The 10 Most Recent Posts

The 200W portable (suitcase-style) solar panels I ordered arrived yesterday. I'll be using it (them - there are 4 panels total) to charge my Bluetti solar power station until I get my "real" setup ready to use. That setup will be two 380W panels. I'll be mounting them on a wooden base to keep them from blowing away in the winds we get here.

Today's Photos

The 200W number is "nominal" and reflects ideal conditions (correct angle towards the sun, the time of year, and other variables). Right now, the display on my Bluetti says they are only putting out 130W. It also says it is at 52% of full charge with 4.3 hours left to reach 100%. The 130W will be dropping very soon now. The sun is on its way down and I only have about 2 hours of usable sun left today. The real test will be tomorrow to see how long it takes to get to full charge.

Because they are portable, and fold to make them easy to transport, they are not ideal for "full-time" use. I can already see how much of a pain they will be to adjust their position to receive the maximum sunlight at any time throughout the day.

Today's photos show the panels facing generally West, since it is near the end of the day. After sunset today, I'll reposition them (generally South) so they will be at their most efficient between around noon to 2pm and leave them there. That just means I'll have to put a higher priority on my "real" panel setup, which will be easier to reposition throughout the day, if needed.

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Between the last part of yesterday and this morning, my Bluetti power station reached 100%. This morning I switched my PC and accessories over to my Bluetti. Right now, my Bluetti is at 98% and my PC and accessories are using about 70W. With 60W coming in (it's pretty overcast), I should be able to use the Bluetti all day. With full sun, it would still be at 100% all the way to just before sunset and I would be able to use it for a couple of hours (at least) after sunset. But no worries. If push comes to shove, it won't be too much trouble to switch everything back to my other battery.

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Whoo Hooo!!! The call I've been waiting for for about eight months finally came! My contractor has been doing a lot of work, but for some reason, never returned my calls or in any other way, kept me up to date on his progress. Oh well. It has been very frustrating, but it now looks like the outhouse/shed will be up in another week or so.

He said he will be here on Wednesday with the walls and the floor and on Thursday with the roof. I hope all goes according to plan.

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Oh well. It turns out my joy will be temporarily put on hold. My contractor called me this morning and told me he couldn't make it today, but that he would be stopping by tomorrow instead. Time will tell.

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Today's Photos

My contractor showed up today, not at 9am like he mentioned yesterday, but closer to 1pm, but at least he made it. He brought his Case International Uni-Loader Skid Steer, sort of a mini-bulldozer. He spent about 2 hours preparing the area where the shed will be placed. He said tomorrow he will bring the floor (maybe the walls also, but I'm not sure).

Because of the grade of the property, he roughed out a "trough" which is intended to direct rainwater away from the shed to minimize any damage to the area directly under the shed. After it is completed, we'll put skirting around it which will also help keep the water away from the shed.

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Yesterday my contractor said he would be here at 9am today. Oh well, he showed up at about 3pm. He said there was an accident on the road to my place, and he was stuck there for two hours.

I thought he was going to be bringing at least the floor for the shed, but I guess he'll be doing that on Monday (10am?). Instead, he fixed the door to my shed/cabin. On two occasions, there were some pretty high winds and I wasn't paying close enough attention as I opened the door. The wind ripped the door right out of my hand and pretty violently slammed it to full open. That damaged the door jamb, which left the door misaligned and it had been very difficult to close since then. Today, he took out the 1" screws and replaced them with 3" screws and did some other minor adjustments and now it is back to working like it did when it was brand new. Nothing on the shed, but it sure is nice to have the door working normally again.

We'll see what Monday brings.

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My contractor hasn't shown yet and he may not be able to make it here at all today. He called and said he is having some legal disputes with some property he owns. Hopefully he will show up tomorrow, but that remains to be seen.

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Today's Photos

Today is my normal day to make my once a week trip into town, so I put the chain around the gate, but didn't clasp it. I also used a bungie cord to be sure it didn't open accidentally. When I returned around noon, my contractor had dropped off the floor of the shed and put in it place. The shed will be 8' x 8' square. He also brought the walls, but left those in the trailer for now. Check out the pictures.

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My contractor got here later than planned due to truck problems. No pictures today. We put some more screws in the 5/8" plywood floor panels. Tomorrow we'll be putting another layer of 5/8" plywood panels at right angles to the ones already in place.

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Today's Photos

My contractor got here later than planned (10:30am instead of 8:30am). But once he arrived we got to work. We placed (and screwed down) two more 4'x8' sheets of 5/8" plywood at 90° to the first layer (8'x8' = 64 square feet). Then we put all four walls in place and screwed them to the floor. We quit around 2:30pm. Tomorrow we'll finish connecting each wall to the ones next to it. Hopefully we will also get the rafters in place and the metal roof. Definitely the most work I've done since moving here.

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