Solar Baby

posted by katlupe on Jun 30

When we first started out here at Peaceful Forest Homestead using solar, as I have told many times before here, and on my other blog, Homesteading On The Internet, we had one 55 watt panel, a very tiny charge controller (so tiny in fact, it has no name on it anywhere) and used an automotive inverter from Walmart and two fork-lift truck batteries. If we needed to charge our batteries we had to bring our car up to the window and hook it up and let it run. Yuck! You can imagine the smell and the noise! I always remember my pet hen, Lil’ Red for some unknown reason, would hang out around the stinky car while it was running. We went through a lot of gas that way. The one panel we had was on a wooden frame and we would move it around the yard to try to keep it in the sun! Of course, we were new to this solar power stuff.

So here it is eleven years later and everything has changed. We still have a small system. Though it has, and is still growing. Our panels have grown to five, they are now on our barn roof. Every morning they are getting good sun. We have had them bringing in as much as 21 amps which is the most we have ever had. Right now as I am writing this, they are bringing in 15 amps. What a difference!  And for longer periods of time too.

The important thing is that we are independent of the utility company. No matter what, we are on our own and not dependent on the electric dictator. Our power has never gone out unless it was from the fault of something in our power system. Which we did have that happen a few years back. But once it was fixed with the expert advice from Backwoods Solar, where we purchased a good share of our equipment, we were up and running. Haven’t had any issues since then. Never have to call the electric dictator to complain about the bill or make arrangements to pay it. Nothing like that! And no matter how cheap your bill is………..you still are giving someone else money to run your house. I don’t care if it is thirty or forty dollars a month or less, you could be putting that in your pocket instead. It is your choice though and I am not writing this blog to convince anyone to change to using solar or any other alternative power system. I am just telling you that it is possible to do even if you are on a strict budget. Our system went together little by little, dollar by dollar.

So not only am I happy every morning when we have sun for my garden but for my solar system as well. July should be a good sunny month for us here but you never know as the part of New York we live in gets lots of rain. I know on the horizon is solar panels that get charged even on cloudy days and I know my husband would be happy to have those panels. Because someday we plan on having an electric car that is charged with our own power system.

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

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posted by katlupe on Jun 27

Living out beyond the power lines makes it easy to choose to set up your own energy system. It also means that your secluded homestead could be susceptible to unwanted intruders or burglars. Your solar system alone could make you a target for solar panel theft. Yes, I read on line about one lady who was sleeping in her house when all her panels were stolen off her roof! Don’t laugh at her………….the article also told of a police station using solar for their system and had theirs stolen as well. Now you can laugh! But don’t think it can’t happen to you! With the cost of things, including solar panels so high, people will do what they must to get them or to sell them. So you must protect yourself as well as your belongs. This is where a home security team comes in, keeping your home protected whether you are home or not. Even a dog could be shot or drugged. A security system offers you a monitoring system that reacts to emergencies twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.  Even in times of emergencies, such as storms, the monitoring system stays in place and active.

Leaving the doors unlocked or your keys in your vehicle are pretty normal for small towns or rural areas. A couple of years ago a man had escaped from prison and he was going to rural areas around us and stealing trucks. He liked it if the keys were left in it as it made it easier for him to steal. So people were locking up their trucks at night instead of letting them sit there begging to be stolen. Leaving your garage door open when you leave to go to town is not good either. That is almost as bad as the people on Face Book who announce to the world that they are going away for two weeks and locking up their house. Not a good idea! Especially since Google maps will lead anyone right to your door!

The first thing to do when considering setting up protection for your home is to take a good look at it. Can you see a bunch of things right off the bat that would make it inviting to intruders? Here is a small survey at Fort Worth, PD designed for looking at your home in a new light. It will help you see things that you can change to make your home less appealing to thieves and vandals. The survey covers the house itself, including the doors and windows, the landscaping and the garage. Best to know how a thief thinks when trying to make a protection plan! What would appeal to you may not appeal to them.

