Downside of Solar Power

When we moved to our little house with solar power, we thought we were pretty hip. How cool is that, to generate all your own power? It didn't take long for us to realize it wasn't ALL sunshine and roses- we were initiated our first night in the place.

For starters, very few people are well versed in solar power systems and no two solar power systems are the same. So, when something goes awry, there's no one to call.

This leads to one of two things:
a supreme sense of self-empowerment, knowing that we can take care of ourselves, or
a sense of impending doom and the smell of rotting food in the second (electric) frig. (The primary frig is propane)

So, when something starts beeping, flashing, or everything shuts down, I hit the off-on button. If this doesn't work, I look to see if everything is still connected right. If it STILL isn't working, I go and do some other chore (haul wood, clean the woodstove, clean the skunk spray off the dog, it varies...) and call my husband. He's pretty handy. But, if we're both stumped, well, we do the only thing we can do - just keep trying things until something works. This can take days...

Oh, and one more thing- when it snows and the snow sticks to the solar panels, blocking the sun, like it did recently- guess who gets to go sweep them off? (How DOES the snow stick to them when they're almost perpendicular, anyway?!)

Still, the up-sides are huge. Besides being less polluting than many other forms of power, I have an excuse to go out and play in the BEAUTIFUL new, untouched snow!

Now, seriously, does anyone know why snow sticks to panels sitting almost perpendicular to the ground?

HOW do you turn on the lights?

We were starved and exhausted. We'd been moving into our bohemian mountain cabin all day, with the generous help of friends, who had just left. It was a warm November evening, and the twilight was fading fast.

I put some left-overs in the microwave that the last owner had left, and turned it on. The microwave hummed, and then....silence. The lights went out. We were sitting in total darkness, surrounded by piles of boxes.

This was our introduction to our solar power system.

Oh, for a flashlight! Which box were they in? And...had we damaged anything?

It turns out, we hadn't done any damage- solar systems just don't do well with microwaves- at least ours doesn't. (This works for me, because I don't use microwaves any how) They draw a lot of power- more than the system can handle, unless it's fully charged.

So, here's our set-up:
These are the panels. They commune with the sun and, sort of like a plant, make energy!

(I hope you're OK with a LOW tech explanation...)

The energy gets sent to the batteries, where it's stored.

Then, when we turn on lights, or use any power, the inverter converts the DC power from the batteries to AC power that can run our lights and appliances.

There's a charge controller in there, too. Anybody want to guess what important function it serves?

How much, how fast, and how well all depends on how big your system is. There are a gazillion ways to configure the system, and we found it well worth the expense to pay an expert to help- they have all the tinker toys to be able to make sure the system is streamlined and as efficient as possible.


In the end, we made peanut butter sandwiches and went to bed early, since we were so tired and didn't know how to bring the lights back on anyway. Tomorrow would be solar 101 lesson day.

Our off- grid toaster:

Solar Laundry

It's breached freezing this January day - time for laundry!!

No one would believe these stories

No one would believe the half the things that have happened to us since we moved to the mountains, off the grid, and off the proverbial cliff.

I told a few stories.  Peoples' eyes bugged out.

"Why do you stay?" they ask.

"Because my soul has become fused to the land," I answer.

But the questions keep coming. So, I decided to share some of our adventures and way of life via this blog.

May it bring a smile to your lips, warmth to your heart, and appreciation for your dish washer.

(More to come!)