Solar Power, Engines and Alternators.

The sun is getting higher in the sky. A new season is coming. Looking forward to it for sure.

Aki and I have run our shop and cabin on solar power since 1998.

We are 100% solar powered from March until the middle of October. We work full time making knives and large timber tools.

We designed and installed our system
starting with 4 x 6 volt golf cart batteries, 2 x 85 watt panels and a 1200 watt inverter. The batteries are tough, inexpensive and easy to replace. Twice a year I'll clean them with baking soda and water then top off each cell with distilled water.
I've seen people spend lots of money on batteries. Tough golf cart batteries are the way to go for our shop and lifestyle.

Today we have 422 watts of panel. Four panels, a 40 amp regulator and we have a 1,750 watt inverter and built a 200 watt portable unit as well with 2 golf cart batteries for working around the place.

We built a manual tracker. 4 panels are mounted on top of a 20 foot pole set 2 feet into the ground in a cement housing. As we work we turn the panels to face the sun. Turn and tilt.
This has increased our power by 45%. The manual tracker we designed.The tracker put us at the level of power we are satisfied with and grounded the system well.

An excellent ground is really important. Ground your inverter, batteries and panels.

Trick is to work with the sun.  Use power a lot when it is there in the sky.
At night we use stored power for light, music and small amp tools.

If you have a steady wind a wind generator is the way to go.
It's quite amazing once you begin... Turning on your tools being powered by the sun.

Back up power has always been a concern here this time of year.

Late fall and winter. By the beginning of March we are free again to use as much as we want from the 4.5 billion year-old nuclear power plant in the sky. Although we've come to a spot in our time where we don't need a lot, we do want some.

Besides solar in the winter the first power generation we produced 19 years ago was from a 35 amp 12v alternator I parted from an old wreck left on the land here. Rigged it up to an old 3 1/2 horse lawn mower. Did the job for a while. It was handy to have had it on wheels, kept the throttle on the handle bar but the old motor was pushed down with those 4 dead energy-sucking deep cycle batteries. The small 3 1/2 hp engine drank a surprising amount of gas, began to burn oil then died after a couple of seasons.

We traded for a second hand 10hp honda motor. It was nice. Ran well and was not loud.

Built a frame everything could sit on securely. Rigged a 50 amp alternator up to it from another wreck on our land. It ran well until... we needed more power.

Living off the land. For 1997/98 we lived on $200 a month. We lived on an average
of $400 a month for the next few years. We ate a lot of hares, dandelions, mushrooms and wild onions. It was a little rough but when we look back we realize that starting from there was great. Determined we were and still are.

...We needed more power. We needed the late fall and winter to be power-ready to be able to " exploit" Christmas selling knives and art and cover the spring when we needed time to plant our gardens.

We bought a 150 amp alternator from a trucking outfit and used parts and wiring from the from the
wrecks.

Machined a pulley, adapted the larger alternator to the engine. Started it up. The unit was giving the four 6v deep cycle batteries what they wanted but the 10hp engine was working hard. Wasn't ideal - again it wasn't great on fuel because it was working hard but was better. Bought a small sanding machine a second and slightly larger grinder and a small band saw.

Could not believe we had lived without the new shop machines. More power fell into our lives like a new pair of socks.
We were travelling around the province with handmade knives and edge tools participating and selling at 6 Christmas shows, 2 spring shows and 5 summer and fall shows. Fairs, art and craft and knife shows. We even did a couple of trade shows. The best was the Sto'lo nations Pow Wow in Chilliwack B.C..

Not a second to spare for 6 years.We needed more
power....

Aki and I started to build a reputation for our art,tools and knives. Over half of our sales were repeat customers by 2004.

Crazy thing was that we did not have any time or money. We kept up our garden but that was absolutely the only time we had. All the money we made was for fuel to travel, motels, food, show fees, insurance...

The piston rod broke. The engine was worn out. It was September. Orders had to go out. The Christmas stock had to be started.

We had a '84 Safari van. 4L engine, propane. The rear end was shot from heavy loads, lots of travelling and no maintenance.

Looked at the engine. The air conditioning had been dismantled. With some small adjustments and fudsing with belt size the 150 amp alternator would fit right into the spot the compressor was in.

More power, burned less fuel, burned cleaner and it was quiet. I thought small engines would be more fuel efficient, less impact. The thing was they were working hard. Like when the car companies first put six cylinders in full size pick-ups. They didn't burn less gas and they wore out faster and when the going got tough they have a hard time performing the tasks.

In idle position the alternator still put a demand on the engine but wasn't threatening its life. We had added another solar panel. Our power needs had been met. So what did we do... bought a bigger bandsaw and added a couple more batteries.

When the van was on in the winter we`d pump water, vacuum, charge batteries and the computer and grind steel.

The van lasted 5 winters. It started making sounds, worn sounds. The crank shaft pulley`s centre had shattered and 2 mounting bolts were sheared off. The drive pulley was being ripped off the engine. Holy torque.

In comes our old S-10, 2.8L. The great aspect to this plant was that the crank shaft pulley was a double belt to the alternator. A double pulley. Easy fit. Welded up an adjustment arm to accommodate the size. A couple of attempts at sizing the 2 belts which were different lengths.

