Let There Be Light!!

Every day without an ounce of thought we walk into a room, flip a switch, or perhaps ask Alexa, to turn on a light. We give little thought to how our electrical power is generated. Electricity in the U.S. is relatively inexpensive and as a result we tend to overlook the process involved in generating the electricity or the impact it may have on our environment.

We've owned our property since 1999. During that time we have burned gallons of white gas in our Coleman lanterns. Burning candles may be romantic but try actually reading by one and it will be a short lived romance! We are also collectors of flashlights and we are well-qualified to write reviews on how well they perform at -30F. During our building process we used a Honda 3500 watt generator for running our larger tools and for charging batteries for our cordless tools. New developments in lithium batteries have resulted in some pretty amazing cordless tools.

We've grown accustomed to not having power in our shack, but we wanted to add more creature comforts to our cabin.

For our remote property grid tied power (that power that comes with the beautiful green boxes) was simply not an option. After a lot of research we installed a 2.66Kw off grid solar system. We have 9 SolarWorld 290 watt solar panels, which are ground-mounted next to the cabin. We chose a ground mount system because climbing up a ladder onto the roof in the dead of winter to pull snow and ice towards you with a roof-mounted system just did not seem wise. The downside of the ground mount is that the panels are more visible as you approach the cabin.

For those of you versed in solar systems, here are our Off Grid Solar Tech Specs:

• 9 SolarWorld 290 watt panels
• 4000 watt Magnum Pure Sine Wave Inverter MSPAE4024
• Midnight Classic 150 Charge Controller
• 8 Crown CR430 6v batteries wired 4x2 for a 24v DC system 860Ah
• IronRidge Ground Mount 
• Honda EU2000i backup generator for battery charging when the sun's not shining

We ordered the package above (except the generator) from Wholesale Solar online. We bought the inverter and charge controller factory prewired. Wholesale Solar tech support was awesome to work with!

The IronRidge ground mount system mounts on 3" galvanized steel pipe (purchased locally). The pipes weighed in at 120 lbs each. Drilling four 12" holes in rock was no easy task but we lived to tell about it. (Thanks Wayne!!) Mixing the cement to fill those holes was relatively easy since Mkay is a proud owner of a bright orange cement mixer gifted to her from her loving husband a year previously. True love ...

Ground Mount Solar Panels

The batteries are stored in a custom sealed box (gray box in the picture below - Mark built it at home in his copious spare time) in the basement (controlled temperature). It's power vented to the outside to exhaust the hydrogen gas during charging. The exhaust fan is programmed and controlled by the charge controller. Midnight has the worst product documentation possible (!) but their YouTube videos are helpful.

Custom Battery Box, Inverter, Charge Controller, Power Vent

All that was left was to figure out all the wire sizing, correct wire type, which conduit to use, how deep to bury it, torque settings for screws and bolts, concrete encased electrode grounding, labeling, NEC required disconnects, etc, etc ... and your "good to go"!!

We wired the entire cabin ourselves and ... sitting down ... we actually PASSED the electrical rough in inspection with only a couple minor changes required. <<Insert happy dance here>>

Next it was time to install the breakers into the main electrical panel, which is fed by the inverter. Coming off a high from the rough-in inspection, what could go wrong??? Well Mark plummeted 30,000 feet as he struggled to understand how combination Arc Fault breakers work. As it turns out, if you wire them incorrectly they DON'T work!!! I was tripping AFCI breakers faster than dog snot sliding off a freshly sliced onion. The fault diagnostics indicated a fault to ground. Later I figured out that the fault was between my ears - I had misread the AFCI installation instructions! I read them TWICE. Regardless, Mkay has enrolled me in a ESL course for improving my engwish.

Main Electrical Panel 100A 24 Space

After most of the summer doing some sort of electrical work, imagine for a moment what it was like for Mary Kay and I to be in the middle of Superior National Forest as we switched on our basement lights for the first time! It was AMAZING!!! Amazing to have light! More amazing that our off grid solar actually worked!!! 

Although we will not have a monthly electricity bill, our electricity is not "free." The system has the obvious initial monetary costs. The batteries have a limited lifetime of charges. The PV panels have a 25-year warranty but they are made using precious metals. Bottom line: off grid solar also has monetary and environmental impacts.

Only time will tell how we did at sizing our off grid solar and electrical needs. We'll need to put the system into use to see how we manage across multiple seasons. For our latitude we have a mere 2.1 sunlight hours for generating solar per day during the winter. 

Now go turn off your lights ...

Fall Pic (Photo Creds to Courtney)

The Insulating Crew Sporting Tyvek Suits & Masks

Is it done yet?

Mark places the last piece of siding

There’ve been two persistent questions this summer by our faithful followers. First, is it done yet? And Second, why haven’t you written a blog post?!

So here’s the long awaited blog post (!), and no, we’re not done yet! This summer has been mostly about installing the solar electrical system, inside and out. This past week, Mark filled out the paperwork requesting an electrical inspection. Yay! When that’s done, we’ll be able to insulate and hang sheet rock - then things will start looking like they are coming together.  We also finished the siding this summer. The picture above is of Mark hanging the very last piece at the highest point of the cabin. It feels so good to have that done. Thanks to friends Al and Dave for helping the last of that big job!

