Solar - Moving the Panels - Part 3

carrying part of the rack base
On to the panels themselves.  The twelve individual panels were removed from the mounting rack at the lake and both racking and panels were then transported up to the garage (thank you again orange friend).  

Then the rack base was dissembled, brought up piece by piece to the new location near our garage and reassembled in the new location.  



Racking mounted on the base
At this point, of course, we are no longer powered by solar at the cottage itself.  Instead we continue to use the battery but are now recharging the battery via a generator. Technically this works fine but just isn’t the same  (that background hum, the fuel cans ….).  So we want to make the rest of the move quickly – to get back on quiet, free solar power.



reassembly


This time instead of a direct southern exposure as we had done at the lake edge we have chosen an direction slightly off south – more like 11:00 o’clock (if 12:00 is due south).  Future panels will be directed slightly the other way – say 1:00.  We are hoping to get a longer day of exposure by doing this.   

First the rack base is reassembled in the new location.  Under the base of the racking is a bed of rock, and gravel, keeping things even.  The base is extraordinarily heavy so once it is in place it stays there.  The aluminum racking itself, which attaches to the base is reattached and made parallel. The panels themselves are remounted on to the rack one at a time until we again have our original 12 panels, looking much the same as they did a few days earlier, in the previous location. 




Done !
bringing the battery over



Next up – the battery needed to move from the cottage to the garage area.  This is not a small battery.  Again, our orange friend to the rescue and the battery is trundled off to the garage area.  Hook up and the additional wiring was done remarkably quickly – due in large part to the making of list after list to make sure that everything that could be done ahead was, and that the time when we were out of power was as short as it could be.





After confirmation that all was flowing as it should, it was time for a couple of G&Ts and showers.


Time for G&T



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A New Battery

Image
  As most of you know we are on solar power at the lake There is a back up propane generator but most of the time we exist totally on what shines from the skies.   Our lifestyle there is not compromised, although perhaps not exactly what we have in the city.   For instance we do not have A/C, dishwasher or laundry.   On the other hand I use a hair dryer and a vacuum cleaner, and all measure of other stuff including and electric fridge with no worries. old battery So far we have been managing with a biggish (technical term) lead acid battery.   Think similar to one that might be used on an electric fork truck.   That is our old battery above.   This has worked well for us over the years but is a bit of a science project.   Some of the shortcomings with the lead acid were issues around the amount of water it liked to drink and issues around the state of charge vs freezing temperatures in the winter (plus all sorts of checking of this and that...
Read more

Vietnam 14 - Phong Nha, Ninh Binh and Cat Ba Island

Image
In my opinion Hoi An is the most beautiful town in Vietnam.    But – apart from the beaches and rice paddies – the local landscape is a bit – meh. So what to do? Head north of course. Between Hoi An and Hanoi are a few truly spectacular areas.   First we visited Phong Nha, which is home to some giant caves some of which have only become known in the past few years.   Phong Nha considers itself the adventure capitol of Vietnam and is full of cave touring companies some gear shops and low priced accommodation to meet the needs of young adventurers. Our travelling companions (daughter and friend) are in the demographic of high interest to Phong Nha.   We on the other hand are, well, not really.   So, while the girls did a 2 day cave adventure complete with headlamps and ropes, Bob and I did the basic tourist version of a couple caves namely Paradise cave and Phong Nha cave. Why a hat inside a cave?  Great early...
Read more

Vietnam 3 - Hoi An - The House

Image
View from the upstairs As indicated the plan for our time in Vietnam is to have a place to call home, not a hotel, and to explore the country using that as a base. There are various ways of doing that of course – including Airbnb.   I got fairly lucky and found a Facebook group that focused on Expats and property in Hoi An.   So – I have been monitoring this group for a while to get a sense of what might be available, the costs involved and how to find a place. As a result, it seemed like the best plan was to arrive here and then look.   General consensus was that everything looks great on the internet but you really need to see the place before committing.   The time of year helped too.   There would be plenty of availability when we were set to arrive.   This was a different approach than we took in Spain where I had the place nailed down early, and I think that had worked out very well there. Now – heading to the other side of the w...
Read more