It should run for awhile. We shut down our shop for December and January now. By adding one more panel we have the power we need.

Unrealistic some say, every person has their price some say. We don't believe that. Some can't be bought.

How much do we need to get started?

Aki and Scott

Winter

We do live in a unique area. In the bush, a couple of kms off a logging road.Complete isolation except for the odd plane or two yet we can journey into Williams Lake for our mail.

It is simple. If it isn't we are doing something wrong.

We plant potatoes in three different patches. Something will probably fail. Frost, hail, bad seed, bugs, mice, moose. We are not the only ones in the bush that like garden fresh vegetables. We`ve done a lot of experimenting. Some great failures. We are dependent on our gardens so we learn.

Plants are amazing. When we've thought they were mortally wounded they`ve come back, almost every time.
What doesn`t kill them (us) will make them (us) stronger in most cases.

After 14 years every sauna we`ve had, somewhere around 1000, has been rejuvenating. Personal hygiene and r&r or when things get tough is when we take a sauna. Aki is making one now. Beautiful sunny day...



For us it has been a process of living with what we need.
Rather than start with everything before we moved in here, we started with nothing and have added little.

It is our fourteenth winter. Most of the catastrophes you can think of have happend. The major ones like death, severe illnesses and accidents haven't. Crop failures, food spoilage, injuries, flooding, vehicle breakdowns etc... have.
Aki and I are heathier and stronger, not to mention more resolute in our convictions than ever. We have a 7 yr old who is thriving. Home schooling, chess and being raised in the forest.


In the past few years on our blog I've described the simple way we've lived with solar power. For 9 years we lived without a computer and internet connection. With a little of today`s technology, like a computer connected to the internet by satellite, and a small cash flow life in the bush is easier.

I suppose it's not for everyone.

Aki and Scott

http://www.caribooblades.com/

The Walrus

I am he as you are he as you are me
and we are all together
See how they run like pigs from a gun
see how they fly
I'm crying
Sitting on a cornflake
Waiting for the van to come
Corporation T-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday
Man you've been a naughty boy
you let your face grow long

I am the eggman
they are the eggmen
I am the walrus
Goo goo g' joob

Mr. city policeman sitting
pretty little policemen in a row
See how they fly like Lucy in the sky
See how they run
I'm crying
I'm crying, I'm crying
Yellow matter custard
Dripping from a dead dog's eye
Crabalocker fishwife
Pornographic priestess
Boy, you've been a naughty girl
you let your knickers down

I am the eggman
They are the eggmen
I am the walrus
Goo goo g' joob

Sitting in an English garden
waiting for the sun
If the sun don't come you get a tan
from standing in the English rain

I am the eggman
They are the eggmen
I am the walrus
Goo goo g' joob

Expert, texpert choking smokers
don't you think the joker laughs at you
See how they smile like pigs in a sty
See how they snide
I'm crying
Semolina pilchard
climbing up the Eiffel tower
Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna
Man, you should have seen them kicking
Edgar Allan Poe

I am the eggman
They are the eggmen
I am the walrus
Goo goo g' joob
Goo goo g' joob
Goo goo g' goo
goo goo g' joob goo
juba juba juba
juba juba juba
juba juba juba juba
juba juba


John Lennon

December 8th 1980.

http://wikileaks.nl/

Tree Huggers on Easter Island (updated)

It seems easier to get started this year.
Looking back over our seventeen years in the bush here we can see the dramatic ways our environment has changed.

Nobody had lived here for several years. The small cabin, with all its windows shot out, had been taken over by swallows and mice. A half dozen wrecked vehicles dating back to the fifties, dilapidated outbuildings, and old, weathered garbage strewn throughout.
But aside from the small stain of human's existence, this spot on earth was peace.
We cleaned, patched up the cabin, re-used the wood from the outbuildings, but kept the wrecks around for parts and art.

We're coming out of a very long winter. Spring is here but slow. The lake is still covered with ice. The garlic and parsnips coming up slowly. Fruit trees are showing signs of life. Should be a bountiful season.

Seventeen years ago we camped on the land. For a cool, rainy week in September we relaxed here. The mornings were enveloped in mist. There were hundreds of ducks and geese sliding through the mist, into and out of the reeds that surrounded the small lake. We were going to stake as a place to live. Isolation.
Around the lake there was a mature lodgepole pine, spruce and Douglas fir forest and there was an incredible display of mushrooms. Enchanted. Easy forage for oyster mushrooms, boletes, field and horse mushrooms.There were dozens more we could not identify.

Since then pine beetles and the mills have taken all of the mature forest. Left a few mature firs here and there. The mushrooms, bats and now the moose have mostly disappeared with the forest.
The province has a bounty on wolves. Anyone with a hunting license can shoot a wolf any time.
The science behind the wolf cull is so flawed. It's all about votes and money.

No

doubt we’re are going to burn every drop of oil and burn every pound of coal. A forester once told us, when we were trying to stop the mill from cutting the forest around the land we live on, that there is not a safe stand of trees in Canada and that it’s only a matter of time before they’re all cut.