Now to protect your home here are some  police security tips. I figure they would know better than me how to do it. When I took the survey I realized our home is not as well protected as I would like. So now we are working on some of these points. Since our home is being remodeled and designed to accommodate our alternative energy system I think we can incorporate some of these tips into our design. Makes me wonder how smart it is putting in so many windows which would bring in passive heat when windows are what is the easiest to break into. I look at so many fancy homes and they have lots of windows and landscaping to give them privacy. That is not good either. The landscaping hides someone trying to break in your home.

So remember to try to follow some of these guidelines when setting up an off-the-grid home. The problem with these homesteads is that they are  usually many miles away from other homes. No neighbors and no traffic are two things that could make your home easy for a break-in or a vandal. And don’t forget that your solar panels are not something to be taken for granted. They are outside in plain view probably and they are of value to others. So be careful or they may end up missing if you don’t set up some sort of protection from theft and vandalism. Setting up a security system could be the best investment you could make!  Good luck!

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

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posted by katlupe on May 6

Yesterday, I told some of the process of moving our solar panels from their spot in front of our house to our barn roof. Our barn is pretty tall and the roof is sort of steep. I worried about this constantly, as I feared my husband climbing up there. I could not picture how he could do it carrying a solar panel up the ladder, and onto the roof.  Then connecting it to the wires and setting it in place. I was really scared about this whole process from the start. I am not one of those types of women who can climb a ladder, even if my knees weren’t so bad. Never been mistaken for a “tomboy” that’s for sure! But I sure wished I could have helped him.

He built a little wooden frame and tied to a tree in back of the barn. Then he took it up there on the roof and was able to put his feet against it while he worked up there. He had to put the roof racks up there first. Then because our panels were not all bought at the same time from the same distributor, they were a variety of sizes. So our first three panels had to be accommodated according to their sizes. The newest two panels that we purchased last fall are the same size. We hope to buy two more of  those in the near future. Now we can see the value of purchasing all the panels in the same sizes so they have that uniformed look.

He managed to get them all up there. The hardest one was the last one to go up and the smallest. It was the first panel we had for our system. This one is a Sieman’s 50 watt panel. This panel we had originally set up on a board and would move it from place to place in the yard to catch the rays. That was back when we used an old car to charge our batteries. It worked, but wasn’t the best or most efficient set up. Now we need more power! Three computers online almost all day. Not to mention our new satellite set up which uses a lot more power than we though.

Once they were all up there, they looked so tiny! They now look like the panels used for charging a solar phone. They are giving us 350 watts of power though. For us that is good. I will be adding more so we can get our solar refrigeration, the SunDanzer refrigerator and the SunDanzer freezer. They are much needed here!  Then when the water is in place in the house we will be using a water pump and our washing machine. I will add a dishwasher in the future but no dryer. As far as I can tell right now I do not really have any desire for one of them. We’ll see what happens and how well our power system accommodates our needs. We can grow it for whatever we want to add in the future.

Love the sunshine we get on our homestead! Now I know when I see that sun it means I have some power. And we have more power coming in for longer periods of the day. In the winter the sun hits that barn roof pretty much from sun up to sun down. Less time with that noisy generator running!

Copyright © 2010 Kathleen G. Lupole
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posted by katlupe on May 5

Since the weather warmed up my husband has been busy working on moving our solar panels to the barn roof. It entailed running the wires through the conduit that was buried underground in the fall. He had to then run the wire from there, through the barn and up the wall downstairs. Then through the ceiling up to the second floor of the barn. From there it had to go through the metal roof to where the panels would be placed on top of the barn roof. Whew! What a job that was! It was not easy as on any project like this, you do a little come to a problem and have to figure it out. Then go back to the store to get more parts or tools, and work on it some more. He said the wire was very hard to work with. It takes strong arms to get it through the conduit. He did it though with bad arms and shoulders. He also had to put in a grounding rod to protect it. All electrical systems have to be grounded.

