My 15.75 x 30 Jemez Cabin

[soomb]

Don, what do you think it would take in order to power the cabin full time?

[MountainDon]

With the limited space, lots of windows, wood burner for heat, propane for cooking, water heating and refrigeration, using CFL's as the main lighting along with a couple small 15 watt over the counter fluorescent lights, a small RV DC water pressure pump and the sunny NM weather, we should have excess power from the 624 watts of panels. In summer we have a good 6 hours of very usable sun power on a typical day. Even during the rainy season the skies don't normally cloud up till 1 or 2 PM.

[MountainDon]

Ooops, forgot to mention the microwave and a little LCD TV use. Computer battery charging. That's more less everything. 24 VDC ceiling fan.

[Pritch]

Don, that sounds like a great price on the panels.  I had heard that you wanted to keep an even number of panels.  Is that incorrect?  Also, did't you already have a few smaller panels? 

-- Pritch

[MountainDon]

Good question Pritch. And I'm going to put my reply in the Off Grid topic.

About the small panels I've had for a while... Yes. I have 2 15 watt 12 volt panels. One has a cracked face and only puts out about half it's rated power. I am not sure where they will end up. Possibly I'll keep them as a power source for a small battery to run a light in the shed.     It's not worth trying to tie them into the new system of panels, IMO.  They've done a good job at 'floating' the RV batteries over the winter.

[prohomesteader]

@mountaindon

here you can get solar panels for 2.50 to 3.50 per watt usually, I've never seen them cheaper

I haven't ordered yet, so I can't vouch for them but thought you or anyone else reading might appreciate the link

http://www.sunelec.com/

I have talked to them on the phone and the only "catch" is they are a wholesale place so their minimum order is 4 panels when i talked to them a couple months ago

[MountainDon]

That's good pricing. Check what the freight costs would be. Good be a good choice especially if you are close.

[MountainDon]

I picked up the panels from the warehouse today. Oh boy, o boy!!! Several pallets of PV panels sitting there. I quickly counted over three hundred 200 watt or bigger panels waiting to find homes.    Racks full of other stuff too. What a candy store!


They need a new warehouse man.  $18 an hour plus profit sharing. At least that's what the guy who got fired this morning was making. Was the bosses son.

[tesa]

wow, i just spent my monday evening watching you build your cabin.

how inspiring

(bowing lowly, "i am not worthy")

the panoramic view of your homestead is just beautiful

i've been to your area of NM, as a tourist several years ago, and fell in love

thank you so much for sharing your journey, again, truly inspiring

tesa

[MountainDon]

tesa, We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have found our little piece of the Jemez. I'm glad you enjoyed the visit. Not too much will be going on for the next couple months. I'm collecting parts. I'm unable to get the Jeep in the garage as I have it cluttered with assorted things. I have to build a bed base and a few other small things before spring.

I spent a lot of time running over the sequence of construction before picking up a tool. That paid off as I usually managed to have what I needed on hand, or at least could skip to something else until I could obtain the missing item.

I made drawings of each wall, the floor joists and sheathing, the ceiling joists, rafters and roof sheathing. From those I made material lists, size, length species and grade. I ordered virtually all the all the materials for the basic shell from one source and got a good price with delivery to the mountain site. I did pay a little more for the materials compared to the pick it up yourself prices at HD or Lowe's. But I didn't need to haul it. It was well worth the difference as I was able to build rather than transport.

[Dog]

I am so excited for you about your solar panels!  I mean HOT! 

[MountainDon]

Thanks. I noticed yesterday that their stocks on that deal are exhausted. Glad I bought them when I did.

[Terry]

I have to build a bed base and a few other small things before spring.

Would you mind taking pictures of the bed base you build? Will it have drawers underneath? My husband will be building one in the next few months and I would like to show him a picture.

[MountainDon]

Would you mind taking pictures of the bed base you build? Will it have drawers underneath? My husband will be building one in the next few months and I would like to show him a picture.

Certainly! I have them started in the garage. I'll take a picture or two soon (after I do the garage door opener repair) and post them along with my thought process. I am not building drawers. We will be buying plastic storage boxes with lids and sliding them under the bed. I could build drawers, I have before. However, our elected approach is faster and I have loads of work to do anyhow, so it's a compromise.    The bed comforter will hang down the sides to near floor level and hide anything there anyhow.