10% of the world population owns 85% of the world's assets and half of the population of the world owns barely 1%.

Terrorism, fighting for freedom…We haven't seen the worste yet. Blaming it on fundamentalists and extremists while hanging onto our decadence.
You would fight to save yours and who exactly are the extremists.

Our standard of living was built on the backs of slaves.The Conquistadors.
It’s not complicated.

Tree huggers unite but watch your backs

or you’ll get eaten.

Aki and Scott

Our business.
http://www.caribooblades.com/

Moving and Static Photovoltaic Systems.

By static I mean solar panels mounted on your roof, facing south and angled at 20 degrees. They don't move. Controller, battery bank or grid tie, inverter, your load...your demand. If you know how much electricity you want it's fairly easy to calculate the photovoltaic equipment you will need. There is so much information out there.

Pretty much maintenance free. Electricity generation on your roof top. Simple and 1/2 the cost of what it was. Now solar equipment is inexpensive and oil is cheap/life is cheap. Everyone is a bit scared of cloudy days.

This kind of system is replacing or enhancing your connection to the grid.

With the sun, taking advantage when the sun is shinning we track the sun manually as we work. Our main system is 416 watts of panels tracking the sun from a manual tracker that stands 20' high beside our cabin.

Tracking systems can be manual or automated, single or double axis and mounted on a pole or track. Some trackers use movable mirrors and concentrators rather than moving the panels themselves.

(picture is of our
panels and our dish to the internet).

We built a tracker with two axis and for years diligently tracked the sun at tilt and angle. We recently put a steel roof on our place and now track the sun only by turning the tracking pole leading the sun from the time it comes up until it goes down. The steel roof reflecting sun light on the panels eliminated the need to tilt.

The practice of tracking has increased our energy production by 45 %.

Tracking the sun sounds like a chore but is far from it. We work and live in the same location and the tracker is located on the way to our shop. We have become in tune with the sun, always aware of where it is in the sky and adjusting the panels leading the sun by an hour or two on either side. In a 15 hour high demand day we adjust the angle 4 or 5 times. A high demand day maybe a couple of loads of laundry, working with a tablesaw for the day, four hours working on the computer, a couple of lights for the evening and watching a dvd. Since we do all the heavy demand work during sun up our batteries still around 65% in the morning. Most days the batteries are hovering between 80 to 100%.

The pole swivels for angle, as the sun moves across the sky, on its base of 1/2" plate steel set in the ground with concrete. This mechanism, as shown below, is a "T" of larger diameter pipe slipped over the pole end and welded in place. Sliding a smaller diameter pipe through the top of the "T" accommodates tilt.

Click on pictures for larger images

We drilled a couple of holes through one side of the larger pipe at the ends, welded nuts over the holes and then screwed bolts snugging against the smaller pipe within to control the tilt.
We use to tie a rope to the top and bottom of the panels to adjust tilt and a cross on the pole to move with the sun across the sky.

If you snug up to the smaller inside pipe with the bolts you'll have complete control of the tilt with the ropes. It is very simple and effective.
By using standard bolts, there is very little wear. For the 10 years we've operated this tracker the bolts have worn off paint. We figure in about 100 years somebody will have to shift the assembly over a 1/2".

This method of tracking the sun may not be for everyone. There are many solar trackers on the market.
Using recycled scrap pipe our photo-voltaic panel tracker cost us $45 and a days work, installed.

We started living here in 1997 with no electricity and slowly built our system as we needed it.

A second action we perform happens on winter days. On a perfect solar energy filled winter day there are only 6  1/2 hours of sun here. After a couple of dark days in December our batteries are hovering around 20%. First thing when the sun begins to peak over the horizon we'll charge the battery bank for 20 minutes with our  S-10's 2.8L engine. We installed a 200 amp altenator. (*update: since 2015 we've used a generator) While the engine is on we'll pump water, charge batteries for the drill, computer etc... Our batteries are discharged to low levels in the winter. There is resistance that develops in the batteries from discharging, preventing them from accepting a charge. The low amperage the panels produce in the morning is not sufficient to wear through the resistance in time for a good charge during the short days. The higher amp and voltage charge from our charging system is sufficient, breaking through the batteries' resistance and allowing the panels to do their job. During really challenging no sun periods we'll disconnect half the battery bank (undoing a wing nut connection), charge half the bank to 60% then reconnect. A sunny winter we may burn $40 of gas. A dark winter we may burn $200. We are in a good spot on the planet as far as exposure to sun light. On average we are burning 80 - 100 litres per year for our fix of electricity.
This method of energy maintenance has increased our battery charge up to 70% on the darkest days of winter.
This all sounds like a lot of effort but it is not. With a bit of modification it could be simplified further to just flicking a switch. It is a fit that will become standard.

From March until mid October we have more power than we need.
Supposing that the whole point to this endeavor is to find the point at which we find what we need.

For more information on our sun power system and our back up power system please visit, 

Living-with-solar-power-for-25-years and  Solar Power, Engines and Alternators.

Enjoy the sun.

Aki and Scott

http://www.caribooblades.com/