"Wiring for the future" AGB Electic to the Rescue!!!!

Yesterday the building inspector signed off on my Solar installation with a check mark in the Satisfactory column. YIPPIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It never would have happened if I didn't run into Tony; Anthony J. Beaulieu, President of AGB Electric based in Windham, NH.

Within minutes of his arrival on October 7, 2009 he said; "we're going to make this happen today". He used the word TODAY, I kept repeating that word; "today", in my head, and I was grinning from ear to ear...WOW!!! And...he meant every word of it Tony came through!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He DID make it happen!!! His business card reads;

"Wiring for the future."

That is an understatement...Tony's company IS the future, he is da' man!!!

Let me back track.
Up until I met Tony I kept failing with the building inspector. He'd make a trip out...and say no. I'd bring bags of stuff to his office..and I'd strike out.
For the past year I have been trying, without success, to find an open minded, out of the box electrician who would work with me to "make this happen". All the phone calls were in vain. As soon as I'd mention "solar" the comments were; "we only do commercial"...other electricians, over a half dozen, wouldn't even call me back. Even the electrician who did lots of work at my house last year, upgrading us to 200 amp service, doing the electrical work for our instant on demand hot water, putting in the energy saving lighting in the kitchen, living room, bathroom and hall dropped me like a hot potato, no calls back to me, no emails returned. I was at the end of my rope, after numerous trips to the building inspectors office and failed inspections I felt defeated and lost. NEC codes are like a foreign language.

I was incredibly lucky to run into Tony. Within an hour or so of running into him at my local Home Depot in the electrical isle he showed up at my house. His apprentice, Nick soon followed. Within minutes they were flying!!!!!!!! He had Nick hopping out at the combiner box fitting all the proper NEC code bushings, PVC pipes, refitting the grounding lugs I had put in backwards on the solar panels. Tony worked downstairs in the DC Electrical Load Center Box, re-drilling a hole through the sill and re-snaking wires making them neat and into a junction box that I needed. I think it was called "liquid tight" but he used it as a conduit from the load center box to the Solar Controller and from the Junction box to the DC Load Center box, it looked great and all in code!!! Take a look at the "after pics"!!!! (And my before pics on the previous blog posts for a before and after.)

WOW...how cool is that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nick did a great job wiring up the combiner box...he's going to have a great future.

There were times when Tony had to come up with creative solutions, and, with a little innovation, he designed and created fittings I needed...wow!! Companies like this are what this country need, tackling new technology head on. Nick is a very lucky apprentice he's with a company that has an innovator and forward thinker at it's helm. Stick in there Nick you are the future too.

Solar is here but not for the regular residential homeowner, but with electricians like Tony out there and an attitude of "we're going to make this happen today"...it's all possible!!

We love our little "off grid" system. So far it's been in full operation for a full week and we have run all our electronics, cleaning robots, led lighting for my indoor herb garden. If we have another 9 day ice storm we'll have power for some lighting and extras.

Our next idea is for a grid tie and we'll be calling Tony and Nick but for now I'm looking forward to making cakes and pies in my wood cookstove and yes, I'll be a new doggie mom in a few more weeks. We are adopting a little Border Terrier puppy.

Thanks Tony and Nick for making this possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Robbie and Dave Thank you both!!!!!!

Thanks Robbie and Dave from the Alt-E forum!!!!!

http://www.altestore.com/forums/Renewable-Energy/Technical/Showing-voltage-over-disconnect-breaker-/index.php/topic,2097.0.html


You have lifted my spirits and have both been a collective voice that has helped me to continue with my dream. I appreciate your support so much, at a time when I needed it the most!!!! I'm back on the project with determination in my heart thanks to both of you!!!

This morning I flipped the 70 amp breaker to the battery bank and I have juice to the Outback Flexmaxx 60 Solar Controller...it sees the battery bank, it's voltage, and the fact that I don't have the solar panels snapped into the combiner box yet. I have "lift off", Houston we don't have a problem yet, "Godspeed John Glenn" !!!!


