Having power to run the things around the house is great when you got the power co but if not you need to make your own. There are a couple ways to do it and one it with battery's and a DC to AC inverter. Unless you have unlimited fuel for a generator this is the best way to go in my opinion. These inverters can run several hundred dollars for the larger ones. Chances are you have one of these in your home and did not even realize it as all batter backup systems for computers and such are nothing more than a battery and an inverter. As is most all of these UPS's (Uninterruptible Power Source) have a relay system that will not allow you to use them the way we will want to. Most of them have a load relay that prevents the system from creating AC if there was no load at the time it lost AC power. This problem can be overcome by bypassing the relays with a jumper soldered across the load terminals of the relay so that as long as there is DC power in there is AC power out. Please keep in mind that these things were not ever meant to run for more than about 30 - 45 minutes at a time so they do not have a great cooling system for the power transistors that convert the DC to AC. This can be resolved by adding a larger heatsink and or a fan to help dissipate the heat.
I have included a few pics of one I have and what it looks like inside but of course they will vary depending on size and brand.
Matt
This inverter is a 500w nominal but can handle up to 1150w for extended periods of time if you can keep it cool. That is a small TV a DVD player a clock and a light if you want or 23 50watt light bulbs and if it is tied to a battery bank which is charged by wind water or the sun then just put one or two of these in each room and you should be good... THESE WILL NOT PRODUCE 220v AC unless you get a really big one... so no stove on one of these but they will run a refrigerator and if you can get two of them to match perfectly you could in theory tie them together and get 220v AC.
Matt