From there the wiring had to be connected into the Midnight Solar Combiner Box. Smaller gauge wire is used from the combiner box to the solar panels on the barn roof. A combiner box is used to bring together the outputs of multiple series strings of panels and provide over current protection for each series string in the solar array. Inside the box positive and negative bus bars are used to parallel the output of each of these series strings. The box also allows you to transition between the solar panels and the batteries and/or inverter to minimize transmission voltage drop.

The National Electrical Code requires a breaker or fuse in the positive lead of each series of panels for over current protection. Series fusing prevents the possiblility of individual series strings of modules backfeeding another paralledled series string that develops an electric short circuit. Using a combiner box will give you a code-compliant, as well, as an organized wired network. To make it easier to understand, a combiner box hooks several panels into 1 DC output to connect to the charge controller. This is completely opposite of the typical home in which an AC circuit breaker panel takes 1 AC input and distributes it to several AC circuits.

As I told you in an earlier post on this blog, “This (Midnight Solar) combiner box will accommodate the 150 volt direct current charge controllers and 600 volt direct current grid-tie inverters. It is a water proof aluminum enclosure with an insulated dead front, that will take up to six 150 volt direct current breakers or four 600 volt direct current fuse holders. It runs about $109. more or less not including shipping.”

Then from there will be the job of carrying the solar panels up the ladder and putting in place on the racks on the top of the barn roof. It is not easy for someone working alone. But I am sure my husband will do the job as it needs to be done. After all, he did build our barn and put the roofing up himself. He wants it done so he can add more panels in the future and not have it be such a complicated job. I will be adding a post in a few days with the results of placing the panels up there.

Copyright © 2010 Kathleen G. Lupole
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posted by katlupe on Apr 5

When anyone realizes that I don’t use a clothes dryer they really freak out! They cannot imagine living without one. Most homes have a washer and a dryer and if someone is at the laundromat it is usually due to one of those appliances breaking down. Like I have said many times on here, you have to sacrifice to have your own alternative energy system for a low amount of money. Money is what holds most people back. They will say to me, “my electric bill is only $40. a month, so it don’t pay for me to switch to my own system.” Or $10. a month. You’d be surprised how cheap some people say their electric bills are! I would not be surprised to hear them say that the electric company is paying them to use their power! LOL I don’t know why people feel compelled to explain to me why they aren’t using an alternative energy systems. That is their choice. I REALLY don’t care. For me using solar is the only way to have power. I have no choice as the grid power lines do not come to my house. And if I wanted to bring them here it would be way over $50,000. and that is no exaggeration.

The thing I am seeing about the future will be that everyone will be using solar and wind power………..but they will be paying the grid utility companies for it. You pay for someone to take care of your needs. That is fine for most of the people……..but I am talking about self-sufficiency and independence here. Not necessarily about the money. I like the freedom of not getting the electric bill. For going on eleven years we have not paid an electric bill. I can remember many times getting behind on our electric bills. I would have to pay a certain amount to keep the power on. Then pay some of the old bill and all of the new bill for the next few months. It was a struggle to say the least. We have gone through some bad times out here and if we had been hooked up, I figured it would have been turned off long ago.

But if you take the amount of money your electric bill cost and put that away for a year or two, then start buying your components………pretty soon you will be smiling! You will be saying, “look, my tv, lights and computer are running on my small system. They are not costing me to run them!” Or you will take out a small loan to buy a small system and in five years you will pay your last payment…….and you are on your own. No payment and no electric bill. I know, I know, I know, most of the people who will come here will say they love those electric grids. They love those wires strung throughout their states’ mountains and fields. They love paying those bills for the privilege of using thier own appliances in their own homes. So do I. But I don’t have to pay for it anymore. I cannot tell you how many times UPS or Federal Express drivers deliver something to my home and they turn their truck off…….yes, they turn their truck off and want to talk about our system. Now these guys and girls are usually in a big hurry to get their delivery done, but they make the time to stop and study it. In fact, one of our UPS drivers, a woman has had her own system installed the in last couple of years to power her soon to be built cordwood house.

