Chapter 34...Playing Jokes And All 12 Solar Panels Installed

Off Grid...Chapter 34 It is time for the adventures of Lisa and Mike. Monday 10-27 Mike worked his butt off this past weekend to get us back on line with our wind and solar. We are living in the house and producing our own power without using the generator. Woo hoo! We had some errands to run so we loaded the trailer with the household trash and headed to the dump. On the way we stopped at one of Jimmy's properties to pay our grading bill. Mike drove us all the way into Jimmy's property and continued up the road even when the gravel stopped. Jimmy wasn't there and there was no place to turn around. Mike says "no problem" and he starts backing up the jeep and trailer. I can't see a thing. Mike starts to pick up speed as we are traveling backwards and he starts yelling "oh no, oh no" as we are swerving. Now I am having a flashback to the day we almost got killed on the 4-wheeler when the trailer jackknifed. I'm thinking, this is it, we are going to flip this jeep over with the trailer. I am in pure panic mode. The next thing I notice is Mike turning the wheel and he is still yelling. Oh great, we're dead now. All of a sudden he stops the jeep and he is laughing hysterically. "The ass". That was so not funny. He says to me "you had to see your face". Oh yeah, I'm sure we would have won the prize in "America's Funniest Home Videos" if we had taped that. I told him "I'm not talking to you for the rest of the day". C'mon you gotta admit, it was pretty funny. Yeah Ok but you're still an ass. The remainder of the day was less eventful and I did start talking to him within about 2 minutes. Can you all tell that I'm not quiet?. We went to the dump. post office, and library. On our way home we stopped at the building supply to get more wood to extend our solar rack for the other 6 panels. Tuesday 10-28 Holy cow. It snowed last night. I am so happy we are in the house. I am inside wearing shorts and all toasty warm. The FP is on low, it is freezing outside but it is so warm inside. I am very happy Mike and I pushed to get into the house. We would've frozen in the motorhome with snow on the ground and the way the winds are blowing. Our wind generator is doing awesome. Our green light is on and it produced power all night. Woo hoo. Mike, Niki, and I hibernated all day. We did some more organizing and "thought" about starting the ceiling. That was a short lived thought because one of us would have had to go up to the building a get the other ladder. I don't think so, lol. It's way too cold and windy out. Mike finished the toe kicks under the kitchen cabinets. Now it is starting to look like a finished kitchen. I tried getting Niki outside but she wants nothing to do with that. This is the dog that "held" it for 2 days during a hurricane in FL. I finally picked her up and threw her outside about 2:00pm. She was extremely confused. Where's the grass? What's this cold white stuff on the ground? Needless to say she ran back inside the house. It's starting to get really, really windy outside. I haven't seen anything on the news about high winds. I finally got Niki out at 6:00 when Mike and I went up to get the ladder. Wednesday 10-29 It was a really scary night. We had sustained winds of 35MPH and gusts between 50-60MPH. I was a nervous wreck all night. Can you tell I'm the worry wart in the family? I was intently listening all night for what? I don't know. Maybe the roof will tear up, the wind turbine might take off, or the solar panels may fly off the roof. Not that I want any of this to happen, of course, you just never know-everything is new. Mike is really easy going and tells me "don't worry about it, we can't do anything until morning anyway." So he slept and I didn't, lol. We got out of bed this morning and checked on everything outside. Everything is great. Yeah!! There was no damage to anything from those high winds. Mike is really excited because we have new lights in our control room. The charge controller for the wind turbine light went from green to blinking red. Green means we are producing power to our batteries and blinking red means we are at "max". Woo hoo. Our charge controller for the solar panels is also displaying full charge. We only have half of our system running and we are producing at "max". Of course this will change each day depending on the weather. We took full advantage of our power. We used our microwave for the first time and I did more laundry. Maybe I can finally use a hairdryer without the generator. I can't wait. It's the small things in life that make me happy. We started working on the ceiling. First we have to install the tracks on the perimeter walls of the room. The metal tracks come in 12 foot sections. Mike is putting the first one up 4 inches below our trusses. The first two are up. Mike installing the track above the kitchen cabinets. Thursday 10-30 Today I left Mike to his own devices and did a stock up run to Super Wal-mart about 45 minutes away. I got to use my hairdryer today for the first time on our own power. That was so exciting. It's one thing to run the lower watt appliances like TV's, lights, and computers, but when you start running the big boys like vacuums, microwaves, toasters and hairdryers now it's time to celebrate. While I was gone Mike worked on getting three of the six solar panels off the roof. We are going to put all of the solar panels from the roof on the rack under the other 6 panels. He got the first 3 down and only three are left on the roof. I got home about 4:00 and about $400.00 lighter