Producing hot water off-grid is a surprisingly energy-intensive activity, and although it looks simple on its surface it can get quite complicated especially when used in large scale for something like providing hot water for an entire home. When using combustion to heat the water there needs to be proper venting as well as control […]
With all the battery technologies and modern low-current sleep modes in most microcontrollers, running a sensor and microcontroller combo off-grid and far away from any infrastructure is usually not too difficult a task. Often these sorts of systems can go years without maintenance or interaction. But for something that still has to be off-grid but […]
Cooking with charcoal is a fairly common human activity, as much as others have come to prefer fuels like propane and propane accessories for their outdoor, summertime grilling. Although it’s made from wood, it has properties that make it much more useful for cooking — including burning at a higher temperature and with more consistent […]
Living without standard utility hookups like electricity, Internet, water, and sewer comes with a whole host of challenges, all of which are most commonly solved by spending lots of money. For electricity, a solar array or a generator is fairly common. The Internet can similarly be accessed via a satellite link if wires aren’t available. […]
When was the last time you saw a computer actually outlast your weekend trip – and then some? Enter the Evertop, a portable IBM XT emulator powered by an ESP32 that doesn’t just flirt with low power; it basically lives off the grid. Designed by [ericjenott], hacker with a love for old-school computing and survivalist […]
Siphons are one of those physics phenomena that, like gyroscopes, non-Newtonian fluids, and electricity, seem almost magical. Thanks to atmospheric pressure, simply filling a tube with liquid and placing the end of the tube below the liquid level of a container allows it to flow against gravity, over a barrier, and down into another container […]
For economic reasons, not every lake with a dam can support a hydroelectric power plant. Some rivers or creeks are dammed for flood control or simply for recreation, and don’t have the flow rate or aren’t deep enough to make the investment of a grid-scale generation facility worthwhile. But for those of us with a […]
Battery news typically covers the latest, greatest laboratory or industry breakthroughs to push modern devices further and faster. Could you build your own flow battery stationary storage for home-built solar and wind rigs though? Based on the concept of appropriate technology, the system from the Flow Battery Research Collective will be easy to construct, easy […]
Car camping gets you out in the great outdoors, but sometimes it’s nice to bring a few comforts from home. [Ed’s Garage] has taken a module from a salvaged EV and turned it into a handy portable power station. With 2.3 kWh of storage from the single Spark EV module, the battery pack can power […]
If civilization goes sideways and you need to survive, what are the bare essentials that should go in your bunker? Food and fresh water, sure. Maybe something to barter with in case things go full on The Postman. That’s all sensible enough, but how’s that stuff going to help you get a LAN party going? […]