Day 10565

Several weeks ago, I reached out to the guy I bought my solar panels from last year, to see if he had any more available. He had sold me a rack of six 10-year-old US-made Siemens 75-Watt panels, which have been working wonderfully on the roof of the bus. I want to have a dozen of the same panel on hand for the barn build. I had seen his ad on craigslist occasionally over the past year, and he had raised his asking price on the panels since I bought them.

Something I really like about craigslist is that if you trust your spidey senses you can meet some really great people. Building a rapport with buyers and sellers can lead to more information about the vehicles or parts you're swapping, or better yet, deals down the road. Gil remembered me and my slightly crazy plan, confided that he'd like to clear out the entire collection of solar panels, and asked how many I'd be interested in. I asked how many he had. After some texting and phone calls, Gil made me an offer I couldn't refuse, to take his remaining solar panels off his hands. I won't write out the price here, but we both walked away very happy, one of us with a trailer full of solar panels, the other with money in his pocket. Thanks again, Gil.

The source of these panels is dubious, but they appear to be panels off of "variable message signs." Based on the damage that some of these panels have (a lot of blunt trauma... like from trees falling on them) I'm guessing these racks are the rejects that were sold at auction. In the pile are, if I counted right, 52 of the Siemens panels in various conditions, and another 8 skinnier 43-watt panels (2 of which are destroyed.) No more than a quarter have some sort of damage, the rest are intact. My new winter project is to clean these up, find out which ones work, and have them available for friends and family wanting to do any kind of solar projects. I think the skinny 43 watt panels would work really well on the cap of a pickup truck camper.

Over Christmas, I stopped into the land and checked on the bus with my dad and Zeke. With the high snowbank, and the depth of the snow, we elected to walk in on foot.

The bus's solar panels, even as steep as they are, had a dusting of snow on them from the morning's storm. I wiped them off with a broom the best I could. Note to self; make sure the panels on a house are somewhat accessible and easy to clean. I ran the generator for a few minutes to drink some gasoline and top up the battery (it's a Honda, and it just runs... it's amazing.) Next time I'm up I'll try to warm the bus's engine block with the generator in order to get it going... we'll see how that goes!

I'll close out this post by leaving you all with this awesome Christmas gift from aunt Zowie.

Day 10391

I have been behind on posts, because I have been busy doing post-worthy things! It's nice to move forward with things, but it's going by in a blur because it's all happening so fast. The next few posts will probably be picture heavy, and light on description, as I didn't sit down to describe what happened while it was still fresh.

A few weeks ago now, I went down to Nashua to buy a Bolens lawn tractor on behalf of my Grandfather. The tractor was listed as a parts machine, but when I got there the seller was cleaning things out with an air hose, had a battery charger on it, and was adding fresh gas. After 20 minutes of tinkering, we had it running on it's own, and it drove onto the trailer. This was one of those craigslist transactions where you wish you could leave 5-star feedback; the buyer and seller both got what they wanted, no petty haggling, everyone showed up on time, etc.

My dad was taking his Kubota North on the trailer, so we loaded the new old Bolens into the bed of his truck by dropping the gate of the trailer onto the gate of his truck, then ratcheting it up with the farm jack. Since it's still running, I imagine my Grandfather will just add this machine to his collection, instead of using it for parts, as any true Yankee would.

On the bus, I have been tweaking things for the departure North. I added two more tie-downs on the roof, so that a ratchet strap could go over the top of the stowed solar panels for transport. I crafted brackets out of some leftover furniture parts to hold the level, level, on the back wall above the door. So now the level is safe and secure, and still works as a level. I also got a terminal stud for my negative solar power cables (previously the leads were bolted together and wrapped in electrical tape,) and the correct "MEGA" fuse for the positive lead fuse block.

At the property, I cleaned up the remnants of a maple and a poplar which were blown down in a storm. The town had moved the brush to either side of the road, but it wasn't the most attractive, so I spent a morning with the chain saw cutting the remnants into logs, and hauling the brush. This also gave me the opportunity to greet most of my neighbors driving by. I used my truck as a tractor (trucktor?,) hauling two beds full of logs, and pulling several bunches of strapped-together branches through the mucky driveway. I really need a tractor up here.

I erected a small shelter, with some simple survival items (hatchet, wool blanket, rice and beans, toilet paper,) just in case. It's also a place to hide from rain showers. More to follow...

Day 10378

The past two days have been spent wiring the solar panels into the bus's electrical system. My primary references for this job were HandyBob's blog (this man is a wealth of knowledge; all the flakes of gold are buried in his entertaining rants about the solar industry,) and the manual for the TS-45 charge controller.

Here's how I did it...

The quick fix to the solar panel struts bowing out was to lock-wire them across (I did not have 6-8 wraps per inch, because it's a bus.) Now when the weight of the solar panels is on the struts, at the summer angles, the struts won't push through the angle mounts. It's not perfect, but it should work fine... until a wire snaps. 