and I didn't even buy meat. It was a long haul with all those grocery bags down to the house. Friday 10-31 It's a beautiful day. What a difference a few days make. Mike was concerned about our solar panels this morning because they weren't charging by 11am according to our charge controller. He had to re set the system and it all seems to be fine. We'll see if there is any trouble tomorrow when we get up. He's not sure why the system had to be re set. Once Mike got us back on line I did laundry and made a big pot of sausage and peppers using my Crockpot. Woo hoo. Life is starting to get back to normal little by little. We started working on getting the last 3 solar panels off the roof. Here is Niki on the roof. She can never be far from us. And Niki back on the ground. Of course she found the most comfortable spot on the gravel. Do you think she needs a diet, lol? We are now going to add onto our existing solar rack. We have to dig 3 holes for 3 more poles. Two are done. Then we have to cut the poles down. Mike using the chainsaw to cut the poles. All 3 poles are in the ground and cut down. Then we measure and cut the cross boards and screw them to the poles. The new addition to our rack is complete. Tomorrow we will install the other 6 panels. Saturday 11-1 We woke up this morning and heard a bunch of turkeys. We've been seeing a lot of turkeys lately. We went to the door and there was about 15 turkeys and a big gobbler displaying his feathers. We tried to get a picture but they are so skittish. Mike took a picture through the door but they already heard us. Next Mike went to check our charge controller. Not good. He got the manual out and tried to re set the system again. This time I heard a small electrical pop and then smelled something burning. Uh oh! Sure enough there was definitely something wrong with the charge controller because it burnt up. We don't know what happened to it because it has been working fine for months. Mike had to disconnect all the wires, take that one off the wall, and put a new one up. This is why Mike wants 2 completely separate systems. This way if something happens to one part or component we won't be completely without power. On Monday Mike will have to order another charge controller for our other 6 solar panels. While Mike was doing that I took our doors outside and got them ready to paint. Mike wanted help with installing the panels but now he has to wait until I finish painting. He goes down to visit Howard at the barn. When he comes back he tells me that the man that bought 98 is very happy with him. I must have done a good job training that baby bull. Mike spray painted all the brackets black to match the solar panels. He also spray painted my door hinges, screws, and bolts silver because the came in brass. After all that we started installing the other 6 solar panels. First Mike bolted the brackets onto the panel and then we screwed each panel to the rack. The first 2 are done. We got all 6 panels added. Now it's starting to look like a real solar set up. We have a total of 12 solar panels which should create more power than we need. Mike connected those 6 panels to their own outdoor combiner box and they will have their own charge controller inside the house(as soon as we get another one). All the wires nice and neat. I finished painting the doors and Mike put all the hinges back on. Sunday 11-2 So far, so good. We are in the green and the solar panels are charging just fine with the new charge controller. It's another beautiful morning. Mike went outside and started working on a trench for our drain pipes. He dug a 12 foot long by 1 foot deep trench for our pipe. He tied the drain pipe from around the foundation to the gutter downspout with a connector. Then he tied it into the new pipe. We still have to extend it a little farther but at least we won't get flooded if it rains really hard. I wanted an easier day so I decided to paint the door trim inside the house. Well it took much longer than expected. First I had to tape everything off which took awhile and then I started painting. After that coat dried I decided I wasn't too happy with it so I painted it all a second time. Hopefully this will look better. The whole time I had to lock Niki outside. You would have thought she was being killed. She sat at the door on the outside just looking in the whole time. Pitiful. She can't stand to be away from me especially if she can see me. Mike says if I had a ramp going up my butt Niki would climb right up. After I finished the painting I went up top and helped Mike dig "another" hole to re install our original wind turbine. We got the hole dug and the pipe with the concrete on it into the ground. Here is Mike on the tractor trying to hit it farther into the ground. That was one more week in the Mike and Lisa world. I hope you all enjoyed. Lisa

Chapter 32...Kitchen Counter And Solar Rack

