-
Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/
The cabin remodel
- Thread starter m1west
- Start date
I finished the first wall on Saturday, lots of notching and mitering to get it to fit right, it was a learning curve. But I got a system after a while and got faster, but me and dads level kept things straight and the trusty nail gun shooting brads at a 45 degree angle thru the tongue keeps the nails hidden.
Took a small refrigerator I had in the garage to see if it would work out, first night the batteries went low and didn’t have enough juice to make coffee in the morning and the inverter turned off, the second day I ran it on high all day then turned it down at about 4:30 pm to a medium setting and in the morning that saved enough electricity to run the coffee maker, I plan to add another battery pack or two for a buffer, when the furniture goes in it will include a 110v washer/dryer and a full sized refrigerator, had some good meals on the treager, it was cold most of the trip with a couple days of severe storms and wind, mostly at night, was surprised that the solar kept up, but it did. In all I feel like I got a lot done and it feels good to be finally doing the finish work. Next trip I think I can finish the walls. But there is still trim, painting the ceiling boards white, then staining the walls and 3 coats of varnish to make it pop and easy to keep clean, when all the boards are on. Next trip in two weeks.
Getting ready today for another cabin trip tomorrow, did truck maintenance and fabricated this support for a 500 watt wind generator that just showed up, when I built the solar container I made a spot for one with a flange to bolt to. I’m hoping that it mitigates the night time losses from the inverter, microwave, lights and refrigerator. The top of the container is about 15’ and the pole is 6’ so that gets it up there over 20’ and I can still reach it. Most reports say you get a couple hundred watts from a 500 watt generator on average with 20-30 mph winds, your only going to get the full 500 watts in a hurricane, but that’s ok. The system works flawlessly during the day and you can run anything you want just like home, about 5 pm is when you have to start conserving a little by turning the refrigerator down and I have just enough juice left for the coffeemaker in the morning. The wind blows every night up there, so it’s got a good chance of working. The other goal for this trip is to get the walls done and ready for stain and varnish. Pictures on my return.
I got there last Sunday and couldn’t pick up wood til Monday, so I decided to install the wind generator, I got everything ready, assembled the turbine and pre wired with 20’ long wires. Put the ladder up and went up then came right back down with hornets buzzing. I aborted, next morning I got out the at dawns crack and beat the little bastards to work, I got it mounted in 10 minutes, just drilled 4 holes and bolted it up. The charge controller is 3 wires from the generator and a red and black to the batteries.
First and second nights there wasn’t much wind. The third night on it howled, the generator won’t unlock its control brake until the batteries drop below 28 volts, the solar tops them at 31.1 so it won’t start rotating until sometime in the middle of the night. It must be doing something because in the morning the volts are at 27 volts when I checked it, normally around 24 volts in the morning before the refrigerator was added and nearly at the low limit of 20 volts after the refrigerator was added. I have mixed reviews
1- if there is low or no wind, it’s no help
2- it was only $75.00 and another $50.00 for wiring and a fabricated the pole from drop material in the shop.
3- it does work when it’s windy but not at full rated output.
I think I will still add some more battery capacity, till then I’m heating the coffee water in the morning with a propane camping burner. To recap, it is some benefit but not a solution.
First and second nights there wasn’t much wind. The third night on it howled, the generator won’t unlock its control brake until the batteries drop below 28 volts, the solar tops them at 31.1 so it won’t start rotating until sometime in the middle of the night. It must be doing something because in the morning the volts are at 27 volts when I checked it, normally around 24 volts in the morning before the refrigerator was added and nearly at the low limit of 20 volts after the refrigerator was added. I have mixed reviews
1- if there is low or no wind, it’s no help
2- it was only $75.00 and another $50.00 for wiring and a fabricated the pole from drop material in the shop.
3- it does work when it’s windy but not at full rated output.
I think I will still add some more battery capacity, till then I’m heating the coffee water in the morning with a propane camping burner. To recap, it is some benefit but not a solution.
Headed back to the work cabin tomorrow, I’m going to stay long enough to finish the walls , then I have to be home for some real work in the field that’s going to keep be busy for 6 weeks or so. I still might get finished this year but having to leave early on the last trip , screwed my schedule pretty good, throwing the timing of going there and being home for work completely out of sinc. After the wood is on the walls, I still have to stain and varnish then paint the ceiling boards before the floor. That’s 2 or 3 more trips, with my fall work schedule, I’m not sure I can pull that off or not. Report when I return