Yes, it does make you use your appliances smarter. And if you have a spouse and children, you can even, in fact, teach them how to monitor the system themselves. I’d say it would be good for children to learn this as they are growing up in a time period when they will probably be powering their own homes with solar. Some of them may go on to be solar installers or work in the field in some way. Some of these children may decide to live as green as they can for their own children and grandchildren. To be independent and self-sufficient and not so wasteful. It seems to me that everyone has been proud of being wasteful but I think that time is changing. Our country is not the top one anymore and we have to start looking out for ourselves. An off-the-grid home has no choice as I said before, but other homes do and should take the time to learn about net zero homes and using other sources of power.

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

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posted by katlupe on Mar 29

Bringing water into a house that has never had it before is a lot more complicated when you are doing all the work yourself with no help from anyone. My husband has been trying to get our water in so that by next year we can turn our faucet on like anyone else. For the time being we will not have hot running water. We will be heating the water on the stove for hot water. Eventually we will be adding a solar collector to our system.

Ditches dug in the fall when ground was soft.

My husband dug the ditches for the conduit that would hold the electrical wires and the ditch for the water pipe in the fall. He got the electric wire that is in the conduit back in the ground last  fall and covered it over before the ground froze.

The battery room

He started working on the well and the pipe that would go to it as soon as our snow had melted. We thought it was going to be a tougher job than it was. Knowing our hand dug well was put in when our house was built, which was in 1850, we had no idea what it would entail. Turns out that he just had to pull some of the rocks out that made the side of the well. It was pretty interesting to see what the inside of it looked like. From this photo you can see what it looks like, the pitcher pump sits on top on a thick flat cement block.

A glimpse inside the well.

Having our own source of water has been nice. I know many homesteaders and/or people who live off-the-grid have to drive somewhere to bring water in. Thank goodness we haven’t had to do that. Our water is very clean and fresh. Our horses are VERY critical of what water they drink and they will only drink it clean. No setting up an old bathtub for these fussy girls! I will like having it inside the house though. Getting tough carrying water for me.

Water pipe going into our hand dug well.

He used pvc pipe for the water. Once he got the pipe in he closed it back in with rock and field stones. Then he covered the whole ditch back in with dirt and compost over the top. As soon as the grass starts growing you will not even know it was dug up.

Rock filled the hole in around the pipe.

This has been a long process for us as my husband had to take the front porch off our house as well. It is all for the best as it needed replacing anyway. Not easy bringing in our wood and everything else through our sliding glass door though. Buying everything little by little as we can afford it. That keeps the work from being overwhelming I suppose. It will be a whole new thing for us to have running water in our house. But I will NEVER waste or take for granted…………….my water supply.

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

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posted by katlupe on Mar 23

Since we are having a wonderful spring so far in upstate New York we are getting antsy to have our new solar panels added to our system and on the barn roof.  Putting them up there takes some work for my husband so he is doing it little by little. Once he gets the roof racks up there and fastened down, he will have to carry each solar panel up the ladder and put it in place. This is with no help. Unfortunately, I cannot climb the ladder at all. My knees have limited what work I can do anymore. So he has to do it all. He has been a good sport with no complaining. But that means that he has to do all the hard work alone and I get disgusted with myself over this. He does not complain though……and especially about our solar system. Seems like he has been very excited about it growing these last couple of weeks.

This is the electric wire encased in the conduit underground.

The electrical wire has been run through conduit to protect it from the elements underground, coming  from the batteries in the new battery room to the barn. There the wire will be connected from the batteries to the Midnight Solar Combiner Box. There will be smaller wire from the combiner box to the solar panels on the barn roof.  This combiner box will accommodate the 150 volt direct current charge controllers and 600 volt direct current  grid-tie inverters. It is a water proof aluminum enclosure with an insulated dead front, that will take up to six 150 volt direct current breakers or four 600 volt direct current  fuse holders. It runs about $109. more or less not including shipping.