We’ve actually taken time off from the building project periodically this year. We’ve spent time paddle boarding, swimming, canoeing, and sitting our butts in our teak rocking chairs on the screen porch. Alisha, James, Alex, and baby Avery came up for Labor Day weekend - it was Avery’s first visit to the cabin.

We’d love to say we have SOMETHING complete, and the screen porch is close. We still need to install cedar tongue and groove on the ceiling inside and finish the outside peak. How to finish the outside has been an unanswered question until recently. I really wanted cedar shakes, and Mark really wanted to use up the leftover siding. The latter is practical and the former is a lot more work. Yesterday, Mark came home with four bundles of cedar shakes, bless his heart (that “bless his heart” was for you, cousin Connie!). Today we stained them in preparation for their installation.

In August, we started a fun project. We are using reclaimed hardwood for our flooring, which will give us a very rustic look. We bought it last year, and it’s been sitting in our way. So, while typically we’d install the flooring after doing the walls, we need it out of our way. So we started the installation. We had our friends, Al and Kathy, up for a few days and Kathy taught Mary Kay how to install the flooring. Kathy and Mary Kay finished the bedroom in 2 afternoons, and then MK got a start in the main room after they left.

That’s a bit of an update. Perhaps Mark will write a blog post all about the electrical system - that’s beyond MK’s pay grade! The good thing about not writing a blog post since the beginning of the summer is that I realized how many people are reading them and enjoy seeing our progress.  Thanks to all who prodded us to get another entry written - we promise it won’t be so long before the next one!

The Perfect Day

Mary Kay and I ventured north for Memorial Day weekend. I had been up the weekend prior with my brother Al and what a difference a week can make. A week ago we had frost on Sunday morning. This trip we had temps in the 80's and the bugs were awakening from their slumber.

This weekends plans were to screen in our porch that we built last March. As usual, the truck was packed with supplies. To screen the porch we framed the openings with 2x2 cedar. Then we made our own screen frames with heavy duty extruded aluminum. We used black aluminum screen and splines to complete the project. The main porch screens are 80"x42". The came out great ... not perfect mind you, but well within our tolerances. The black colored screen blends in and is nearly invisible.

Sunday turned out to be a "Perfect Day". We completed our screened in porch .. DONE! We then unwrapped our paddle boards to take them on their maiden voyage. You'll see we were donning our life jackets expecting some pretty cold water if we fell into the lake. After a short trip on the lake with Minnie as our paddle board Captain we decided it was war
m enough to attempt a swim. To our she-grins the water was warm! We floated in the lake and laid in the warm sun on our boards to dry off. 

The day flew by and before you knew it was Happy Hour! Mary Kay decided it was due time to put her feet up and use that porch that she has worked so hard to build. Since I cannot sit still (nor read), I decided to try my luck at fishing. Minnie was torn ... stay with Mkay or go with Mark, stay with Mkay or go with Mark ... she decided to stay. For a golden, it is pure torture to have to choose between your peeps. In the end, Mkay had to listen to her whining on the porch and I missed my ballast in the canoe ... but we all survived.

My happy hour in the canoe was interrupted by a nice trout. My first out of the lake. We added the trout to our walleye for dinner which was fantastic!

All in all ... it was simply ... a Perfect Day!

We are almost ready for our electrical rough in inspection. Plumbing supply lines and vents are also nearly complete with the drains remaining. If we are not careful we'll be able to insulate the walls soon! We've purchased our complete PV solar system from Wholesale Solar and we are working on the off grid installation. We're installing a 2.6kW solar system that should support all of our conservative electrical needs. For those interested ... we're installing a 4000W Magnum Inverter, Midnight Classic charge controller, 9 - 290 watt SolarWorld panels mounted on a ground mount. We'll have 8 Crown 6-volt 430Ah batteries to supply our power. The batteries will be installed in a custom made battery enclosure that has a 24v DC powered exhaust vent.

Enjoy!

M&M

Next time maybe Mark can take a few photos to include Mkay!!

Where's Waldo?

Where is Waldo the cabin builder?

We've been hibernating the past couple of months waiting for milder temps at the cabin before we continue our Nordhjem Escapades. I just returned from a great weekend XC skiing with friends near the cabin. This area near our cabin has received 70" of snow so far this season. The woods are a winter wonderland as the winds sculpture the snowy landscape. (Sunrise photo creds to Bob A.)

We have continued some of our cabin research over the winter to narrow down our lighting options and to spec out our electrical solar needs for the cabin. This is all in prep for the upcoming building season.

We made good progress last year! The exterior is 75% sided. On the interior we have the majority of the electrical and plumbing rough in completed.

We are also thrilled to have our first grandchild! Little Miss Avery Benton joined us on January 25th. She is "precious" to say the least!

Back here in the big city I continue to volunteer as a XC Ski Patrol
for Dakota county. It's incentive to get out of my recliner and enjoy the local parks.

For this blog entertainment I have created a random video of cabin photos. The photos remind us how thankful we are for the family and friends who have helped us along the way.

Enjoy!