July 29, 2018 Solar Power Installed on the 5th Wheel

We purchased a used 5th wheel to put into use as our winter home when we go south in the fall.  We prefer to "boon-dock" when we travel which means we camp out in the "wild" without electric, water and sewer hookups rather than use campgrounds that charge a nightly fee.

As a result we tend to modify our rigs to be pretty much self-sufficient.  They have water storage, propane for cooking, the furnace and for powering the refrigerator and water heater.  The generator is powered off the propane bottles and wired directly into the wiring system.  It has both 12 volt DC and 120 volt AC systems installed.

One of the most important changes we make is to install solar panels for charging the batteries (and we increased the number of batteries from one to three), which power the 12 volt DC system and also power an inverter to supply 120 volt AC current when we are not running the generator.

In this instance we installed two 160 watt solar panels on the roof of the RV.

One of the first things I do is take a photo of the specification plate on the back of the solar panel(s).  In this case both panels are identical units rated at 160 watts each (320 total).  This should supply far more power than we need even on cloudy days.

I purchased eight "Z" brackets to mount the panels to the roof.  Four for each panel.  You can use more if you desire but four has been adequate in the past and we've weathered some pretty strong winds.

The mounting holes from the factory are larger than needed and placed too far inboard for my tastes.  So, I move the edge of the bracket to the edge of the panel and mark where the new holes need to be drilled. 

NOTE: Do not make the holes so close to the inside edge that you cannot install the bolt that holds the bracket to the panel.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: put some kind of stop spacer on the drill bit to keep it from going so deep that it contacts the solar panel surface.  When the drill bites through the aluminum frame it will bind and try to drive itself through and into the solar panel below.  Obviously you don't want that to happen!  I used a 1/4 inch drive deep socket as a drill stop.  They make special tools just for this purpose (I even have one!) but in my experience this works just as well and it's faster.

First bracket installed!  Seven more to go!

Once I have the brackets bolted to the panels I need to install them on top of the 5th wheel.  (Actually, you should have done some measuring first just to be sure that you have room.)  You want to have the panels clear of any tall objects like the AC unit and/or antennas.  Any amount of shade will decrease the charge rate on a solar panel.  Be sure that the panels can get the maximum amount of sunlight every day.

You can use strip caulk purchased at any hardware or auto parts store for the first layer of leak protection.  I had a vent installation kit with a roll of caulk left from a previous project and elected to use it.

Tear off a section about the size of the "foot" on the "Z" bracket then put it under the bracket.

Now drill hole down through the bracket and install a screw or lag bolt. When you torque it down it will squeeze out some of the caulk.  Trim the excess caulk away before the next step.

I used a caulking gun and sealer to thoroughly cover the bracket and bolt.  Be sure it seals tightly to both the roof and bracket.

One of the biggest challenges can be finding a way to get the solar panel wiring down to the charge controller and batteries.  In this instance I'm utilizing the holding tank vent.  This pipe goes down through the storage compartment which is also where the batteries are.

I ran the cables through the pipe then reinstalled the vent cap.  I'm using a MPPT charge controller so the panels are hooked up in series.  

If I was using a PWM controller I would have to hook the panel wiring up in a parallel circuit using another cable for splicing the two panels together.  The splices are available at any solar power supplier. 

For really big systems you may have to use both parallel and series wiring to get an acceptable combination of voltage and amperage.

The panels and wiring installed on the roof.

This is the vent line from the holding tank.  It's 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe.  I just cut a section out, ran the wires through and measured them, then ran them through the "T" and glued the "T" back into the vent pipe. There should not be anything except the odors from the tank in the line.  I drilled a couple of holes barely larger than the electric cable through the plug.  Ran the wires through the plug then glued it in place.

Next I used sealer to completely seal off the vent and wires.

Next I ran the wires from the batteries to the charge controller.  You want to hook the battery wires up first because many charge controllers sense the battery voltage then automatically select the 12 volt or 24 volt options from their programming.  It you hook the panels to the controller first it can get "confused" about whether your system's battery bank is 12 volt or 24 volt.  The input voltage from our solar panels is about 35 volts.  The charge controller reduces that down to around 13.5 volts (depending what charge "mode" the controller is using at the moment) to keep from overcharging the batteries.  A charge controller's only reason for existing is to properly charge and protect your batteries from over charging or being discharged too deeply (although other systems bear more responsibility for that).

Three batteries should be adequate for our needs. They are hooked together in a parallel circuit.

You can see the charge controller installed to the inside wall near the opposite side in this photo.  You need to leave plenty of clearance for air circulation around it.

You can see the back of the inverter on the left side.  The large black "box" is our inverter which changes the 12 volt DC current to 120 volt AC current.  This one is rated at 1,750 watts.

December 1-15, 2016 Fishing, going home and cold weather...

We began the month in Nevada and then made our way to Montana.  The question is, "where will we be at the end of December?"

I bought a Nevada non-resident fishing and small game hunting license this year and added another ten dollars to use a second fishing rod.  On this day the wind was howling out of the north so  it seemed like I could cast almost to Echo Bay!

Unfortunately it didn't do much good that day because after several hours I had caught nothing!  It was a beautiful day though as long as you were out of the wind.

Looks like Sunday!  Scott's dressed up for church.

Scott down for his morning snuggle time.  Normally it's Susan that he goes to but this morning it must have been my turn.  We all cherish these times because we know that all-to-soon he will grow up and not want to do things like this.

