Solar Power even at the Winter Solstice

We finally finished with laying the cable from the solar array
to the house into its final trench. Our help, Sandor cutting a trench
into solid rock.

Endlich haben wir das Kabel vom Solararray zum Haus fertig verlegt.
Es musste in den Fels eingeschnitten werden. Unser Helfer, Sandor bei der Arbeit.

The cable will be covered with concrete.

Das Kabel wird mit Beton zugedeckt.

The cable in the ground, cut into solid rock and
embedded with concrete. The yellow tape is there to
indicate the presence of an electrical cable in case
somebody starts digging in the future.

Das Kabel ist fertig verlegt, in den Fels eingeschnitten und
mit Beton eingebettet. Das gelbe Band dient als Warnung
dass es da ein elektrisches Kabel gibt, falls in der Zukunft
jemand da graben wird.

Not much solar energy at this time.

Nicht viel Sonnenenergie zu dieser Zeit.

A clear day on December 23, practically at the winter solstice.
On this day the solar array produced a maximum output of 3 kW.
This easily runs all the normal daily needs of the house, leaving
some energy left over to run other loads, such as laundry, dishwasher,
pumping water and even running an electric space heater for a while.
The total energy gained was 8.9kWh and the battery was full at the end of the day.

An diesem klaren Wintertag am 23. Dezember, praktisch an der
Winter Sonnenwende, produzierten wir bis 3kW. Das genügt um allen
normalen Energiebedarf vom Haus abzudecken und zusätzlich weitere
Lasten wir Waschmaschine, Geschirrspüler, Wasserpumpe und
sogar etwas elektrische Wärme laufen zu lassen.
Der totale Energiegewinn für den Tag war 8,9kWstd und
die Batterie war bei Tagesende voll.

The first Christmas tree in the house.

Der erste Kristbaum im Haus.

Sunset view at the winter solstice.

Jetzt sehen wir die Sonne bis zum Sonnenuntergang im tiefsten Winter.

Panorama. In the winter the sun sets near the left edge of the picture.
At the summer solstice the sun sets near the right edge.

Das Panorama Bild zeigt den Sonnenuntergang im Winter.
Im Sommer ist der Sonnenuntergang nahe am rechten Bildrand.

Some Work on the Water Supply

Grinding out cracks in the concrete cisterns and trying to fix them
with Xypex Patch and Plug. Only partly successful.

Spalten in den Betonzisternen heraus schleifen und versuchen
die Spalten mit einem Betonreparaturmittel zu flicken.
Nur teilweise erfolgreich.

Modified the wiring for the water pressure pump and filtration system
such that the UV filter only gets power when the pump runs.
Without this modification the UV filter draws about 100W 24 hrs-day,
a lot of wasted energy when you are relying on solar power alone.

Modifizierte die Verdrahtung vom UV Filter sodass er nur Strom
bezieht wenn die Pumpe läuft. Ohne diese Änderung bezieht der UV Filter
etwa 100W 24 Std proTag. Das wäre verschwenderisch wenn man alle
Energie von der Sonne bezieht.

Additional wiring with timer and contacter.

Zusätzliche Verdrahtung mit Verzögerung und Relais.

The blue unit is the 5 micron particle filter and the stainless steel unit
on the right is the UV filter.

Das blaue Gehäuse enthält den 5 Micron Partikel Filter und der
Chromstahlzylinder rechts enthält die UV Lampe.

Another project was to install a water line to the garden tank
up the hill behind the house.

Ein weiteres Projekt war die Installation einer Wasserleitung
zum Gartentank, der am Hügel oben hinter dem Haus steht.

The garden tank holds 10,000 liter. The outlet is within an insulated
enclosure to prevent freezing of the valve in the winter.
The outside water lines are empty in the winter.
We easily pumped up 10 tons of water just on solar energy.

The Gartentank hält 10000 Liter. Das Auslassventil ist in
einem isolierten Kasten damit es im Winter nicht einfriert.
Die anderen Leitungen sind im Winter leer.
Wir konnten ohne Mühe 10 Tonnen Wasser hochpumpen,
alles nur mit Sonnenenergie.

