How I Am Spending My Days! Battery Maintance And Suprises In The Ga...

Life goes on, it always finds a way and so must we, that is what is so clear to me now. To keep going and be productive every day, creating more and more abundance in my life. This is so important right now, taking back control of our health, of our well being. Finding the many ways in which we can sustain ourselves, become more sustainable.

I have been living off grid for about 10 years now, using solar energy for my home. When I was living in my bus, I had 2 x 100 watt solar panels and 2 x 12v 125ah batteries. This was enough to power the lights, charge my phone and power our laptop. We didn't really have any other appliances that needed electricity. I have a hand juicer and even invested in a hand blender, but that was a bit disappointing. I think you can get better ones now.

However when we moved into the Truck and ended up in Spain, we decided we wanted a fridge and because of that wanted to upgrade our Solar system. Now I have 6 x 225 watt Solar panels, 4 x 12v 240ah and a 1600watt inverter. This is more than I need to be honest, but it is such a great investment.

I now have a fridge, a sewing machine, blender and juicer that are all powered by Solar, as well as my laptop, so all the posts that I have ever written are created using

The lead acid batteries I have now, do need some maintenance though, they are not the highest quality and after being in the Spanish Heat they tend to lose some of their water. So every few weeks I need to check the levels and top them up with distilled water if needed.

Each battery has 6 cells and each one of those cells need to be opened and checked. It is really important to know what level of water your battery needs, because if you top it up too much it can cause them to fail. Also be sure to use distilled water and not tap water. Why, because tap water contains a lot of impurities and these impurities can cause the battery to short out or fail.

There is no mark on my battery so instead I had to make a measuring tool, which is basically two pieces of wire tied together in a cross shape, as you can see above. My batteries are right next to my door, it is important to have the room well ventilated when you open your batteries.

After finishing that job, I then went out to my garden, to clear some space, for the seeds that will soon be ready to plant out. It was whilst I was doing that, that I noticed this beautiful trunk covered in the softest looking mushrooms I have ever seen. They looked like velvet and I couldn't help but stroke them gently. (making sure to wash my hands afterwards).

Mushrooms are such a rarity here, but because of the rain that continues to fall here, there has been loads popping up and seeing them always brightens up my day. My youngest took me by the hand earlier today to show me some more, she was just as excited as me.

My days are so busy now, so productive. I feel grateful to have my Solar system and to have educated myself on how to maintain that system, just as I am grateful for the fact that I have spend some years growing my own food, knowledge that is really needed in these times.