The generators your friend is using probably feeds 110VAC into the computer. My guess, anyway.

The best I've found for a feasible 12 supply is one for which I don't have the data sheet. It is Vox Technologies, and the supply is - ACE-709VX - Industrial 1U 12V DC Input ATX Power Supply. That's $147, and in our ballpark, anyway. And maybe he could make a laptop work.

Regarding the water, now that the Spring runoff is mostly complete, I can promise there's not enough flow and fall to operate a ram pump. (There is some water behind the beaver dams - I caught a 9" cutthroat the other day, but not much flow.) We're going to put a tank on a neighboring hillside and pump water to it with generator/battery power. I think it would be fun to build a tank, and your idea is intriguing, but the guy who's paying for it wants a plastic thing we'll dig into the hillside a bit. And then hand-dig 12 inch deep trench for 1 1/2 inch pipe through some of the brushiest country I've seen. The easiest places are 8 foot high blackberries, as they can be chopped through fairly easily with a blade on a high-powered weed-whacker sort of thing. It's too steep and brushy for a Ditch-Witch sort of thing.

I'm hoping the blade can be operated sideways and chew through at least 4 inches of dirt, breaking roots.

Projects have slowed down since my friend got a completely unexpected $50,000 tax bill. Someone made a balloon payment on some property which had been mostly paid for in the past, but that brought all the taxes due at once. His CPA had said that the tax liability for the matter "would wash". It did. Cleaned him out for a while. Punctured the balloon.

So, thanks for the reply. And that's what I know at the moment. Probably even a bit more than I know.

Arf