We drove up to the mtns to check on the road/snow. There's not much snow on the road. We made a start but encountered mushy snow wherever the suns rays were hitting, along with the dreaded fall through. I didn't have to shovel or winch, but needed both axles locked to get it out. Had to back down an 1/8 mile of curvy road; not my favorite thing to do. We snowshoed a mile up past where we gave up the idea of driving and found similar to softer conditions all along. Unless it snows again in significant amounts I think we stand a good chance of driving all or at least most of the way up to our cabin.   

[DirtyLittleSecret]

Okay, so it took me my spare time over the last three days to go through this thread, and I gotta admit...its gotten me anxious for the snow on my property to clear up!  Seriously, thanks for sharing with us.  I'm already considering a PV system now.  Oh, and nice Jeep.  Too bad it isnt a Cruiser!

[MountainDon]

I'm happy to share.    I can't bear the waiting to get back up there myself. We're planning on a week over spring break in a few weeks. EDIT: Make that 2 weeks; just checked the calendar. March 21

I had a Cruiser many years ago; a BJ60. The BJ is an FJ with a 3.4L 4 cyl diesel! The diesel was never available in the USA. I was still in Canada at the time. At times I wish I had never sold it, but then I have those thoughts about a lot of my former wheels.  

[DirtyLittleSecret]

My "Mountain Rig": 1988 FJ62 w/ LT1, 4L60e, 1 ton (Longfield 30's, Poly Rears), 3" OME, 1" BL, ARB/Aussie, Warn M8000, 33" BFG MT's, and fresh interior, etc...



...and this is a "modest" build...

Didnt mean to hijack, but thanks again for the great thread!  I look forward to Season 2!

[MountainDon]

Those work well with the small block; there are a few around here that I know of. If you have other images and want to show off you could go here...

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=2532.0

[MountainDon]

Hi! I Love You!
KLM

[MountainDon]

That was not me loving myself. 

That was Karen, my wife, who logged in on her computer as myself 

I love her too. 

Maybe she needs her own login. 

[Sassy]

 

[MountainDon]

Kinda funny. She was at her computer, and I was in the other room on mine. She made that post and thenkept coming by to see what I was doing. She was wondering why I never responded. Finally she asked if I'd received any messages. I said, "No". Which brought a "What!"

Anyhow I explained the system.


Could have been in trouble there. 

[MountainDon]

I can't bear the waiting to get back up there myself. We're planning on a week over spring break in a few weeks. EDIT: Make that 2 weeks; just checked the calendar. March 21

Stymied by the snow! There's not a lot, but enough in all the wrong places. Past the locked gate the forest road has about a dozen bends that are north facing, shielded from direct sunshine for the most part. Each one of these curved road sections are graded with the slight banking to the low side which is a drop off. We used our key and got through two of those bends, the first one easily enough, the second required more work, several runs at the snow.  The Cherokee kept wanting to slide downhill, to the drop. 

A short hike showed that the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th bends were just as bad, maybe worse/deeper.

We ate lunch, turned around, and called it a day. Perhaps if the weather stays as warm as it has been we may try in 3 - 4 weeks. 

[MountainDon]

With only slight difficulty (driving fast through deep spots of snow; not my usual more cautious approach) we made it 3 3/4 miles from the highway to the foot of "our hill". Only a quarter mile to go.    Basically all the snow had melted in the forest, save for north facing slopes and shady areas. Our "hillside driveway" on the north facing slope was 12" deep. The Cherokee did not like it at all. So we hiked up and got a fire going in the Aspen. Happily the batteries were at full charge thanks to the small PV panel set.

This morning we woke up to 2+" of fresh snow. We went out and set fires to three small burn piles we'd set up yesterday. It continued to snow with flakes bigger than in the earlier morning. About noon, after watching the continuing snow and the weather guy on TV we decided to retreat. The forecast was for snow today, tonight and tomorrow.

More than likely it will turn out to be a non event. 

[ScottA]

Maybe time for a plow on the jeep?