As promised, here are the photos of the solar panels
installed. What you see at the bottom (although not the greatest picture) is
a trailer axle. Our original plans, to
allow us to move the panels east to west throughout the day, may not come to
fruition. The panels when installed
together are extremely heavy. But we are
learning as we go. So at this point, they are tied down in a fixed
position. Eventually we’ll be able to
put a jack underneath the axle and lift the panels into a more flat position
when the sun shifts its location more northward during the summer months. 
We were also able to repurpose more of those free pallets to
use as a structure to support the panels.
Those pallets have sure come in handy!
Some of them are even 16’ long.
They contain 16’ 2x4’s, which we can easily take apart. I’m not even sure I’d call it a drawback; we
have to remove the nails on occasion.
The panels also made more energy than we could store
again. Even with a refrigerator,
freezer, and multiple tools in operation.
It’s a such fun!
Good for you guys!!!!
ReplyDeleteHow do you adjust for the change of seasons ( planet axis tilt ) when the sun is higher/lower in the sky to achieve max efficiency?
ReplyDeleteAt this point, we will jack up the lower end as the sun shifts. The panels run east to west, so lifting them up from the bottom and raising that end should do the trick. It will take more than a couple of people as those suckers are heavy! We will see how that progresses and with most things it's learn as we go. Nothing is permanent so it can easily be changed or adapted as needed. We've had the panels for over a year now, just waiting for this moment. So for the next few months we're set.
DeleteI am impressed! We have talked about solar panels, but that's about all we've done with that idea. So happy they are working well for you! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Lisa!
DeleteIzzy,
ReplyDeleteWooohoooo free power, I love it! Take that you energy companies :PPPPP
Congratulations Izzy!!!!
Prepping/surviving is always a learning process.
Thanks Sandy! I've learned more in the past 4.5 years than I could even begin to tell ya. Some of it by trial and error, other things due to the blogosphere!
DeleteYour success is truly exciting. We've all been rooting for you! Seems to me it's all a learning experience. We've learned to call everything an "experiment" 'cuz we know there will be problem solving, correcting, and tweaking every step of the way. :)
ReplyDeleteLeigh,
DeleteThank you, the Moose and I really appreciate the feedback, and equally enjoy your blog. I think almost anything is an experiment. Even if you buy a something and bring it home to build, you are likely missing something or the instructions are too hard to understand. So we are challenged with figuring it out as we go. That's life! Have a great day!
It looks great! You installed those solar panels well, guys. I hope you can share the process with us. As I'm sure a lot of us netizens can make pretty good use of a quick tutorial. Anyway, I hope all is well with you, Izzy. Take care! :)
ReplyDeleteRachael Massey @ Auto Controls