Info on my wiring of breakers and photos of the box below:

DC Quick Disconnect Breaker 250 Amp rating:

• The 250 amp breaker is wired with the Positive Inverter Cable is on top and the Battery Positive Cable on the bottom of the breaker. There is also a connection between the bottom of the 250 amp breaker and the bottom of the 70 amp breaker for the PV output disconnect.

PV Output Disconnect 70 Amp breaker:

• The top part of the 70 amp breaker runs to the Battery positive in the Solar Controller. Bottom of the breaker runs to the hook up with the positive Battery Bank wire on the bottom of the 250 breaker.
  

PV + Input Disconnect 60 Amp breaker:

• The 60amp breaker (top) runs to the DC Ground Fault Breaker top. The bottom part of the breaker holds the PV Positive in connection coming directly from the array from outside.
  

Ground Fault Breaker:

• The Ground fault breaker I have a negative wire coming out of the .5amp section (bottom of the breaker) and a ground (running from the top) I also have a connection from the GFI top 60 amp breaker running to the other 60 amp breaker top. The bottom part of the GFI runs to the PV positive that goes directly to the Solar Controller.

• The back of the DC box show the Negative battery connection running to the inside of the post at the DC negative bus and the Negative Battery lead from the Solar Controller is running to the second post on the DC Negative Bus along with the negative wire from the bottom of the .5amp ground fault breaker.

• I also have the ground wire that runs from the array with the PV positive and PV negative wires, attached to a 8' ground rod and tied into the box at the ground bus. The solar controller, the dc box itself and the inverter all have a copper ground that ties into the system.

• I've also included a photo with the cover on.

I used the breaker instructions for wiring the box using the MNDC Installation Instructions since I wasn't too happy with the clarity of the Flexware 500 guide. The User guide might be great for a master electrician but I am not one nor do I play one on TV.

Here are some shots of my battery bank.

4 105 amp hour batteries wired in parallel and the inverter.
I'm not happy with the inverter connection I had to use a jumper cable battery (2 gauge) and try to tin the wires with a small butane torch.

Inside the Solar controller box...that seemed to be pretty straight forward with wiring.

And last is the And last, is the Combiner Box, this seemed fairly easy to wire also..slots for PV Positive and Negative, ground and the lightning arrestor wired in.

"The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it" Moliere 1622-1673

It's been a tough week but I'm running each one of life's hurdles one at a time. My mom used to say: "you have to keep moving". She is still right.


It looks like a mess of wires but the Solar Combiner Box is done..I will not win the electrical contractors beauty award for neatness in wiring, but the box is wired with good solid electrical connections and I"m happy with them...they will do the job. The photo on the far left shows the rats nest of Positive PV in, Positive PV out, Negative PV in and Negative PV out, plus the ground bus bar, the wired Lightning Arrestor. a small breaker, and the ground wire that will run to tie in to the DC Electrical Box in our cellar. The wiring is very straight forward. Negative wires go to the negative bus, positive go to the positive breaker and bus and there is a bus on the right for ground...it's like connecting the dots. The breaker and lightning arrestor are wired in for safety.




The photo to the left shows the protective cover with the solo breaker popping out. There are more slots in case I decide to put in more solar panels.






And the final shot with the weather protective cover.









I also "located" the Solar Controller in the cellar mounted on the DC Electrical Box. The Positive and Negative wires and ground will plug into this box and will crank up the amps that will run to the battery bank.





This is an inside view of the Outback FlexMax 60 Solar Controller. I like to think of it as the brains of the entire system. Tomorrow I'll drill a hole in though the cellar sill and start wiring this "bad boy" up.











And, our trench is done. Wires are inside the conduit and it's all snaked from the Combiner box to just outside the cellar. I have to leave the 18" trench open until the Building Inspector swings by. Well see what he likes and dislikes soon.

Again, Honesty

Work has stopped. Life has stopped. I'm in pain. Not pain from moving rocks, or moving earth by hand, it's deeper than that. Every waking moment hurts, every memory invokes tears. This is an obstacle I did not plan on. It's bigger than any immovable rock. I cannot use my shovel or an iron bar to probe it's depth. I cannot pry it up and heave it out of my way.

