Anotherpower.com Forum
Off Grid Living / Camping => Off Grid Living / Alternative Housing => Topic started by: birdhouse on April 18, 2012, 11:25:38 pm
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hello all-
just wanted to share this deck i built last weekend. it's about 300 sq foot, and i NEVER started a genset for the whole thing. the battery bank/solar/wind was more than enough to keep the prosine 1800 more than happy. we were even dumping excess juice throughout both nights even with cordless batteries charging, lights on, and stereo ripping. the highest i saw was 500 watts being dumped from the turbine after work hours.
the roof before the deck was built:
(http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af78/birdhouseadam/ranch/DSCN1387.jpg)
the deck framing:
(http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af78/birdhouseadam/ranch/2012-04-14_11-03-31_604.jpg)
the finished deck:
(http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af78/birdhouseadam/ranch/2012-04-15_17-01-50_6.jpg)
and a random youtube of my place before the deck was done:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SurSHmGHEL8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SurSHmGHEL8)
hope you all enjoy!
adam
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Sweet, when does the dancing begin?
8)
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Nice work.. now, can ya build one of those sweet setups including the fire pit and hood at our place.. :)
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And enjoy I did Adam. Very nice.
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thanks guys!
sadly the deck was built for the outdoor kitchen (no more hotdogs rolling off the grill) and not dancing.
sure wolv, i'll build you an identical structure. they ain't cheap though... ;) the framing alone (pond board from the mill) weighed in at almost 5000 lbs. 24 foot long 2x12's aren't light! it is awful nice to have 700 sq ft of covered WARM space when it starts raining, and not have to go indoors!
forgot to mention, this was built with basically 390w of solar. the wind turbine wassn't really helping until almost evening, and we were wrapping things up by then anyways. the solar easily competed with 13 hour days running a pancake air compressor with framing nailer, circ saw, chop saw, ect. i thought for sure i'd have to fire up my little generac with the chinese charger to keep the bank up, but it wasn't an issue.
if the wind turbine hadn't kicked in during the evenings, i probably would have fired up the genset for evening comforts.
next project is to build a mini deck ON TOP of the roof. no, i'm not kidding...
adam
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Very nice.
Always kind of amazed when people say 500W of solar is not enough to do anything.
You showed it more than enough!
G-
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Always kind of amazed when people say 500W of solar is not enough to do anything.
You showed it more than enough!
granted i've got a 480Ah @ 24v bank behind it. it still kept up with a 2Hp compressor running 3-4 minutes straight at times while i was firing away.
anyone ever put an ammeter on a charger for a Li-ion 18v cordless set up? i've got 3Ah makita batteries, and i've always wondered what they pull on the AC side of things?
sadly, i've got another ~700w of panels IN the shed. yet another summer project!
adam
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Adam,
Good post and very nice work. you've got to be real happy with yourself whenver your sitting back having a beer ----or two!
Bill
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thanks bill!
in all seriousness, i actually slowly drink light beer the entire time i'm building stuff out at my ranch. seems to to take the edge off from 13 hour days of slinging and butchering lumber!
i've been framing for many years, so when i'm not getting paid, and doing it for myself, i drop the pace a bit, sip on a cold one, and put in the hours. i had one helper, and we built the deck in 2.5 days and went through ~150 8' 2x6. that's 1200 linear foot of 2x6. not to mention the concrete/footing work.
but yes, it does make for a nice spot to sip on a cold one or four after the work is done!
adam
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Adam,
The only thing I noticed missing is a spot to sling a hammock!
Yes, it looks like a great place to hang out and visit over a couple beers, and well into the evenings :)
Great work.
Kevin
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Very nice Adam!
I find it difficult sometimes, to find the time or motivation to work on my own stuff. Besides, I don't pay well. ;) Hard to tell from the pics, what you got holding the floor up. Piers w/ 6x6 looks like to me. Again, well done. You will get years of use out of it.
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I followed your example today ran a few extension cords to power tools and drills etc from the inverter.
I seemed to have lucked out and gotten panels that provide WAY more power than rated, so in the full sun today the banks were back to full charge before 10am when I got away from the computers and out of the house.
Today I was working on the meters and panels.
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that's rad wolv! nothing better than working on a RE system with RE power!
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Adam, that's a pretty nice deck. How much beer does it take to build one?
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Chris
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chris-
thanks!
i figure a good ratio of one beer per one 2x6. seems to work well for me! ;D
there's an alternate ratio as well. one beer for every 10 screws or 15 nails shot.
honestly, it's amazing the thing is true and level... ;)
adam
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That is awesome!
Ghurd- you are right, people just don't understand how much cumulative power a solar system can make.
I really need to get some pics of my deck posted, as well as the chimney I air hammered all day on (running a compressor) to tear down using a prosine 1800 and 395 watts of solar also. Furthermore, I power my well pump on it and a microwave and a bar sized refrigerator, a 32 inch LCD and laptops. We are only there on the weekends, but have spent over a week there before with 17 people wandering around charging cell phones and laptops and crap, and only ran low on voltage one time and I fired up the gen for a few hours to top off the batteries.