So it's been a really crazy winter. Snow storms on the holidays, Snow in April, power outages from all of them. Really gets me primed to get the systems up and running this summer. Spent a good portion of the winter designing the VAWT, using an old ceiling fan. I'm still aquiring the magnets for it, so it will be another month or so before it's operational for testing purposes. After that come the SLA batteries, I'm thinking 2ea 1000ah marine batteries, which should give me 2-3 days running time. With the solar trickle chargers, I should be OK until I can get some decent panels. I just aquired the house next door, so that flat southern facing roof should come in real handy. There is also a nice, tall pole that will work just fine for the VAWT. There is also an electric hot water heater installed, so a quick change of the element will be in order. I've also found 12vdc power supplies for the PC. (not the 110vac to 12vdc, these are designed to run the PC in the car, without the wasted conversions)

All in all a really productive winter, even if I didn't have time to keep up with the blogs and websites. But I'd also like to report on actual events, instead of just airing plans that will go nowhere.
Keep the Sun shining, or the wind blowing... ;D