Like the fragile head of a mature dandelion, existing one day and gone the next, I lost my loyal companion suddenly Sunday night, September 13th.

He was my partner in ALL my endeavors, big and small, including the digging for this project. Never complaining, always listening to my wild ideas, he never laughed at me, made faces at me or argued with me. He didn't care if my hair was a mess. He was an exuberant participant in every activity I've ever dreamed up; including completing the New Hampshire 4000 footer list within one season, to help my husband recover from prostate cancer. He was with us eagerly on every trip.

home.earthlink.net/~ellozy/nh-4000-footers.html

He gave us momentum in the face of adversity. He literally led us up each and every one of life's mountains, and pulled us out from the deepest chasms. Our rescue dog we adopted from an animal shelter became our rescuer. He made sure we were both moving and active everyday. The morning after I had breast cancer surgery he got me out of the house and down the street for a walk, he didn't care I wore wads of bandaging that made me look like lopsided freak. He was my beautiful boy.

All he wanted in return was to be by my side, an occasional treat, a warm place to sleep and food. He was especially fond of walks in the woods, swimming, sticks and balls. He gave constant, unconditional love. His short life of 10 years gave me immense joy and companionship.

I was lucky to be his "human". He taught me to understand what is and what is not important in life.

I miss you Sammy.


August 1999 - September 2009

Hazing Week: Sigma Sigma Epsilon

Please forgive me if there is a REAL Sigma Sigma Epsilon out there but I want to believe I have founded a "solar version", an energy independent sisterhood/brotherhood. I believe I am going through a sort of hazing. The pictures will tell you the entire story.










Sigma Sigma Epsilon, (SSE; Sisterhood/Brotherhood of Solar Energy)

Using my little muscles that power a mattock, a large iron bar, and a shovel, I toil. I bleed. I bruise and sweat everyday. I am paying my admission for the wonderful free energy from the sun. The reality is the pain but at the end of the journey I know I'll reap the benefits. My hazing week is digging the 18'' deep trench for the electrical wiring/conduit, all 66' feet of it....once I complete it, the big grunt work is done, I'm pretty much home free, with the building inspectors blessing I can then easily gain admission to "the club". New Hampshire has rocks. Everywhere I dig I encounter more rocks, big ones. Please look at the latest big one. I placed one of my dog's tennis balls in the right hand corner to give a proper perspective of the size. With 2 x' 4's and a lot of ingenuity and perseverance I got the rock out of my way. I will prevail...I am determined, no rock will stop me, I've never wanted to join a sorority, I only attended rush week for the free food but I DO want to join this free energy club.



This is not easily visible but I am down to the 18" level in MOST spots. (If you click on the photo it will give you a larger version and an accurate tape reading...I am THERE...18''.) I'm close to calling the building inspector for my first inspection. He works two days a week. If everything goes well I'll be calling him on Monday.





Small disclaimer:

• I do not wish to imply sororities or fraternities use hazing as part of their induction ritual.
• There are no baseball players that use performance enhancing drugs.
• Bill Clinton truly did not understand the meaning of the word "is", while being grilled by Congress.
  

Swinging a Sledge Hammer

I should have taken a "before" picture today. The "after" doesn't tell the full story. I love the new battery bank location and easy access to the DC Box to the left of the bank.

I had to dismantle a table in the cellar that was in my way. The table was about 10' x 3' built the old fashioned way, solid, with 4 x 4 posts and 2 x 4's, plus, LOTS and LOTS, of spikes. My dad built that table. He builds everything solid, no short cuts. Spikes and solid have been his signature in life; if you do it, do it right, use the best stuff you can, and build to the best of your ability. He's 90 and he is still solid, in mind and body. Inferior stuff is not an option, he's right!!! I'm working on this project with the same attitude. I believe in spikes.

Using grunting sounds to help unleash explosions of power when swinging an old sledge hammer, I dislodged nails from the frame of the table. I used a crow bar to pry away the 4 x 4's from the 2 x 4's, more grunting, then I used the back of the crow bar that had a nail puller and I pulled away all the nails, grunt again!!!!! As a last step I pounded out all the nails from the separate pieces. The table that was in my way, is now gone....it's in pieces but it can still be reassembled. The space was necessary for access to the battery bank and clear space to the DC Electric Box. It took me a couple of hours and all the muscle I could muster but I did it!!!!!!!!!!!!! The cellar is clear and I now have room.

