Thank you for showing up! Please do read the following guidelines before you post new topics.
We run this board in our spare time, and it is moderated by kind volunteers to keep it on-topic. We do NOT have time to contact the author every time a posting is moderated out, since this happens multiple times per day. If your posting is moderated out, please don't be offended! Unless it is offensive or in regards to perpetual motion machines, simple re-post it to your diary.
Moderation decisions are final, though you are welcome to ask for feedback as to why a posting was deleted. The most common reasons that postings are moderated out are: Off topic, photos larger than 640x480 or 100K, no question or insufficient information included, and common topics that have been covered thoroughly in recent months. Use Search before you post!
Pick the section carefully! This lets readers find the information they need quickly, and turns this board into a valuable resource when using the SEARCH function. Lastly ~ try to be respectful when you post, remember that you are publishing something to the world. Take the time to do your best to use correct punctuation, use capitol letters appropriately... take the time to use spell check.
Below are the sections and subsections that currently exist on this board. Please read it carefully, try to post in the best place ~ and we are definitely open to feedback about how to improve these things so if you think you have better ideas feel free to let us know!
Homebrewed Electricity -- This section is for anything related to producing your own electricity, with the exception of free energy/overunity/perpetual motion. These topics are forbidden on this board because we think it's a waste of time and has no chance of working. There are plenty of other places to discuss that and no area for it here. Homebrewed Electricity is divided into the following sections:
Wind -- It's all about slowing down the wind and turning that energy into electricity. Most folks are discussing home built systems although discussion of commercially manufactured systems is certainly welcome. Specifically here, we'll discuss the turbine itself, and their towers. Discussions about controls, batteries, inverters etc... have another section (see below).
Solar -- electricity from the sun (photovoltaics). Specifically... electricity! This is not the place to discuss anything to do with solar heating systems (see remote living/heating for that stuff).
Hydro -- electricity from moving water. Again, this is about hydro electric systems. Please don't post here about well pumps or anything like that - there is a section in remote living for that. Please don't post about generating electricity from your urban water tap or your rain gutters! It won't work and it's been discussed plenty before!
Other -- electricity from stuff not mentioned above, including back up generators powered by fossil fuels or other means.
Storage -- storing electricity in batteries, flywheels, fuel cells, etc. Mostly, the discussion here should be on batteries because not much else seems to work very well.
Controls -- Once you've made some electricity it needs to be usable and controlled. This is the section to talk about charge controllers, power inverters, metering etc.
Remote Living -- for stuff related to more sustainable living. Most of the postings here are from folks who live 'in the sticks' ~ many off them are off grid.
Housing -- building and maintaining homes.
Heating -- heating and cooling your homestead. This includes all types of heating systems including solar.
Light -- lighting issues for homes. There will be talk of different alternatives... and when it all fails, perhaps somebody will tell us how to trim your lamps trimmed and burning!
Water -- water systems for remote homes, including plumbing, and waste.
Transportation -- Here we'll discuss transportation. Hopefully most of it will have to do alternatives to the norm, including electric cars, alternative fuels, you get the point. If you're just confused about how to replace the water pump in your Ford truck, this is not the place.
Newbies -- If you are new to the board and unsure whether your question has been covered before, or unsure of your terminology, this is the place to put it. We may also move questions to here from other sections and visa versa. The newbies section is really less for folks who are new to this forum, and more for folks that are new to the subject matter. If you are curious about wind or solar energy but don't know the difference between a kW or a kWh, then odds are the posting should go in newbies.
Product Reviews -- Share your opinions or experiences.
Reviews -- This is for your reviews of renewable energy/remote living related products, and the companies that sell them. Let others know about your experiences, whether good, bad or ugly.
The Pub -- This board is the place for all that stuff we used to hammer on for being off topic. Remember, it is a Family Place. Jokes, links to stuff, whatever
The Pub is a place to discuss stuff that would be otherwise off topic. So long as it's fairly polite just about anything goes in here.
Notices -- This is the area for notices, so you wont find 'questions' or pleas for help here and probably not much advice. You will find stuff for sale, opinions about products, user diaries... The subsections are listed below.
Polls -- On the old board we could attach polls to stories or new topics, this is no longer the case. Polls go here now - you can setup a poll where folks can vote or provide information about themselves and their systems. Let's keep it on topic though ~ if you're interested in polling to find out who the next president will be, there are better places than here!
Classifieds -- sell your renewable-energy-related stuff. If it's unrelated to our topics, it will be deleted. Vague postings looking for "investors" for a "new technology that will change the world" with details that 'can't be disclosed yet' fall into the 'perpetual motion' restriction above. All classified postings must include contact information and the more detail the better. We are more patient with postings here from regular users of the forum. Folks who sign up, and make their first post here in classifieds will be scrutinized.
Commercial operations can post classified ads- ONCE for each individual item, which should be one of a kind or surplus. Repeated postings are not allowed, they must be individual items for sale. "Cheap inverters for sale" would be deleted. "Surplus Trace U2512" would be OK. And if your company sells inverters, it is NOT OK to keep listing each one in stock--instead contact us for a link.
User Diaries -- This is for YOUR stuff, which should (please) bear some relation to the topics of our board.
Site News -- This is the area for us (the admin and moderators of the board) to notify users about site news/changes etc. Hopefully, it's usually good news.
So have loads of fun with it all. Please be respectful and nice. Abusive postings will be deleted.