One of the problems of late November and December down south is that it gets kind of cold in the desert.  Not like sub-zero Montana but 30 degrees can feel pretty cold in a poorly insulated motor home!  We can fire up our little wood stove (and we do!) but the heat never travels far due to poor insulation and the long, narrow design of the motor home.  Scott's bed is in the very back of the Motor home so in the evenings and mornings (before sunrise) when it's cold he tends to bundle up.  Once the sun comes up in the morning we open the curtains and let the sun warm things up.  In the evenings, though, that's not an option!

We took a quick two day trip to Quartzsite.  We were a little early so many of the vendors weren't there yet.  There were still quite a few though and we found lots of things to buy.  I stocked up on small parts for my home inventory along with some tools.  We also bought a few Christmas gifts.

We picked up some inventory for a friend while we were there.  They have the credentials to get a really good wholesale price on these.

The wholesaler knew them and brought out a great selection for us to take back to them.

Some of our Christmas decorations in the motor home.  We also stocked up on case lot goods from the local grocery store. When you run out of regular storage room you just stuff it anywhere that's out of the way!

I caught a few fish but this was the best afternoon I had so far.  Not much happened until the last half-hour before sunset then I finally just reeled in one rod and fished with the other.  I lost several fish because they hit both rods at the same time.  Towards the end they were hitting the bait as it hit the water.  I used worms and anchovies.  Didn't seem to matter which since the fish hit them both equally fast.  I tossed the little ones back in.

One of the great things about Stewart's Point is riding our bicycles.  We try to ride to the highway and back every day.  It's three miles each way.  Mostly uphill going out but a really nice coast coming back down.

The sunsets there are almost always great.

We parked the motor home in storage on the 13th and left for home.  It's a lot cheaper to store it there than to drive it back and forth at roughly $750.00 each way!  It's getting some age on it so we'll probably replace it in a couple of more years.  So far our plans are to buy a school bus and convert it.  The factory manufactured rigs are great for camp grounds with water, sewer and electricity but we like to boondock camp where none of these are available. We want a rig that's tougher, better insulated, and can be self-sufficient for weeks at a time. Our U-Haul conversion is great but too small with Scott now.  

That project will have to wait because we have a lot lined up to do at the cabin this year.

Ah, yes ... home again ... well, within 400 miles anyway!

People ask how Scott does travelling.  He does pretty good but then he has a tablet, leap frog, small computer, and his DVD player with a bunch of movies to chose from (and Red Box rentals practically everywhere).  If those fail there's always something to do like make faces at grandpa.

Flathead Lake viewed from Polson.  Now we're getting somewhere but it's still about 100 miles to home.  The lake looks cold (and is!).

Our first stop was to see our youngest son.  He's been gathering up our mail for us.  We caught him in the act of working!

Home in the driveway.  A neighbor plowed the road and our driveway to welcome us home.

Temperatures had been dipping way below zero for a couple of weeks with highs barely in the teens or below most days.  We neglected to drain everything before leaving so we had a lot of frozen water jugs when we got home.  The son pictured above put some RV antifreeze in the drains and drained the overhead tank but the barrels and water jugs were frozen solid both inside and outside the cabin.  The kettle we keep on the stove was frozen solid!  

Scott adapted by covering up in sleeping bags, blankets and whatever else he could find and played his tablet while the cabin warmed up.  When everything inside is cold like this we must heat walls, furniture and everything else back up before it's comfortable inside again.  Scott and Susan slept in the living room so that she could keep the stove going all night long.  We burned through about two weeks worth of wood in the first three days getting the cabin warmed up.

We had plenty of wonderful cold snow outside though.  It was absolutely beautiful outside (but still pretty cold!).

The first thing was to sweep the snow off the solar panels.

Our son had shoveled paths to the wood shed and outhouse and my shop but we had to clear the fresh snow out of them when we got home.  We knew we'd have plenty to do so we spent the night before in a motel in Kalispell so we could get an early start and get home while we still had plenty of daylight left.  They also had a heated pool and hot tub there which made the decision to stay even easier!  It was around 5 below zero (f) when we got home.  That was our daytime high!

It was 26 degrees inside the cabin.  By sundown we had brought that up to about 35 degrees!

I ordered a new splitting maul before we left Nevada.  So far it's a good one although I wish they had designed the head a little differently.  This one has a concave cutting edge.  It has some advantages but if I was designing it I'd put a couple of  "diamond shaped" wedges on either side of the head.  The concave edge will bite deep and cut through knots in the wood but they can bind up if you don't make it all the way through on the first whack.  Put some wedges on the sides and it will spread the wood better making it easier to get the maul free for another swing. Overall though it's still good maul.

Scott's great-grandparents left a birthday package for him while we were gone.  It's a figure-eight race track with high, banked turns.  He played with it quite awhile once the cabin warmed up.

The frost build-up on the windows.  It only does this when the outside temperature is well below zero.

Scott found the selfie stick and shot up about three rolls of "film."  One of the technological marvels I really like are digital cameras (in this case a phone). It was expensive to use roll film and when writing magazine articles I took the photos, mailed in the film then waited to see if I needed to retake more photos if the first batch didn't come out right.  Digital cameras made it all so much easier, cheaper and faster!

He got grandma in the picture too!

Our Amazon order came in a huge box.  I often wonder if the packaging department is just angry at their bosses.  I've seen this happen lots of times and you'd suspect that this makes postage rates a lot higher ... or maybe not!  

The cabin finally warmed up nice after about three days and everything was back to normal.  Shoveling snow is kind of a daily routine because this time of year it just kind of snows lightly 24 hours a day/night.  At least it's good exercise to keep the paths cleared ... and the roofs as you'll see in the next installment!