Midnight Solar Combiner Box installed on barn wall

Midnight Solar Combiner Box

CLICKSYS™ is a the rack system we are using to hold our solar panels on the barn roof.  I told about them in my January 9, 2010 post. They are not cheap but they are easier to work with and eliminate 40% of the labor. So we were sold on them. They are manufactured by Unirac. You can see in the photo two of the racks at the end of the barn. The solar panels will snap right into place on them and hopefully will be safe.

One of the roof racks in place on the roof.

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

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posted by katlupe on Mar 18

This week our weather has been beautiful here in upstate New York. Our sun has been out and bringing in power to our small solar system. It was so beautiful in fact, that my husband connected the two brand new solar panels to the rest of our solar array temporarily to use that power. He was waiting to get them up on the barn roof but has more work that needs to be done before that move is possible. So for the time, they are out front with the other panels.

Sun hitting the panels yesterday!

The most amps our system has ever brought in with the three older panels was 11 amps. These connected to the others was bringing in 19 amps yesterday and the day before! Some difference. Our system is small and so are our needs at this time. We are running three laptops almost all day. And a printer which is turned off until someone uses it, then it is used and turned back off. Since we have added a satellite connection for our internet, that has increased our power usage. The module that sits on the desk has little blinking lights on all the time it is on and it is connected to a router which is how are three laptops are connected to a wireless network.  They are energy hogs! Plus my husband’s new Lenovo laptop (W700) , uses much more power.  Like mine, it is a energy star model but it uses much electric since it is more powerful. It even has a 17″ screen. We have some electric lights in the kitchen that we use at night and that is about it. Our little night lights in the living room are like Christmas lights but tinier and are hooked right into the batteries and we never turn them off. That is about it for what we use around here for electric.

Our new satellite dish for faster internet!

If you need all the electrical gadgets and things then it would be really difficult for you or your family to live this way. I always knew that eventually things would change and improve here. But some people have no patience and cannot sacrifice for their future. They want it NOW and they don’t care if they have to pay for it to have it. So to them I say for them to just stay on the grid and forget about self-sufficiency. To some people being self-sufficient means gardening and raising livestock. Now to me, it means not having someone else directing my life. I try to grow as much of my own vegetables and fruits as I can. But will never raise livestock for killing. Hens for eggs is another story.

You can really see that sunlight hitting the panels there!

There is a tool called the Solar Pathfinder that will help you find the exact location to place your solar panels in to catch the sun. My husband has studied our property for over ten years day by day, hour by hour, season by season to come up with the perfect spot. That is how he came to know it will be on our barn roof. They are safer up there too. So we will see how it goes once they are in place. But for right now, he is happy with them at least bringing in some power out there with the others for now.

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

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posted by katlupe on Mar 17

One of the most important jobs you will have keeping your solar system running smoothly is taking good care of your batteries! Our batteries consist of 24 Exide locomotive deep cycle batteries. Lead-Acid batteries are the norm in home energy. Battery care is so important that I just can’t stress this enough. It is one area that can really suffer from neglect or abuse or both.

When we first started like I told you in earlier posts, we had two fork-lift truck batteries. Then we moved up to two more for a total of four. I know everyone will tell you not to add new ones to old, but we did, and they worked great. Our first two we bought in 1999 and then added the next two in 2004. Five years later and used them for three more years with absolutely no problems. In 2007  we had an opportunity to design a website for someone in exchange for 24 Exide locomotive batteries, made by Exide Technologies.  They were used, but clean. Since you can see inside of them we knew they were clean. No corrosion around the top at all. They came off someone’s system who took excellent care of them.

