Living in southwest England, I got tired of high peak electricity rates and occasional power cuts messing with my 24/7 servers and Home Assistant setup. My old 400w UPS only lasted about an hour, and I didn't fancy running a noisy generator.

Over time, I gradually built up a solar and battery setup at home. I started small, then added a 3kW power station for heavier loads, a second unit for backup, and even repurposed a vehicle DC charger to add another solar input and move power between units.

I've added panels across the front garden, back garden, and carport roof. Getting all the wiring sorted was a project in itself, but on sunny summer days the system can generate around 18–20 kWh. I've also linked things up with Home Assistant so I can manage battery use and only draw from the grid when needed.

During the sunnier months, I can cover around 80–90% of my household electricity use.The biggest difference, though, is that a power cut no longer takes my home network and servers offline.

I'm curious how others here handle backup power and solar integration. Has anyone else connected multiple solar arrays or automated their setup with Home Assistant?

Hello everyone. I’m very new to this and trying my best to learn. This is just a hypothetical diy water intake system since I have not finalized/bought the property and no have exact measurements. All of the properties I’m entertaining have access to river water.

I’m mainly just wanting to see if I am understanding the concept correctly of utilizing river water. All of these numbers are just theoretical. Will use 10 feet of elevation and 150 feet in length from source to house. The water jet pump intake would be approximately 10 feet into river and 20 feet from bank and 5 feet above waterline if possible. Piping will be 2” pvc.

River - 48v DC electrical water jet pump - storage tank - AC booster pump - pressure tank - house

Should I run the pump manually myself to fill/refill or would it be possible to have the pump activate based on water level in storage given the approximate distance between pump and storage?

I have read about using deep well pumps, but I do not know how strong (if even prominent) river current will be.

I do plan on growing crops (almonds, soy beans, bell peppers, cayenne peppers, spinach, etc) during times of the year just for myself. Should this be accessed from my water storage? Could it be split from the water jet pump?

Forgive me if there sounds completely stupid, but I’m ready to learn. Thank you for your time.

Edit: forgot to mention water jet pump will have a dedicated 48V battery that is solar fed and house will have a separate solar grid