As a quick aside, I may have learned the hard way that deep cycle batteries shouldn't be used to crank over a diesel;

I'm trying to breath life back into them with a trickle charge. This might be an expensive lesson...

With the panels mounted and mobile, I started wiring from the top down.

I used 6 gauge cable to wire each array of 3 panels, down to the bus roof.

The cable was clamped on the way to keep them from getting pinched, and slack was left on the roof to give me room to work later.

The two positive leads and two negative leads meet a positive and negative 4 gauge cable at the rooftop.

I have a fuse block on order, but in the short term I wired in a fuse to the hot leads, and taped the crap out of them to make sure everything works.

I was left pondering where and how I could punch a hole in the roof to send the 4 gauge cables through...

I had two of the cool little water-tight junctions left over from the panels, which the cable would fit through, but I didn't have a 13/16" holesaw. What I did have was a 3/4" holesaw and a round file.

With interior panels removed, I found a spot above the driver side window where there was no insulation; just layers of steel. I drilled some pilots holes, then hit it with the holesaw (energy to power the drill was provided by the inverter, from the batteries.) Then the file (energy to power me came from duck-egg french toast and a bowl of oatmeal.)

With the junctions installed, I pushed the cable through, and gave it a protective coating of spiral wrap.

Inside the bus, I mounted the Tristar TS-45 charge controller on the front-face of the electrical panel for easy access. The two wires go under the panel, and mount into the negative shunt (so the Trimetric can monitor solar panel output) and the positive stud. 

I routed the 4 gauge wires from the roof down the conduit behind the driver side window, and up into the charge controller.

Face-plate back on. The TS-45 is pretty-much the Bus's Flux Capacitor.

Everything is now wired... double-checked my work... The panels are still pointed north-east, and it's after noon on the longest day of the year (how appropriate) ... let's turn on the Trimetric and see if the panels are making power...

The panels are charging the batteries at 2.8 amps! I'd say that's pretty good considering they aren't even looking at the sun...

The bus now has wood or propane powered cook surfaces, wood or diesel heat, and diesel or solar electricity. 

Next project? A shelf.

Day 10376

Some much-needed leave was taken from work this week, in order to decompress and work on the projects I've had on the back-burner for months.

First up is the bus's solar panels. Some kind of phantom load is draining the batteries (two fresh ones, at that) so having panels operational will be a huge help in the field. As mentioned months ago, these six Siemens SP75 Panels will provide sufficient amperage to recharge the big bank of T105 batteries. Currently the bus has two "normal" diesel truck batteries; so the system will have no trouble keeping that smaller bank charged.

On the roof, I pondered for a while what the best way to mount the panels would be. I already had the base of the panels mounted on the edge of the roof; I wanted to finish building a set up that would allow me to change the angle of the panel to track the seasonal sun, but at the same time avoid perforated angle monstrosities. I wanted a design that could withstand strong northern winds when the panels are angled high in the winter, and easy to move every few months.

Before I get into the nitty gritty of "how" I did this, I'll give you, dear reader, the "why." Summer days are longer than winter days. In the summer, the sun rises in the northeast, climbs high in the southern sky, then sets in the northwest. In the winter, the sun rises in the southeast, stays low in the southern sky, and sets in the southwest. To capture the most amount of sun on any given day, the panels should be aimed true south, at the highest angle the sun reaches. This is where it gets cool; you know how the Earth rotates on it's axis about 23 degrees (hence seasons?) The angle of the sun at noon is just the latitude line you are on, plus or minus 23 degrees for the season. For me, I planned on the bus being up North; 45' Latitude gives me about 68 degrees in the summer, and 22 degrees in the winter. I need to make a mount for my panels so that I can move them between 22 degrees from vertical on the winter solstice, to 45 degrees on the spring equinox, down to 68 degrees on the summer solstice, then back down to 45 degrees for the autumn equinox.

The panels were already wired in groups of three, which I kept together for the install on the roof. Panels 1 & 2 feed into 3, which has the output wires. Likewise, panels 5 & 6 feed into panel 4. With aluminum scrap I mounted the tops of panels 1, 2 & 3, and panels 4, 5 & 6, together. Now I have two banks of three panels. Not only is lifting three at a time much easier than lifting all six, but I could take one bank "down" for maintenance while the other one keeps collecting rays at half power.

To keep a clean, low-drag appearance, I used 1/4" steel rod, bent in a vise, to prop up the panels. At the ends, and center point of the rod, I slid on 3/8" OD spacers. I mounted a perforated angle mounting foot at the center bushing of the rod. At the very ends of the rods I drilled holes for cotter pins to keep the rods bent "out" where they meet the perforated angle on the panels. It turns out I didn't think that one through, though, as the heavy panels do a good job compressing this springy rod, making it sit at the bend, not at the bushing. Reality wasn't agreeing with my design! I think I have a fix for it, stay tuned...

