For when the sun doesn't shine

[Jafo]

A friend of mine makes small generators for charging battery banks using permanent magnet alternators. He sent me a link to one he uses:

MAXAMP PMA Permanent Magnet Alternator Generator PC1212 | eBay

I am thinking about doing this with an old lawn mower I have here at the house. Basically you only run it if your system doesn't recharge due to no sun/wind. I can definitely see this as coming in handy up at the yurt! It also sounds like a fun winter project.