Chapter 142...Our New Solar Panels Being Installed

I love not having any electric bills:)  Finally the day we have been waiting for.  Time to get our new solar panels in the mounts and get hooked up.  It's so nice to not have to worry about power outages.

So back to our story and back to the second week of April.

April 8
Today I spent the day working on the garden of rocks around the solar panel mounts and Mike did the drilling for the solar panels.

On a cute note...here are some updated cow and calf pictures:)
Our big girl "Red" and in the background our unsociable cow and her light colored calf:

Mama and her baby.

And the one with the white face, like a mask:

Mike and I took a ride down to our pond and got to see some of the fish.  It's good to see the babies after the winter months.

And:

Enough animals...now it's time to work.

We have a couple of bags of concrete left so Mike and I decided to use them up and fill up all of the holes.

Mike is spraying the bottom of a pole with the rubber paint for protection:

All the concrete is used:)

Next Mike works on leveling the 4x4's so I can start filling the gardens with rock:

Mike is pounding rebar into our 4x4's and into the ground the make the garden more solid:

Now I can start filling them with rock.  First I put the weed cloth down, then I take the shovel and the 5 gallon buckets back to our rock pile.  I use the hand truck to bring the full buckets of rock back to the garden:

While I do that, Mike works on drilling holes into the solar panel mounts.  This is so we can install the solar panels.  He needs to drill a total of 50 holes, ten holes in each rack:

Finally after thirty 5-gallon buckets I get the garden finished and we have no more rocks.

Mike is hosing them down to make it nice and clean:

It was a good day and it feels so nice to have nice weather.


April 9
More blue skies.  It's time to paint.

We are going to paint all of the solar panels mounts green to match the building and while we are at it we will paint the side of the shipping container.

Laying out cardboard to protect the rocks:

Mike using his new paint spray gun:

All the solar panel mounts are done:

Once the mounts are done we start on the side of the building.  We might as well while we have the chance.  Once the new solar panels go up we won't be touching this side of the building ever again.

We start at the front top corner of the building.  While I hold cardboard up to protect the driveway, Mike starts spraying.  He also sprays my hands but at least the driveway isn't green, lol.

Almost done with the building:

The painting is done:)

We have to let everything dry before we can install the solar panels.


April 10
Today is the day we have been waiting for.  It's time to get our new bigger solar panels on the new mounts that Mike designed:)

The solar panels are big so Mike and I will have to work together to get them on the racks.  The first one is the hardest as we don;t have much land to stand on.  I really hope we don't drop one.

The first one is in the rack:

And presto...eight of them are in.  We work so fast, lol.  Since Mike and I had to work hard to get them in I couldn't take pictures.  You can see how much bigger these are compared to the old panels which are on top of the shipping container.

We also got the two panels installed that stand alone to catch a different angle of the sun.  After all the panels are screwed in, Mike wants to clean up the ground.  Here he is grading out underneath the panels:

Next I raked it all out and Mike starts seeding:

And:

I put the hay over the seed and Mike waters it:

Now it's time for the really important part and since I can't do any electrical, Mike is on his own.  Mike has to get all of the wires hooked up so we can make our own electric.


Mike installed two combiner boxes on the outside of the shipping container and under the solar panels.  A combiner box takes all the wires from the solar panels, combines them into one, and then sends them to the charge controller inside the shipping container.

Mike has 5 panels going into each combiner box.  Each solar panel has it's own circuit breaker.


Mike uses the torch to seal the shrink wrap over the connectors to make them weathertight.

Skip to April 16 as we had other work going on at the "store" property:)

Mike is getting getting ready to put the wire from the combiner boxes into the charge controller.  This is a really thick wire and you need strength in your hands to do this kind of work:

Peeling back and clipping the strands that aren't needed:

Mike hooking up one of  the charge controllers:

And the finishing touches:

Here are the circuit breakers onside the combiner box:

Our wire mess.  Mike will clean this up soon:

Now we are set to go.  Next I will help Mike take down our old panels and he will hook up our new system:)

I hope you all enjoyed this story and I will write again soon:)

