Just thought I would drop a line or 2.

Didn't even reconize this page format...things change quickly.


So we have another dog, a Catahola hound. a bio intruder alarm...

Final harvest for the year...our first hard freeze was Monday morning.

Living in the big hous full time now.

I'm still building and moving things around.

been a while so untill then cheers.

bb.

Rock House Fire is under Control after 21 days...

All is well in THE DMR...the fire missed us but was close... total acres burned to date 311.000 acres.

The house is doing well and still working on it .water system currently going in service. no pic's until I'm done with it


The ROCK HOUSE FIRE in Ft Davis TX. this is not pretty.....
http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d6a51774d7a4d314f44593d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_playback_link

A view from the communications site at Indian Lodge State Park.This site was a vital radio site for State and County emergency agencies ,I was asked to repair the electrical service for the radio station.

The blog days for me are far and few between.... I only post now and then. My bizz is more than I can keep up with ....

cheers

.bb

Still Working Things Out

If ya missed me sorry,If not here I am anyway.
Took a few shot at the big house today and figured it's time to share with ya.
Time is still at a premium,just not enough to get all I want done.

Merry Christmas to all...From "lifeat6000feet"



The bedroom is starting to take shape.

A look towards the master closet and bath.

I commissioned the system last week.

The combiner box from the roof array.

The inverter and AC voltage panel.

I'll be working the rest of the year,But will keep ya updated as I get time.

and that's the way it is.

cheers

.bb

Completed Solar Array on Roof

Bizz picked up quickly after moving back.Haven't had much time for the new home till yesterday.

Today I finished the pv array and brought wires into the power room.

Below is a mule hiding in the bush, Where looking for a thief, He was coming into the resort with a horse trailer and stealing the wild mules and selling for profit. I hope he rots in hell............
And sure HOPE he comes back on my watch, cuz I got your "Huckleberry" pal, You been had.

Look to the right and expand the pic and you will see him.

She was a little confused as I walked up the hill to take today's photos.

The service entrance was achieved via 2"weather head and E.M.T. straight into the power room.

The completed array on roof. Final rack size @ 10' x 20'.

Next on the list is grounding the entire system and roof.

A little further up the mountain.

A view across the valley,The rain has been good to us this year. Guessing 25 to 30 inches so far this year

Things are good otherwise,But behind on the house. I'll catch up soon.

God willing and the creeks don't rise !

and that's the way it is.
cheers,

.bb

Labor Day/Solar Day

Labor Day....................

Got to work about 4 hours this morning before the sun was to intense on the metal roof.
Managed to get 4 panels on the rack.


The panels are LARGE 39" X 54" and weight 35 lbs each.

This takes all I got, not to drop one.

Once on the rack system they are not so bad. My tilt feature worked great...But I'll make retractable legs , not 2x6's...

2 more and this rack is full, leaving 4 more to complete the system,Ran out of hardware today.But it was hot!!!

Did find out I'll need a stiff back in the middle of the 10' X 10 rack. Turned out heaver than expected

These are called C-Ports and used for holding conduit on commercial rooftops, I'm using them for feet on the ends of the thick strut.

This shot of the winter tilt or flat against the roof @ 22 1/2 degrees, Should be able to raise them to a flat position for the long summer days.

Slow today on the trial run, but expect to finish by Wednesday .

Takes quite a bit of equipment to pull this off. Not for the faint of heart.... The roof is slick from the heat and dust

Things are going OK so far and hope I don't bust my ass in the meantime.

and that's the way it is.

cheers .bb

24 volt banks and cables

Busy on other things last few weeks, College ,waiting on materials to arrive and moving my boat from Lake Travis to the mountains. Don't have much need for the boat at the present.
It's my Ark.... Got a boat in the High Desert, like I got time for it now. Haven't even started, much less rode my bike in a month.


I got all panels up to the upper pad last week,The lugs for the cables came last week also, But no time to fab-um up until today.

A look at the construction of the banks.

They have been on this pallet for about 3 weeks so I decided a charge was in order.

The heavy oak shipping pallet will be the starter for the enclosed battery box. This will happen quickly and expect no problems.I'll line the box with cut-offs from the Hardy Board and add some stiffeners under the battery's ,Then frame it out for insulation,Hinge the top,add vent fan,paint,add battery's and off to the races.(save 400 bucks).

This system gives 24 volts with reserve of 740 ah @ 20 hour rate. 820 @ 100 hour rate.

These are cabled Series/Parallel.

Series cables are 2/0 THNN 90c rated @ 190 amps

Parallel cables are 3/0 THHN 90c rated @ 205 amps

Finally got all the rack and strut necessary to complete the roof mount with seasonal tilt, Should be on the roof by Friday and hope for no rain. I need to make 6 roof penetrations right off the bat.

Due to the size of the pv panels, 40 inches wide and 60 inches tall, I will have to use a extra helper during the attachment process as I don't want to drop 1, much less a whole rack of 5...

and that's the way it is.

cheers,

.bb

Storms Roll In...

The storms I spoke of yesterday did a good job of filling up all the creeks in the Resort.
I personally recorded 1.79 inches during the 24 hour period starting at 1:00pm yesterday,Most of it fell in a 1 hour period 1.25 inches ,The rest of the day was light rain to the tune of 0.54 inches.

From the front porch...and yea those are my pv panels and battery's in the front drive....soon soon! Power center first...

Of course some "Creek Chasing" was in order...

The rising water receded as fast as it rose.All of our water holes where already full,so most of this made it to Limpia Creek and flowed down to Ft Davis.

and that's the way it is.

cheers.

.bb