Yesterday, I posted about harnessing alternative energy in Nothern Idaho. Today, Gary Garrett of North Idaho Connection, an ISP that serves the region, sent me the specs on his off-the-grid wireless ISP.

Given the location, the sun's rays don't exactly abound. Nonetheless, his setup makes for a fascinating read...

We operate a Microwave relay site on off-grid power. Only 160 watts come from solar, and that only a few hours a day, as this is the Pacific NW with 200 cloudy days a year.

The site consists of a Cisco 3640 router, a Portmaster 3 with 48 modems, 24 port switch, Trango T-Link 10 microwave, Trango 900 AP, and a Mikrotik 2400 AP. There is also a complete office, lights, water pump, and living quarters with 2 laptops, fax machine, a printer and print server that is turned off when not in use. Without the office equipment the system draws 24 amps at 12 VDC 24 hours a day.

This power is provided by an Exeltech redundant inverter consisting of 4 1,000 watt modules any one of which will run the whole thing. The 12V is provided by a 2400 Amp hour battery bank with another 460 Amp hour bank for the office.

The batteries are kept charged by a group of battery chargers powered by a 25KW propane generator that runs on a time clock 2 hours twice a day.

Sure, propane is non-renewable, but it pollutes considerably less than gas or diesel. And this all adds up to uptime that would make many a utility jealous...

We have not had a power failure since 2001. The Solar is just a drop in the bucket but we have been off the grid for 27 years. Basically it is powered by Propane but we are working on Peltier Junctions to cut down on the generator wear and tear and carbon footprint.

Neat, right?

If you're weighing your Internet options in the area, and uptime is critical, add North Idaho Connection to your list.