Chapter 68...Mounting Solar Panels On Shipping Container

Off Grid...Chapter 68 It is now time for the second half of our new solar set up. Friday 6-5 Well it's a really good thing we got all the batteries and panels moved yesterday because it looks like a rainy day. Yuk!! I had to take a picture of the cows this morning because they all seem like they want to come in. I'm not sure if they are fascinated by "Mr. Frog", who has found a new home on or patio, or they want the straw. The cows have been very quiet this year and the babies are hardly ever around. In a way it's a good thing but I miss 98. He was so friendly in a "baby bull" kind of way, lol. Before I get into the solar wiring let me give you a quick review on how an off grid solar set up works. There are 4 main components to make a solar system. The solar modules, the charge controller, the battery bank, and the inverter. The solar modules(PV Panels) are wired through a charge controller before it goes to the battery bank. The charge controller prevents the batteries from being overcharged and it also eliminates any reverse current flow from the batteries back to the solar modules at night. The battery bank stores the energy produced by the solar array during the day for use anytime day or night. The battery bank is wired to the inverter. The inverter is an electronic device that converts 12volt DC into 110AC. It allows the use of all household appliances including TV's, power tools, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and kitchen appliances Ok now that we all understand how this works it's time for a quiz, lol. Only kidding but now I can move on and I won't lose most of you. Mike got the charge controller and the breaker box hooked up for the first 6 panels. Woo hoo. Now we can charge the batteries. Unfortunately we don't have any sun. After doing that we make a platform for the generator to sit on. Eventually we will also make a cover for it. We got rained out for the rest of the day. Saturday 6-6 The sun is out and it is a busy day for Mike and I. Right now we have half of our solar panels installed and charging our batteries. Mike is working on the second charge controller for the second "set" of 6 panels. While Niki watches from the shade. For the rest of the afternoon I worked on my garden and got all my plants in the ground. C'mon little guys it's time to grow, lol. Mike continued working on the solar set up. Later on we decided to work on the walkway together. When we took apart the battery box we had some patio block underneath. We decided to re use these leftover blocks to make a walkway form our drive to our patio. First Mike rakes the straw away so we can place the blocks. Then he starts digging out a spot for the block. This way it will be recessed into the ground and we can mow right over it. Seven blocks later and we have a new walkway. Then we add more seed and more straw. After dinner we went back up top. Mike worked in his building while I did some landscaping. We have some wash out in our new clover on the hill. I filled about 20 buckets full of dirt and poured them into the ruts. I'm still not done but it is a start. Sunday 6-7 Uh oh, we woke up this morning and the turkeys are having a feast with the seed on our front lawn. We love all animals until they start costing us money. I told Mike to go dump some grass seed outside our fence, lol. Mike got both charge controllers on the wall. Then we raked, seeded. and put seed on the land next to the green building. Raking and cleaning the land/hill next to the gray building. We finished our day by going over to the other property to mow and weed eat. Monday 6-8 Back to the solar set up. It's time to get the next set of panels mounted on top of the building. Mike pre drills the holes in the panels to mount the brackets to. Then Mike gets on the roof and I start handing him the brackets and panels 7,8, and 9. Now it's my turn. I climb the ladder to the top of the roof. While I hold the panels in line Mike bolts the brackets on. The panels and the brackets are all bolted together. Then Mike bolts all of it to the roof. Next Mike starts the wiring for the second charge controller for the second set of panels. Then Mike starts working on the second combiner box for the second set of panels. The solar panels have 2 wire each a negative and a positive making a total of 12 wire for each set of 6 panels. Mike will hook the solar panel wires into the combiner box and bring out only 2 wires(1 negative and 1 positive) which will go inside the building, to the charge controller, and to the batteries. Mike works on pre drilling the brackets for the last set of panels. We will install those in the morning. The first of our building vents is installed. Mike is working on a better system for venting but this is a start. More seed and curlex for the side of the gray building. Tuesday 6-9 Today is going to be the hardest day of all for our solar panel move. The last 3 panels going up are right at the edge of the building which will make the installation a little tricky. It's almost like the panels were made specifically to fit our building. lol. We have to keep the ladder on one side and bring the tractor bucket up to the back edge of the building. We will have to stand/sit in the tractor bucket to get the last 3 panels up. It's the same routine as before. Mike climbs up, I hand him the brackets and panels. Then I climb up to hold the panels while Mike bolts the brackets to the panels. Working at the edge of the building with the panels. Lowering the panels down. I am in the bucket holding the panels so they don't fall while Mike bolts them into the building. Finally all the solar panels are on the roof. Woo hoo. It's a perfect fit. Hopefully we will never have to move these panels again. While Mike finishes connecting the last panels I go and work on another project. We have a few things to finish before our front wall on the house can be backfilled. The drain pipe that is behind the wall needs to be covered with gravel, covered with weed cloth, and then more gravel on top to hold it in place when they dump the dirt. The weed cloth keeps any dirt out of the pipe and the gravel helps filter the water. Here is the pipe that I will be covering. Here I am in the hole putting the weed cloth and gravel in. I fill some buckets with gravel and dump them on the pipe, put the weed cloth on top, and then more gravel. That is all for this chapter. All of our solar panels are on the roof and Mike has everything hooked up. Now we just have to run the wire from the building to our house in a casing and then underground. That will be for another day. Lisa