Woman, determined, again trimphs over obstacles in her way. My small solar power generating plant will now have the room it needs. I feel empowered....stay tuned.

Luck And an Eight Foot Ground Rod

After about half a dozen attempts I found a spot that allowed me to pound in the entire eight feet of solid copper grounding rod....it's not easy and there definitely seems to be a degree of luck involved in locating a spot with the least resistance. It was a much bigger undertaking than I expected and it requried a lot more energy. Whacking a mallet at head level is a workout......but even a Solargoddess CAN do it. I do admit I did most of it but my husband did pitch in with some support. I dug down around the ground rod six inches so the inspector will be able to see it and then I'll cover it up. I also attached a bare copper 6 AWG that snaked through two lugs on the solar panels...they will ground the panels. The ground then went to the combiner box's ground bus bar.

Here's a shot of the combiner box...on the bottom is a lightning arrestor. The lightning arrestor will attach to the ground bar bus and PV Negative and PV Positive.

These shots show the combiner box affixed to the solar array frame....things are moving along.

Labor Day Weekend and Simple Machines

Simple machines always impress me. I had to move a big rock today...it was in the middle of my trench. With the use of a 2 x 4 (a lever) and using an incline of soil, I was able to move this rock out of the way...not bad for a little 50 something year old woman that wants solar power. I think my mom would be impressed.

Things are starting to gel. The solar panels are now permanantly affixed to the frame and it's set at a fixed 42 degree angle due south. That is the same degree as our latitude here in NH. As you can see, I have scaled the system in half. The plan for four panels were pared down to two. After being tremendously scared I decided I'd feel a lot more comfortable learning on a smaller array. Although the amps flowing out of the battery bank will still be considerable, and potentially lethal, I will take numerous precautions. Tomorrow I'll continue digging the trench and I have another big rock I'll have to move out of the way and I'll place the Combiner Box on the solar panel frame. The project is moving forward.

Also, today, the DC Electrical Box was "located" in the basment west side of the house. It's close to where the PV (Photovolatic) positive and negative wires, plus ground will enter our house through a Schedule 40 PVC pipe that will be buried 18" in the ground. I ordered the box from Alt-E. Not knowing what a DC box would look like I honestly thought it was overkill when I opened it up...now I realize it will not be empty. It will be filled with all the essential wires, connections, circuit breakers, disconnects, and ground fault protection. I'll be using a diagram that will help me wire up the route the PV positive and PV negative and ground wires will take through the system. Safety is my primary concern. I'll be using cardboard to cover the solar panels up and I'll only try out the system for the first time under a very heavy cloud covered day and using a digital volt meter I'll check for juice in the system. I DO have my permits from the building inspector. I have a mechanical and an electrical permit. He'll be inspecting my ditch and wire to the house that will be placed in conduit. I'm hoping to have things ready for him to inspect by next week.

"What You Don't Know CAN Kill You"

The Solargoddess doesn't feel like a goddess today...she feels like a mere mortal very much humbled by the power of the sun. I almost ditched my project Wednesday, but I'm back. How did 5.3 amps coming out of 4 solar panels, as measured on August 30th, end up being potentially close to 70 amps coming out of the battery bank...YIKES!!! I am being very honest with my readers, the Solargoddess was scared, so scared she was on a ledge and ready to throw the project off the cliff.



I like to use all the tools I have available, especially when I'm trying something new. In this case it was the right thing to do. Using all tools available serves two major purposes:

1. Why try to recreate the wheel when you can stand on the knowledge and base of others.


2. What you don't know can sometimes kill you and in this case I do not mean that in a literal sense, it's the real deal.

Tools come in many forms but the best tools these days are information from those that have traveled the same road and information that is readily available on the internet.

