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.