Off Grid...Chapter 32 Week of 10-13-08 Good morning everyone! I'll start out by saying Thank you all for your encouragement and loyalty. Mike really thanks everyone because if it wasn't for all of you and this story, I probably wouldn't have taken a single picture. Before this story I didn't even have a camera. Time to get started. We have a good story and lots of pictures today. Monday 10-13-08 We made "another" trip to Lowe's. We picked up the counter top for the kitchen, our bathroom faucet(the first one didn't fit), more ceiling tile, and the ceiling tile grids. We had quite a load going home. We got everything home and into the house. We are storing our excess materials in the second bedroom. This way we will have indoor projects to do when the weather isn't so nice out. This is what my counter top looks like. We decided to go with a pre-made formica top because of the ease. It was also in stock. I think it looks very neat and clean. Mike installed the faucet in the bathroom vanity and now we have a functional bathroom. http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk137/lisa_in_east_tn/10-14-08bathroomvanityandsinkareins.jpg (broken link) And. http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk137/lisa_in_east_tn/10-14-08Bathroomisfunctional.jpg (broken link) Tuesday 10-14 Today it's time to work on the kitchen counter tops, yeah!! We bought 2 ten foot angled formica tops. We have to cut the first one down to 9 feet. We have to be very careful because Formica can chip when you cut it. First we laid the top upside down across the saw horses. Then we placed a piece of straight wood on the counter to use as a guide for the circular saw. Mike is screwing the guide in place after we took the measurements. Next I hold the top in place While Mike makes the first cut using a fine tooth finish blade on his Skil Saw. It's a success "no chips". We put the first piece on top of the cabinets. Now it's time to cut the space out for the kitchen sink. Again, we have to be very careful not to chip the formica. Mike measures the opening and then tapes off what he is going to cut to protect the top. He uses a hole saw to cut out 4 holes in the corners where the sink will go. This is so he can get the blade from the saws all in to start cutting in the corners. After he makes the cut big enough he uses his circular saw to finish the cuts. Next we measure the other side of the counter top and cut it down to 5 feet. Now we have to connect the 2 counters together on an angle. Using the saw horses and some boxes stacked on the floor, we lay the counter on top the way it is supposed to be on top of the cabinets. Then we glued the seam and while I held that tight Mike went underneath and bolted the seam together. Once everything was glued and bolted we "very carefully" lifted the entire counter and put it in place on top of the cabinets. I cleaned the excess glue and now we just have to put a few screws in to hold it in place. That's one thing nice about formica, once it is in, you are done. Now we are able to install the kitchen sink and faucet. Mike is underneath the sink clipping it in. The sink is in and the counter top is done. I think it looks great and I can't wait to use my new kitchen. Woo Hoo! Today was a really good day but very time consuming. We had to be so careful when we made the cuts in the formica. One mistake and we would have had to buy another 10 foot section. Mike did a good job. Mike also ordered another water pump to replace the one that arrived broken. We also found out that our furniture will be delivered on Saturday, yeah! Wednesday 10-15 This morning we got another and hopefully our last propane delivery for the motorhome. If all goes well we will move into the house sometime next week. After the delivery truck left. Johnny from the gas company showed up to hook up our water heater. He couldn't do it the last time he was here because we didn't have the roof vent in. While he was here Mike asked him about the Bosch tankless water heaters. Johnny said we made the right choice by going with a standard water heater. He said there are a lot of problems with some of the tankless water heaters because they can't get the water hot enough. Anyway that's another opinion about tankless water heaters from our gas man. So if any of you decide to go with a tankless water heater do lots of research. Mike has figured out how we are going to mount our next 6 solar panels. We went to town to pick up the lumber to make our mount. We spent about $80.00 on 3 10ft 4x4's, 3 8ft 4x4's, and 2 2x8x14ft pressure treated boards. If we ordered a solar mount from any of the solar catalogs it would have cost us at least $700.00 plus the cost of the poles. We got home and started digging. Oh joy! We measured and dug the first 3 back poles about 3 1/2 feet into the ground. Mike is banging the poles in a little more. We also had to take out our original wind generator, you know after we cemented the pole in the ground. After the poles are in the ground we leveled the 14 foot cross board and screwed it in place. We will finish the rest tomorrow. Thursday 10-16 We started our day by digging the holes for the front 3 poles. We are trying not to make a mess so we put a tarp next our hole for the dirt and we cut out the curlex so we can dig a neat hole. Now we have all 6 poles in the ground and we decided to lower the back cross board so the panels aren't so high. We also installed the lower cross board. Then Mike cut the tops of the poles down using a chainsaw while I held the tops. We attached L brackets to the solar panels, lifted them up, and screwed them to our rack at a 15 degree angle. Our first panel is installed. Once we had a system it went very smoothly but we did work until dark.  