Many times, since I've been licensed as amateur radio operator I've used a collective source of knowledge from my radio club, PCARC (Portsmouth Amateur Radio Club in NH). This is a pool of perhaps the most intelligent and resourceful people I've ever met, most with impressive real world experience in electronics and physics, not just degrees that hang on walls, these people actually develop projects and create. When I ran my project idea past two of them on Wednesday evening I nearly put everything for sale on EBay.

"What you have there is some lethal current". Not only one, but two people, echoed those words.

Where did I go wrong with my math?

How did a maximum of 5.3 amps go from our 4 solar panels wired in series get to an output of possibly close to 70 amps running out of the battery end that goes into the inverter?

I'll walk you through it:

Remember when we first measured the voltage on the panels with full sun back on the first day?Lets take one panel and work it through.

The highest reading on that first day was about 40 Volts and a high reading of 5.3 amps.

40V X 4 panels = 160

Now using the P = I * E formula P (or power expressed in Watts) = 5.3 X 160

P = 848 Watts

So we have these numbers now;

• 160 Volts from the Array to the Solar Controller
• 5.3 amps of current from the Array
• 848 Watts from the array

So far so good, are you still with me?

Here is where things get turned upside down. The Solar Controller runs to a 12 Volt battery bank because our Inverter runs on 12 Volts. That means the Solar Controller will need to crank down the Voltage to match that of the Inverter. Remember our formula? As you crank down voltage it will crank UP the current. Let's run the numbers;

848 (Power in Watts, we know that figure since that's what's comming from the array)

12 Volts...the voltage of the battery bank

I is what we will solve for...that will be the current we don't know that will be running from the 12 Volt battery bank we need to match.

848 = I * 12

I = 70.67

"What you have there is some lethal current".

What did I do wrong?

BIG Mistake I did not take into consideration the stepdown of Voltage to the Battery Bank.

Thank you Kriss, one of my amateur radio friends for giving me the heads up.

The Solargoddess will be back on the project but for starters I will scale it down and will work on it when the "sun don't shine"....I will use cardboard and the safety of cloud cover to stay safe. Stay tuned.

Two Will Not Go Into One

Yesterday I found out the differnce between Solarline One and Solarline Two. My solar panels have the Solarline One connectors. Solar connectors have a new standard, I have the older version. Yesterday I found out the two are not compatible. The new standard is shown above; Solarline Two, the connections are simple they snap together but will not interface with the old version without an adaptor. The older version, that I have is shown below. Thanks to the internet and the wonderful guys at UPS I'll have the Solarline adapters that I"ll need to connect my solar panels to the new standard. This will be a small delay but I can work on other things. I will need the adapters so I can connect up to the Combiner Box.
Once I receive the adapters I'll be working on this Combiner box, it will take all the positive and negative wires from the solar array, as well as the ground connections and combine them so that there will only be two wires (positive and negative) to have to deal with. We'll be hooking up a DC Disconnect along the way but we'll have only a couple of wires to deal with once the Combiner box is done. The picture to the left shows the inside of our MidNite Solar MNPV Box.
If you look carefully there are clearly marked connections for PV Positive, PV Negative and ground connections.

Well, since I'm side lined and waiting for the adapters I'll be digging away a little more on my trench and I'll be drilling holes in the frame that will hold 4 Sharp 175W 24 Volt solar panels. Oh...and I'm back to visit the Building Inspector this morning. I don't want him to forget about my permit.

Building a Bank that will NOT require a Fed Bailout

This morning I connected the four batteries together to form a "Battery Bank". This bank will store the energy we harvest from the solar panels and will be able to power our freezer, internet cable modem, wireless router, VOIP phone adapter and our cordless phones and hopefully even more. I wired the batteries in paralell so that our 4 batteries will provide us with a 12 Volt system. OK...so what is paralell wiring? It's quite simple, all of the negative terminals are connected to all the other negative terminals and all the positive terminals are connected to the other positive terminals.

As you can see after the connection we checked with the Digital Volt Meter and took a reading. The battery bank is showing a voltage of 11.8...not bad considering we have NOT charged these yet nor do we know how long they have been in the warehouse sitting idle. We will charge these babies up once we make have the system working.

