Fixed Solar Panels And The Off Grid Project Expands

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• published: 07 Jul 2014
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I fixed my solar power problem and added something new to The Off Grid Project. I hope you like it New live weather feeds here: http://www.theoffgridproject.com/web/index.htm The Off Grid Project now features live streaming weather reports 24/7. This means that now you can see the weather conditions at any given time right here at the off grid homestead. The temperature and humidity are shown both outside and inside the RV. You can see weather forecast, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure and a whole lot more. Watch and see how the weather actually effects my work each day. You cannot paint in very humid weather for example. Now you can see what is going on at all times here. Soon I will be installing the web cameras and hopefully a live feed from my solar panels and battery bank. You will be able to see the state of charge of my batteries and just how much current I am bringing in at any given time. This is going to be perfect for anyone considering going off the grid. You can check in at various times of the day to see actual solar panel power output. Thursday we had a break in the rain for a short period. It was long enough for me to get out and find the problem with my solar panels. The fridge was pulling too much current for too long and the wires actually burnt. My fridge cannot handle the heat of the recent days and runs non stop. The compressor never shuts off at all. It is frustrating to see all my solar energy wasted on this poorly designed fridge. With my batteries being low from the previous days and the fridge running full blast, the charge controller was pulling max amps from the solar panels in the morning hours. This is unusual. Normally my batteries are topped off relatively fast and the charge controller just maintains their voltage and regulates the batteries and the current from the solar panels. With low batteries and the fridge running full blast the wires running from the solar panels actually burnt through. Many people on the comments have said it cannot be the fridge but I am here all day. I see the current and the draw. I have never had any trouble with this configuration for over a year and suddenly I put in a power hungry fridge and things go bad. I disconnected one set of solar panels fully and used only four panels. I dont have enough heavy gauge wire to reconnect all the rest of them for now. I used proper solar panel connectors and hooked them up properly and securely. The solar panel connectors are water proof and make a solid connection. Immediately the batteries started to top off. I cannot run the fridge on this solar power system though. I need to get a better fridge for solar power use. Never, ever get a standard fridge with the cooling coils not visible in the back. This fridge has the cooling coils in the sides of the fridge. This is a poor design and causes the fridge to work extra hard. There is less room for insulation and now you have a heat source on both sides of the fridge. Add to that hot temperatures and you have a recipe for disaster. My RV is hotter at any given time than it is outside. This is the reason my fridge is on the porch. The porch shelters it from the elements but yet the fridge is in a cooler place. That and the fact that this fridge needs 6 inches of free flowing air space on all sides in order to function properly makes it a horrible choice for an RV or camper. I am looking at chest freezers which I can convert over to solar power use as a fridge. Later in the afternoon hurricane Arthur reached out to my area and it started with a powerful rain storm and wind gusts which tore down tree limbs making driving treacherous. I happened to be out on the road at the time. Follow my daily progress on the path to self sufficiency on my off grid solar homestead. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlUzPxYD3Ngr8yJw88YYZYzCSC8G3W0O2 Please donate to help keep The Off Grid Project going: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted;_button_id=3TQSWXLLRZ6HW Join The Off Grid Project and The Do It Yourself World forum and share your ideas, tips and projects. http://www.thediyworld.com/forum The Off Grid Project is presented by The Do It Yourself World. http://www.TheDIYworld.com Experiments and projects in off grid living, alternate energy, survival, hiking and more.