles do have a lifespan. However, what other choice is there for power storage. I'm not aware of any alternative to deep cycle batteries to store DC.

reply to post by fritz


No your right ... what other choice is there? I just wanted to point out when making your plans you should factor in a working time limit and add a plan B when plan A fails... otherwise you could be in for a rather unpleasant surprise due to not having all the facts...

Originally posted by fritzM


I have yet to find a good set of plans for building a 12v battery charger that will take the varying input that a wind turbine or bicycle will provide. If anyone has suggestions for this, let us know.

Simple Savonius turbine

Why not just hook a voltage regulator out of a old car after the bicycle
generator but before the batteries.. that way no matter what you wont
go over what the 12v system can handle.

reply to post by DaddyBare


Point taken. Would definitely not want that unpleasant surprise on down the line.

severdsoul, I've thought about doing that, but I like to build stuff. I think one of the best solutions is to get one of the old GM alternators with the built in regulator.

You guys sure could learn a lot from those of us who Own motor-homes... we've been using mobile solar systems for sometime now...
as to charge control you're local RV dealer should have this or something like it in stock... this just happens to be the one I have in my rig
PDF adobe acrobat doc info on charge controller

This may or may not be appropriate here, but...

I just ordered one of these this morning. (And one for Mother-In-Law for Christmas.) It might be a bit spendy, but I'm really looking forward to using it for herbs in the winter!

Aero Garden

homemade power source,, car battery an alternater and a lawn mower engine to drive the alt. 12v power for as long as you can find gasoline. works great. also, consider sky lights in the house, and don't forget to stock up your seed bank now or it won't matter.