I cut a fresh piece of perforated angle into 2' chunks, then used the remaining perforated angle "feet" I had crafted months ago, to mount the chunk tangent to the bus roof. That one sentence summarizes hours of work sketching, observing, and playing with the parts I had available. I doubled up the mounting feet, as the loads are not just "down" on this piece, but in, out and up, depending on what "season" the panel is mounted in. The feet were all mounted by drilling starter holes in the roof, applying a liberal amount of RTV, then screwing in sheet metal screws.

By removing the two bolts, the angled foot of the bent rod can be adjusted up and down the length of the track, giving me something like 12 degrees "full out" to about 75 degrees "full in." In theory, I could adjust this as often as I want to in order to keep the panels facing the sun.

Both banks in the full out position, gathering some non-existent eastern sunlight! Given the shape of the parent's yard, I don't think I'll really be able to test this system until I drive it up North and park it in a field, with the panels facing South.

I love the asymmetric look of the roof, with the chimney. If you like asymmetric, utilitarian vehicles, you might be a helicopter mechanic...

Aft bank in the full down position. I was trying to get the front bank down as well, but the support rods were pushing past the bushings, as mentioned earlier. I think I can fix that by keeping tension on them with a line of lockwire.

Tomorrow, I think I will continue this project with the solar panels-to-bus wiring, the installation of the Tristar charge controller, and the repair of the "DC battery bus" after I inadvertently pulled out a plug. 

I will leave you with Day 10374's project; removing the old engine oil filter from the F350. It's all that I accomplished that day. It was brutal.

Day 10236

Winter's cold has slowed my pace of construction and tinkering on the bus, and the homestead vehicle collection. The panels aren't on the bus roof yet. The backhoe still sits in the barn.

I did, however, install the bench vise that aunt Zowie got me for Christmas. Thanks Zowie!

I did put a bench seat in the truck (remember I picked that up in Massachusetts in the last post?) The bucket seats were more than a little gross, and I think the mice were living in them.

With angle grinder, drill and wrench, I got the carriage bolts out of the cab and pulled the old seats. It was way more fun than you'd imagine. By that I mean it was awkward holding mechanic yoga poses, and my hands were freezing the entire time. I vacuumed the carpet. My mum came over and asked if it was the carpet or the seats that smell like cow manure... good question. This truck has fragrance.

Then the new old bench seat went in ($100 on craigslist, out of a rotten '85 F150.) I dressed it up with a worn-but-classy 1940's blanket I found on Etsy. I cut two small slits for the seatbelts to poke through. 

Etsy is a dangerous place, for the record.

I also bought a hydrometer for the bus's batteries. The cold is hurting those poor things, and it's been too cold and icy for the delicate work of installing the solar panels. Just running the bus once a week to keep the batteries charged isn't enough to keep these deep-cycles healthy; they need a good equalization, or overcharge, which the bus engine's alternator can't provide. The solar panels, however, can provide an equalization charge through the Morningstar charge controller once that system is up and running. All I want is one nice, sunny, 40' day...

The bus wouldn't start on it's own the other day; the engine would turn but the voltage and amps weren't high enough to light the glowplugs, as well. I shoveled and plowed a path down to it, and jumped it with the bed-less F350 (the ride, on the new bench seat, was quite pleasant.)

You may recall that these batteries once powered the bus. The same day I put the bench seat in I changed the truck's battery terminal lugs over to post-type, ditching the beat up clamp-on style. Without the lead adapter pieces on the battery terminals, the hood closes all the way! Hooray, less fire/electrocution hazards! I don't have any pictures of that job because I was cold.

After a full charge, and letting the voltage settle down for an hour, I used the hydrometer to check the bus battery's charge. Each of the individual T105's has 3 cells (a battery cell is ~2 volts.) The battery acid in a fully charged battery has a different specific gravity than that of an uncharged battery. With the hydrometer I found that two of my batteries were scoring in the 85% capacity range, and two were in the 70% range. They need an equalization, but it's going to have to wait until warmer weather and free time comes around simultaneously. I didn't take any pictures because I was working with battery acid... and I was cold.

In the meantime, I've been reading... a lot. I read Gaining Ground, by a disciple/contemporary of Joel Salatin's; Forrest Pritchard. After his parents make a profit of $18.16 off several truckloads of corn and soybeans, Forrest returns from college with the mission of saving his family's farm. Very good read with a lot of humor! I also read through the "Wranglestar" family's book, Modern Homesteading. I've been a big fan of Cody's videos on YouTube, and enjoyed this summary of the family's journey that was mostly stitched together by Mrs. Wranglestar. Now I'm onto Everything I Want to do is Illegal, by the illustrious Joel Salatin. I got to see him this weekend, at a National Organic Farmer's of America conference. As the keynote speaker he gave a talk with many of the themes of Folks, This Ain't Normal. He was preaching to the choir, but I enjoyed it very much.

The land search continues, and I've elected to set my sights farther North, for various reasons.