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

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/

Smoke in Our Skies

It's been a spring and summer of sunshine, hot, dry and fires. In the last month smoke from forest fires blocked out the late afternoon sun for a couple of weeks. A forest fire just south of us was 53,000 hectares big. Very high ground water levels. The mosquitoes were extreme and lasted an extra month into August - still a few around.

For Aki, Kai and I it has meant a great harvest. This winter holds a palette of sun dried tomatoes, dried broccoli, cauliflower, broad beans, peas,herbs and kale. Aki is canning pesto, hot pepper jelly, Saskatoon jam etc, etc... .

Every knife and tool we've made this year has been produced with just solar power. We work with the Sun. The Sun basically dictates what we do, how and what we eat, what time we go to sleep, when we wake up, how many movies we watch and in the deep, dark winter, how many emails we can write. We'd much rather be guided by the sun than by Exxon or Shell.
We've been harping about solar power for 15 years to anyone who would listen. Not many were listening but a few were watching. To us it is mind baffling that everyone hasn't a panel or two. We all know the sun.
Today, silicon, which makes up roughly half the cost of making of most solar electric panels, has dropped from $400/kg to $70/kg in one year..... and the silicon Baron's are still making money. Kind of sounds like the oil companies. Right now you can get Sharp panels for 2/3 of what they were a year ago. .


At the time when we moved here we invaded Iraq. Now we're occupying Afghanistan. Sure is a disgraceful situation we find ourselves in. All for a pipeline. All for oil.

Anyone can.
Running your shop on solar electric power is easy. With this system we've run our cabin and shop for 13 years. We started with one panel, 2 batteries and an inverter.
We are 100% solar powered from the end of March until the end of September now. March and October are good for sun energy just not unlimited. We work full time making edged tools. Our power needs decline until December 21st, by the end of February we have the power we need from the sun again. It's December and January when we slow down and burn candles in the evening. If you're connected to a grid there is no fluctuation. We tried to keep up the production for these dark months only to fall behind and get stressed. This year we'll snow shoe, think more, and play more music.

We designed and installed our system. It was fairly easy.
We went with 6 volt golf cart batteries. They are tough (We've frozen them solid and they have come back). These batteries are inexpensive and easy to replace although we haven't had to. 8 batteries and they are all in good shape. Twice a year I'll clean them with baking soda and water, then top off each cell with distilled water.
We've seen people spend lots of money on batteries. You don't have to, tough golf cart batteries are the way to go, especially for a shop. If you live within a grid you don't need batteries.

We have 390 watts of panel. 2 are BP and one is made by Sharp, a 20 amp regulator and we have a 2,500 watt (with a surge of 3,500) inverter we bought at Canadian Tire.

We built a manual tracker. Three panels, framed, on top of a 20 foot steel pole set cemented into the ground. As we work we turn the panels to face the sun.
This has increased our power by 35%.
The tracker put us at the level of power we are satisfied with and gave us a very good ground.--- An excellent ground is really important. Ground your inverter, batteries and panels.

Trick is to work with the sun when it is out. We don't think of it as storing power. Use power when it is there in the sky.
At night we use stored power for light, music, watching movies, 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... A different way of seeing. It feels like a breakthrough. Life on another level. Being responsible for your own power instead of being forced to be part of the crime. We are all, in this part of the world, part of a crime.

Questions like, "what do you do when the sun's not out", or statements like, "solar panels are made by oil energy" seem true enough in an all or nothing way. When the sun's not out we relax. The real cost to the environment of a panel is paid off in as little as 5 years. Life is saved. Solar electric panels are guaranteed for 25 years.

Electric cars are a boondoggle unless you plug into the sun. Electric anything, otherwise your plugging into oil, coal and nuclear reactors.

Living with the sun as the source of power, growing your own food, taking time to think, taking only what you need and most of all being empathetic, not psychopathic.

http://www.caribooblades.com/

A Conversation in 2004

Hi Scott and Aki.

I have been sending The following testimonial to a few people:

"Speaking of beauty... I wanted to pass on a little conversation I’m having with a friend of mine, Scott, who lives in the bush, no hydro.... He makes a living making carving tools, chef and hunting knifes. All made from the sun. He is astounded that we are fighting wars; killing people over energy. Mean while every day huge amounts of energy are delivered free to every home on earth.

From my friend Scott:

When I get up in the morning I race out and face my solar panels to the sun.
I was in the shop all day yesterday, full sun all day. 3 hours straight on the grinder, + 1 hour sanding on my machine, + 1 1/2 hours drilling and reaming on the drill press, then 3 1/2 hours on the computer with the satellite connection (it takes power as well), 2 hours of tv with a light on for three hours and I still have plenty of power stored (in batteries) to email you this morning. It's looking like it's going to be a beautiful sunny day today again. We can't use all the power. Oh ya, the freezer was on for 3 hours yesterday.
You guys could have systems running easily. I don't understand why you don't. A solar array (250 - 300 watts), a regulator, an inverter. Total cost is around $2500 - $3000. That's it.
It is so simple. You can start right now by building a sun tracker, you need to follow the sun. I built one for $35. If anyone tries to tell you that you must have more or says you can't do it for that, they’re full of it.
Ciao,

Scott.

www.caribooblades.com