Firewood - It has been a Long Time since the Last Post

Good fir firewood - all from one tree.
Shane split it. All I had to do is stack it.

Gutes Holz zum Heizen - alles von einem Baum.
Shane hat es gespaltet. Ich musste es nur aufbeigen.

More firewood being split by hired gun Shane.

Shane spaltet viel Holz in ein paar Stunden.

The beginnings of a new firewood stack in the background.

Der Anfang einer neuen Holzbeige im Hintergrund.

More firewood, but the first snowfall interfered with progress.

Noch mehr Holz das aufgebeigt werden muss,
aber der erste Schneefall kommt dazwischen.

Time for a new set.

Jetzt ist es Zeit für ein neues Paar.

Several days of clean-up and burning slash for the two of us.
See the stacked firewood in the background.

Wir beide brauchten mehrere Tage zum Aufräumen und Brennen.
Im Hintergrund sieht man die Holzbeigen.

Bratwurst as a reward for hard work.

Zur Belohnung gibt es Bratwurst .

Solar Input to the House

It is 08:30 and the sun has just come up over the trees in the northeast.
My shadow shows the oblique angle of the sun relative to the solar array
at this time of day.

We already get 1.4kW of power from the sun. At the moment,
the consumption in the house is only 0.1kW. The balance goes into
the battery

By 10:45 we were running the dishwasher, all powered by the sun.
At the same time, the solar array is also charging the battery.
The solar array output is 2.2kW and the consumption in the
house at this time is 1.4kW. The balance goes into the battery.

This is the screen on the charge controller, which is the unit that
regulates the battery charging from the power of the solar array.
It shows input from the solar array at 93.8V and 25.9A.
This MPPT (maximum power point tracking) charge controller
translates this input to 58V and 40.3A for charging the battery.
The battery bank has a nominal voltage of 48V.

Urs, the happy solar system designer and installer.
Everything is working just as it should.

Meanwhile, Judy is keeping busy in the kitchen.

Great Gramma Dart's sweet rolls.

Mounting the Solar Panels

The panels need to be carried one by one from their storage
location in the cabin to the work site. Each weighs 19kg.

The first panel is up.

Judy up on scaffolding to help sliding the panels up to their location.

The highest panels are 3-4m high off the ground, and
behind the array there is a steep drop-off.

Judy provides valuable help in getting the panels up to their location.

WOW - done.

15 Panels with an electrical capacity of 4kW, weighing nearly 300kg.
We both are proud that we managed to do it all without
outside help, except for the concrete work.

Building the Aluminum Structure for the Solar Aray

The whole structure was pre-cut and pre-drilled in Karl Hamson's
machine shop. The design was done on 3D software SketchUp.
The plan was that everything would fit together like a Meccano
Set, and it did.

As a small boy I had received a Meccano Set one
Christmas and had fun building a crane, and an excavator, etc. etc.
Now I had just as much fun 65 years later to assemble this structure.

An extract from the 3D design.

The Solar array consists of two parts, a 2-string array and a 3-string
array. They are sightly offset due to the extremely uneven ground.
The 2-string array is mostly done.

Working on the 3-string array.

The two arrays mostly done.

Close-up of intersection of diagonal and horizontal bracing.

Ditto

Close-up of the connection to the foundations columns.

Ditto

Ditto

The finished structure. Ready for mounting solar panels.

Pouring Concrete for the Solar Array Foundation

Paul is mixing the concrete.

Jordan is operating the vibrator

A sono-tube form (cardboard) for one of the columns, with re-bar and with the
3/4" galvanized bolt suspended in exactly the right place, as determined
by the 3D design. The solar array will be mounted on these bolts.

Shane is loading concrete from the wheel barrow into buckets for
carrying to the location up a steep trail - hard work for
Shane and Jordan. Shane's dog Buckwheat watching.

The elaborate jig 's purpose is to position all of the bolts in
exactly the right locations, such that the already pre-cut aluminum
structure will fit the foundation.

The forms have been removed, leaving the concrete foundations pads
and columns.Everything is sitting on hard bedrock, and the re-bar
extend into the bedrock.