Northern Michigan Solar Powered CabinAlternative Energy Living at the 45th parallel
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First of all, welcome to our site! We've been around for several years and conduct all kinds of half baked DIY projects on our show, This Old Shack. Be sure to check out all of our half witted articles and pages. If you have questions, just Email us and we will do our best to confuse you beyond all belief.NAVIGATION Email or Contact us here
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We're going to build our own solar panels!Read the diary entry here. |
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Disaster planning should be part of every single household across America, strike that, the world. When disaster strikes, people die or lives are c80%hanged. In times of plenty, forego the Playstations and buy extra food. You can explain a lack of toys better than a lack of food to your children.
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In
1980 our military switched its entire food ration program over to the full
moisture MRE pouch system. These are the meals we tested on "This Old
Shack". |
Quite possibly the best preparedness site in the world.
There were several reasons for the switch:
Sprinkle of rain = power failure.
Giving a little back by not using so much.
Independent living.
Diary from the cabin, page 55-5-06
The weather wasn't what you'd call perfect here in northern Michigan for the past week. I set my new charge controller, the Xantrex C12 in night light mode; set to turn on the lights at night for two hours a night. The unit will use the solar panels as a photocell and turn the lights on at night. I had it set for a duration of two hours after dark. With the cloudy sky all week, the bank was at 12.74 volts when I got here on Friday evening, so I ran the generator for a couple of hours to top off the bank. The new generator house works as expected; you can't hear the generator from more than 20 feet away. Even next to it it's pretty quiet. That's good news - using materials on hand I've been able to do what I thought would cost a hundred dollars or so. The Vector battery charger - it's a smart charger, very similar to a solar charger but in a 110 volt battery charger, works like a champ. It detects charge rates and will go from it's bulk 10 amp charge rate to 6 amps and then to 2 amps when the bank is charged. 5-6-06 Well, off to the open house at the National Weather Service. Of course, I managed to kill my inverter at some point, so off to the store after the open house for a new one. This time I purchased a Vector 400 watt that's supposed to have "noiseless" technology in it. We'll see. I also started converting the battery bank over to a new connection scheme. Instead of connecting the negative poles together and the same with the positive (battery A connected to battery B, etc.) I connected all the negative cables (2 gauge) to a central point and the same with the positive. Then for giggles, I tested each battery (a couple are sealed) and found one that was a little weaker than the others, so I pulled it out to use in the boat with the electric motor - I had planned on doing this all along, the weak battery just made my decision for me. That took me back down to 360 amp hours, which is a little lower than I want, so I guess another type 31 deep cycle is on the way. 5-12-06 I'm now attempting to revive my weak battery from the bank. I charged it with the Vector auto charger then applied a small load to it. Next, I charged it for 2 hours at 10 amps to equalize it. I then did 2 amps for 4 hours. I now have it running with a 12 volt CF hooked up to it; 16 hours and all is good. Will apply a 6 amp load later this weekend.
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How I testThere are several people on various newsgroups and discussion areas that waylay in uninformed or those just starting out in the off grid world of self power generation. This involves an almost religious belief in a phantom 6v golf cart true deep cycle battery that is superior in every way to any other battery in existence.
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