Diary from the cabin, page 8

6-18-06

Total cost of solar power system thus far: $850. System installed and off the grid in August of 2005. Payoff is now scheduled for September of 2006.

Damn mice. It's like a mouse convention around here. Oh well. I hate it when they show their kids around the cabin. Damn mice.

Well, the higher capacity bank spent a week being charged off the panels. While the bank voltage was acceptable, it wasn't at a full charge at 12.72 volts. So, now I need more panel capacity to keep the batteries from chronic undercharging, which will kill a battery sure as the sun rises in the east.

The bank now consists of 4 group 31 deep cycle marine batteries at 115 amp hours each. The capacity is now high enough that we can run all the lights, the television and laptop at will without worrying about running down the bank. My goal is to be able to have a 70% charge after a weekend of use. This weekend was the big test - I can report the goal has been achieved. After 2 days of use, the bank still has 87% of it's charge left.

While running the generator on Saturday, it stopped. Out of gas, I figured. Nope. It's dead. So, I'm going to investigate this development further when I get it back to the condo. If I can't fix it, it may be time to explore a new generator or possibly a small wind turbine. The generator head should still be okay so I might just get a new motor for it and go that way.

Where I can put the panels when I expand my solar output is problematic because of the trees on the property. There are several branches I can trim off a couple of the trees that should get me another hours worth of sun each day - I currently get full sun from about 9:30 to 11:30 and partial sun for an hour or two after that. So, a pole trimmer is in the plans for the near future. Got a lot of dead branches on some trees, so I can justify the cost.

For my 12 volt needs, I have a new setup! I use a small deep cycle and use one of the Harbor Freight boxes. Great for fans and lights!

6-24-06

Well, I bought a new generator. Instead of getting another little "weekender" unit like the old one (1000 watts), I decided to go with a larger one. A lot larger. The new one has a 2400 watt (19 amps) output and uses normal unleaded gas instead of oil/gas mix. After owning a smallish generator, I discovered several points that I had not thought of. First, if you're going to have a generator, you should go at it like your battery bank; oversize it. Second, don't be like me.....get a good unit.