We got all 6 solar panels mounted onto our new rack. Now Mike has to wire the panels into the house. This is the first part of our "off grid" modifications. We realized that our original 6 panels and smaller wind generator weren't producing enough electric to keep our battery bank fully charged. As we keep making modifications we will keep you updated on the changes and how they are working for us. This is a big learning experience. Friday 10-17 Thankfully we got all the panels up yesterday because we had a rainy day. We couldn't get any work done outside. I went to town and did some errands while Mike organized his building. While I was in town I ran into the UPS man so I picked up our water pump. I'm sure the driver was very happy he didn't have to go up our driveway. When I got home Mike went down to the house and installed and tested the new water pump. So far so good. We did a little more cleaning and organizing for the rest of the day. Saturday 10-18 Today is the "big day". Our furniture is supposed to be delivered this morning. Mike and I are really nervous because we don't know if the truck is going to make it up our driveway. We have a plan in case the truck doesn't make it (we always do). We will just have to unload everything into the barn, check it all, and Mike and I will have to bring the furniture up one piece at a time on the trailer. I really hope it doesn't come to that because I don't think Mike and I can lift some of the furniture. We did as much prep work as we can. Mike spent about 45 minutes grading every bump in the driveway. He really wants to make sure the truck makes it up our driveway. I look out the window and I see Mike parking the tractor. That means the delivery truck is here. Oh I am so nervous. Mike and I both stand at the top of the hill and watch the driver coming up to the top. The driver is going too slow ans sure enough he comes to a stop (oh no) and starts backing down the driveway. This is our nightmare and it is not looking good. Mike goes down with the tractor to see if he can do anything. Both men get out of the truck and go to the back. Mike blades the spot where they got stuck and comes back to the top. He told me "they shifted the furniture so most of the weight is over the rear wheels". Ok, they are starting up the driveway again. Oh god, I can't watch. C'mon C'mon. After an agonizing minute or so they make it. Woo Hoo. Oh happy day! It's happy dance time. Everything looks great. Soon Mike and I will be moving in. We helped the movers. While they brought the furniture down to the house we helped untaped everything and folded up the blankets. They were very careful with everything. After they left we started moving things into the house. Woo Hoo. Now we are on it! Mike also installed a couple of ceiling lights. This is a temporary set up because as you all know we didn't do the ceiling yet. Ah light. Now we can see. I know it seems like we do things out of order but there really is a method to our madness. We have to beat the cold weather and get out of the motorhome and into the house. We will do the ceiling, trim and most of the finish work when we are in the house. If we hadn't done it this way we would probably still be in the mh when the snow comes and that would be really bad. Sunday 10-19 Today was a crazy day. We woke up and there was frost on the ground. This is not good. We are running out of time. We have to get out of the motorhome and winterize it. Mike started off by filling the mh with 15 gallons of diesel so we can use the generator. Then he filled our water tank which he does every couple of days. Then he started working on the wiring for the solar panels. Each of the 6 panels has 2 wires, one positive and one negative. First he has to extend these wires, tie them neatly together, and then use a bracket to screw them to our mount. Then all the wires have to be connected to the outdoor combiner box. Here is the combiner box. All the wires. The first 3 are done. All 6 are done. Now Mike has to connect all of these to the combiner box but we don't have the connectors. This is what our new solar mount and panels look like. While Mike was working on that I did the usual cleaning and laundry. I also started packing, for the big move LOL. Then I started bringing stuff down to the house. Here are some pictures of our furniture. This is our bedroom set. We have to get a mattress this week. And our armories. Mike "loves" armories so I agreed that we could each get one instead of building a closet. This is our dining room table. Our media chairs. And the little table for my laptop. Now Mike and I can be next to each other when I'm online. What a pair we are. He'll have his headphones on watching TV and I'll be online or reading. After all these years he still wants to be close to me. We ordered 2 more chairs, 2 tables, and a matching sofa table for the living room but they aren't in yet. Mike and I will have to pick them up from the warehouse when they arrive. We also cleaned up the building and loaded a bunch of stuff onto the trailer to store in the barn. The last of the yard work for the year also got done today. We graded, raked, and shoveled rocky dirt into the bucket of the tractor from the "other" side of the house. Then I seeded that hill, rolled the curlex out on the hill next to the block, and stapled it in place. This should hold the hill until the grass grows in. Then we got the extension cord, hoses, and pressure washer out. Mike started pressure washing the side of the house.  I finished that side and the back of the house. Then Mike took over again and finished the side with all the solar stuff. We are preparing the house so I can get a final coat of paint on this week. I am going to paint and Mike has to finish all the wiring. We moved more stuff into the house and Mike finished caulking in the bathroom. We are really going to push hard this week so we can be moved into and living in the house by the end of the week. Then we need a couple of days off, yeah right. That was a recap of our week. I hope you all enjoyed the story. Lisa and Mike