Running Wires, Kathy’s Cooking and Mounting The Meters.

Our Location today is at the La Posa South, LTVA, Quartzsite, Arizona.

Click on the pictures to Enlarge

With a more seasonal overnight temperature we both managed to sleep quite soundly. The Sun had already slid behind a blanket of Clouds which made me think that we weren’t going to have a good day. I shouldn’t have worried because as we sat having breakfast the Sky started clearing from the west and before long there wasn’t a Cloud to be seen.

What the Sky looked like first thing this morning.

While Kathy went to check what was happening On-Line I busied myself doing my inside chores while my Coffee cooled some. I managed to finish drinking it while in the process getting ready to go outside. 

As mentioned yesterday after picking up the Meters to monitor the Wind Generator and Batteries we also got the necessary Coloured Wires so they could be hooked up. The first thing I did was to create a 20 Foot Harness of all those Wires that were needed. I’d barely finished that when Kathy called me for lunch.

She had created Chicken Salad Sandwiches along with some Low Sodium Potato Chips for lunch also with some Chocolate Chip Cookies and a Yogurt Cup for dessert. She was planning a cooking day while I worked on the Meters.

Back outside I emptied the back half of the Basement before removing its rear Wall. Inside I then removed our Solar Panel Charge Controller Monitor from the wall. The plan is to mount the Two New Meters very close and bring the Wires up through the same opening. After dropping a string down I was able to have Kathy pull them up while I guided them through the Basement.

Because a Vent Pipe shares the Cavity that the Wires were brought up through and both the Charge Controller Monitor along with the Meter that will monitor the Wind Generator are deep I needed to make a new Spacer Plate.

My finger is there for size comparison.
The Grey Meter is only 2 inches long.
That is a Blocking Diode above the meter on the right.

Using the Tailgate as a workbench I used a piece of Material to create the new Spacer Plate for both Meters. Since the Sun had already topped off our Batteries I used our Main Inverter to power the Electric Drill and Jig Saw. After a few adjustments it was time to move inside.

By mounting the Meters on the same wall as the Charge Control Monitor that meant cutting more Holes. After carefully marking them out I used the Oscillating Tool to cut them because it is much easier to control the depth of the cut. Again there was a little adjusting to do but in the end it went together fine.

Without realizing how late it was we were both starting to get disoriented but considering that it was over Seven Hours since lunch we needed to eat. Kathy had been busy making Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup this afternoon for supper and she also made some Baked Apples for dessert. We felt much better after eating and still have more Soup for another day.

I still needed to fasten the Wires along the Ceiling in the Basement so the Wall could be reinstalled plus putting everything away all while in the dark. With the use of our LED Work Lights it was easy the only bad thing was being bent over inside the Basement while working overhead will definitely make it a Tylenol night.

The White Monitor is for the Solar Charge Controller.
The Black Monitor will show the Wind Generator.
The little Grey Monitor will show our Battery Power.

Now that the hard part is finished it shouldn’t take too long to finish connecting the Meters to the Batteries and Wind Generator. Finally we’ll be able to get some Output Numbers. Saturday is looking like a Windy Day. Thank you for following along and feel free to leave a comment.

Be Safe and Enjoy!

It’s about time.

Krackers

You Might Be a Redneck If

You call the small rust holes in your truck "the vents"

and the big one "the sun roof".