One of the most important parts of your home energy system will be your batteries. Batteries are where you store the power that comes from your solar panels. Your batteries are one of the components of your system that need your attention. You need to monitor them regularly. Good care in the beginning will mean they may last longer than most people think they will. Mine will be moved soon and that will be a big job as they are pretty heavy.

When we first started out, we used an older vehicle for charging our batteries. But this is not really advisable, as they are shallow cell, not deep cycle and will not last long in a home energy system. A larger battery bank is a plus, because it can accept faster charging by the generator and give high power discharge for inverter surge without strain. In northern areas, such as my area of New York state, the larger reserve prevents it from running down to 50%. Which is a big benefit for your batteries!

Sealed batteries, Gel or Absorbed Glass Mat types are considered special purpose batteries, since water cannot be added or testing is not possible with a hydrometer. Sealed batteries can be an excellent deep cycle alternative energy battery, but they damage easily from overcharging, so they need to be used with a 3 stage charge controller. They are cleaner and safer, but only if charging is very carefully controlled.

Many systems use the RV/Marine 12 volt battery as they are pretty common. It is half way between a  shallow and a deep cycle battery, with a medium length of life. Then there is the Nickel Cadium (alkaline) batteries. Unlike the lead, deep discharge and failure to recharge do not shorten the batteries’ life. However, they are often overpriced and defective. They cost way more than the lead acid batteries. The voltage swings higher when charging and lower when in use. The charge efficiency is very low. Disposal and recycling can be very costly also. So be very careful if purchasing used!

Your batteries should not discharge more than 50%, and should be recharged 100% immediately. Undercharging, continued overcharging, or contamination can badly damage your batteries. It is very important that if you are storing your batteries that you recharge them periodically. A continual self-discharge when not in use can ruin, even a brand new set of batteries. Deep cycle batteries, (which is the kind I have) have thicker plates and lead-antimony and support grids for years of over 50% deep cycle charge and discharge. In my opinion, these are the easiest to work with. Especially for the beginner.

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posted by katlupe on Mar 14

As I posted in the fall we are planning on adding two more solar panels to our system and placing all five of them on our barn roof. This is not an easy job due to the weather and the high roof of our barn that my husband has to work on. He managed to get out there during the nice days we had this month to put the roof racks on the roof.  I am not sure in my own head as to how he is getting the panels up there as they are pretty big. So when he is doing it I will try to get some pictures of  him in action.

This is the battery room that my husband has added onto our cellar. Our main part of the cellar is a root cellar and he did not want to add anything that would change the root cellar environment as it was built to preserve produce from the garden. He dug this all by hand even with two bad shoulders and a crushed elbow. It was a slow going process but he did it little by little as he could.

This is the battery room as it progressed. You can see the cinder block walls here. It is a narrow room but will hold our batteries, our water pump and our pressurized water tank. It will also have a platform that will lift up and to the outside with our generator on it. That way the it can run outside yet be inside and safe when not in use.  Hopefully, we will not be using it as much as we do now with the panels moved to the barn roof.

Notice the pipe built into the wall at the top. That is where the electrical wire will run through into the house. The door there leads to the root cellar.

During the fall he dug a ditch to put the electric wire in encased in conduit. The ditch comes from the room in the cellar which we call the battery room. Our 24 locomotive batteries will be in there as soon as it is finished. The conduit will keep it safe from the elements in the ground. The wire was the most expensive part so far.

This is the part of the ditch that goes around our pitcher pump and into the battery room. That is where the cinder blocks are that you see in this photo.

You can see where the panels will go. One problem with our panels though is that buying them one at a time over the years they are not all the same dimensions. That is not good if your putting them on roof racks that you have bought. Not uniform. But I know my husband will find a way to make them fit.

Our five panels will all be going on the barn roof before long.  I am looking forward to that. Our sun shines all year on that roof. We are surrounded by state forest with old growth trees that are big trees but they don’t seem to block our house or barn roof  at all. More power means I will be able to use my washing machine at long last. Looking forward to it.

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

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