What's great about this bank is it will pay US back and won't need taxpayer dollars.

Digging for Sun

Even a Solargoddess gets dirty now and then and today the ditch digging began, and yes, I'm doing this by hand. It's not that bad so far, and I say so far, because this is NH and I know I may encounter some large rocks. I've seen them many times as a child in holes my mom dug. As a small aside, my mom was the expert ditch digger in the family, no job was too large or too small. She single handedly dug the hole for both a 275 gallon oil tank way back in the day when oil tanks were in the ground, and, a 500 gallon septic tank, yes that's right she dug them out by pick and shovel. This job will be a piece of cake compared to those jobs. I only have 55 feet to the solar panel frame at 18 inches deep, which is code. I'll bury the wire, encased in conduit that will run from the solar panels, combiner box and dc disconnect and it will run into the basment through the sill.

Shipments and a Trip to the Building Inspector!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPS and a Freight delievery today!!! The AGM 105 ah (amp hour) batteries arrived today along with a shipment from Alt-E that included all kinds of battery connects, wire, and a book that will help guide me. The picture on the far right is the Outback FlexMax 60 Controller....it will not only control how the batteries are fed but it will monitor the amount of energy we are harvesting from the sun. I can't wait to read the manual. It's programable and will hold history for up to 128 days.


Well..it was cool getting the shipments but things didn't go quite as well with the building inspector. I live in a small town and the building inspector's office is only open several hours a week so this morning and I had a positive attitude when I left the house. I thought I would write a check and I'd have the permit in my hand today, however after chatting for about 15 minutes I got the impression he's not crazy about giving me a permit.
I gave him a brief overview of my proposed project and left him with a USB stick that includes all the spec sheets of the Sharp Panels, complete Invoice from Alt-E and a small diagram of the set up. He asked me to fill out a bunch of paperwork for an electrical permit and a mechanical permit but I left without filling out a check...he said he'd "get back to me"....hummm'.

How Much Power?

Let's figure out how much power we are producing today. When the sun popped out this morning I used a DVM (Digital Volt Meter) to see how much power the Sharp Solar Panels were producing (see the photo below) I had readings of approximately 4 amps and about 41 Volts on each panel. Using a formula derrived from Ohms Law I can easily calculate the power these pannels are throwing out.

P = I * E

P of course is equal to the number of watts.

I stands for the current or the amps we measured.

E represents the voltage measured from the panels.

So, 4 x 41 = 164 per EACH panel...pretty cool that's 328 Watts as a total for both panels. However that was not in full sun. Two hours later I tested out the array in midday sun and no clouds. Here are the readings:
5.26 amps 39.6 volts and 5.3 amps 39.4 volts WOW....for a total of 417.12 Watts!!!!!!!!!!!! What a huge difference full sun makes.

AH...YES By the way...they ARE live!!!!

Photovoltaic modules are live as soon as the sun rays hit them.
I don't use a DVM on a daily basis and OOPS...I forgot to switch the little power cord on the bottom to switch from measuring Volts to Amps...a little spark and a poof of smoke quickly reminded me. Mental note to self...double, triple check and THINK...as soon as the sun hits them they ARE live.

I'm awaiting the solar controller, combiner box and batteries so my next task will be to dig a ditch for the buried electical cable to the house. OH and I'll have to visit the Building Inspector for a permit to bring the harvest to work for me inside the house. Please wish me luck.

Two Sharp 175 Watt 24 Volt solar panels on a home made 2 x 4 frame.

So easy a housewife can do it

Can a housewife from a small town in NH set up a small solar producing array?

You bet she can try.

After seeing the price of solar panels plumet this year I took the plunge. After searching the internet I found the best price I could on a case (2) blemished solar panels from Big Frog Mountain Alternative Energy Sources based in Tennessee....the panels were listed as 54% off the regular price. I love a bargain and I've been waiting over 30 years to try out a small solar array. Please join me on my trip to take part of our house off the grid. I have no prior experience with solar energy nor am I an electrian. I might stumble and make mistakes along the way but I hope to succeed in Harvesting the Sun. Join me in my quest.