Solar Power at the BOLAs I have written in past articles we purchased our BOL (Bug Out Location) property in 2005 after a year long search. It was one of the best investments we have ever made. Within a few months after the purchase of the land we ordered and received a 12' x 20' wood shed to put in a clearing on the property. My brother and I insulated it and basically set it up to run like a boat's interior complete with: A galley, berths and a salon. I have written about this build-out in past articles.
In the beginning we got our light from two Aladdin kerosene lamps along with two gas fired Coleman lamps. For entertainment we had a Grundig radio and our lap tops which we would charge with a small inverter plugged into our vehicles when we went to town. As winter and deer season was approaching we knew we needed a little better system.
The family?s goal at the cabin was to be able to power a Sirius 12 volt radio, 12 volt lights, small inverter and use the radio speakers for when we watched a movie on our lap tops. I will break this article down into three parts.
Part One I volunteered to the project the existing 45 watt solar panel from my wife and my sail boat. Purchased two Group 27 deep cycle gel cell marine batteries (Later bought 3 Group 27 wet cell deep cycle marine batteries), plastic storage box, five 12 volt florescent lights, one 12 volt Kenwood marine radio already set-up for satellite radio (Sirius), two 12 volt speakers, a solar panel regulator, a 12 volt circuit panel, enough 12-2 wire to run everything, 00 battery cables and attachments to hook everything together.
Here is everything priced out at today's marine retail prices:
> 45 watt solar panel $300-
> 2, Group 27 deep cycle gel marine batteries $335 ea. $670-
> 5, 12 volt florescent lights $50 ea. $250-
> 1, Kenwood marine radio set up for Sirius $199 $199-
> 2, Speakers $30 ea. $ 60-
> Solar panel regulator $100 $100-
> 1000 W Inverter $100 $100-
> 12 volt Circuit breaker $45 $45-
> 50?, of 12-2 wire $50 $50-
> 6?, 00 battery wire $10 $10-
> Plastic storage box $10 $10-
>
Miscellaneous connectors and parts $20 $20- Approximate total* $1,814-Please understand that I had worked for a marine chandlers at the time and got a substantial discount so all prices listed above were for marine grade merchandise. For non-marine grade items my guest O'met would be about 30-40% less.
You do not need marine grade! All told I think the total bill was $900- which my brother and I split. I already owned the solar panel so take $300- off the top. It figured out to: $1,514.00 retail less employee discount = ~$900.00 my price. So $900 ? 2 = $450.00. Remember -
Non marine grade items will cost you less! Over the Labor Day holiday of 2006, my brother, sister in-law, my wife and I, met up at the cabin with the intent of setting everything up. This is how things went.
Day one we drilled the edge of solar panel and attached two hinges. Then we drilled and attached the hinges and solar panel to the south side of the cabin. We then attached two legs; one on either side to the solar panel. These legs would angle the solar panel towards the sun.
We then put up two battens that would angle the solar panel at 45 degrees in the summer and 25 degrees in the winter. We did this so we got the maximum amount of output from the solar panel depending on the time of year.
A hole was drilled through a spot just below the eaves of the roof to allow for the electric cable to enter the cabin. This cable would run from the solar panel to the solar power regulator. Ran some 12-2 wire from the solar panel through the hole in the side of the cabin to approximately where the control panel would be. Plugged up the hole that the cable ran through with some electrical putty.
Day two of the project I built a circuit breaker box out of wood. Then cut out openings for the solar power regulator and circuit breaker. Installed the two control panels and mounted the circuit breaker box. We now had a control panel for the system.
Put the two deep cycle gel batteries in the plastic storage box under the control panel and parallel connected them together using the 00 battery cable. We then ran 12-2 wire from the positive of one battery and the negative of the other battering to the directed connections on the solar regulator. Then hooked up the wires from the solar panel to the appropriate solar regulator.
Turned on the solar power regulator and Voila! We had over 14 volts going to the batteries which registered 12.8 volts when we installed them.
The last thing we did that day was to hook up the new radio and speakers. We programed the satellite radio and had music that evening as we prepared and ate dinner. We were styling!
Day three of the project we wired up the 12 volt circuit breaker to the batteries and hung the florescent lights from the rafters.
Once the lights were hung we put two lights on one circuit and the other three on another circuit. Ran the appropriate wire to each light and then hooked up the light wires to the circuit breaker.
That night we had electric lights, watched a movie using a laptop patched into the radio for sound. Then fell asleep to some great music.
Part IIOver the next six months we learned the do's and don'ts of our solar power installation. Let me share some of them with you.
> We originally hooked up the radio to the circuit breaker. We got a buzzing when the
Florescent lights were on so we re-hooked the radio power lines directly to the batteries which
seemed to cure the problem. We also added an in-line fuse on the positive line running from
the radio to the battery.
> In the winter (not uncommon to see -0 degree Fahrenheit days at the cabin), the batteries
didn't hold the same charge as in the warmer months. Also, the florescent lights in the winter
would take a bit of time to warm up once turned on. With the shorter days of the winter
and a greater amount of inclement weather, the batteries had to warm up via the wood stove to
eventually work up to a full charge.
> The fancy marine deep cycle gel batteries also needed to be charged at a higher voltage. The
Solar power regulator came set up for wet cell batteries. Once we figured that out it was no
problem to adjust the regulator for the gel batteries.
> The gel batteries only lasted for two seasons. We replaced them with three wet cell, group 27
marine deep cycle batteries in 2009. They were cheaper ($199- ea. Retail) and seemed a
little more forgiving then the gel batteries. These batteries are still working in 2014!
> Later the first year we added a 1000 watt inverter which took care of all of our basic electrical
needs. Word of caution here: Make sure you buy an inverter that has a low voltage alarm.
Converting 12 volt into 120 volts uses up energy fast!
> In 2010 when we built the main cabin; on occasion we had to use a trickle battery charger to
keep the batteries at 50%. The two framers that helped my brother and I build our 1,400 sf log cabin lived
in this small cabin during the build. With those two plus my brother and I we had at times four folks living in
this cabin for approximately 40 days.
During that time it was tough to keep up with the demand of the system from four people from 6AM to
10PM, seven days a week. Plus, neither of the two framers were really familiar with living off the grid plus
fall overcast skies; forced us to top off the batteries once a week or so, when the generator was running.
Part IIIToday we continue to run power from the bunk house (Now known as, the Bunk House or
Lunar
Excursion
Module) to the new cabin. Primarily to run small appliances (wireless router, TV, radio, etc) and on occasion the ceiling fan in the great room using the inverter.
As of May (2013) we have real electricity now running to the first floor of the main cabin but not to the bunk house. She is back to 100% off the grid but needs some updating.
We need to swap out the batteries for new ones and add another 45 watt solar panel. Then she will be running at top efficiency again.
I have ran the numbers and if we were to add three more 45 watt solar panels and have a bank of eight batteries we could run the whole new cabin off the grid. In the winter we would still need to help out the batteries with an occasional trickle charge provided by the generator.
If we were to increase that number of four solar panels and eight batteries to six solar panels and 12 batteries we probably wouldn't need the generator ever. It only takes money.
I am open to any questions or to give some free advice.
