Day 825 (Daily Post)
Day 825. It is a bit of a chilly morning here but at least the sky is clear of clouds and it is quite sunny. I got some really good sun yesterday and noticed that the sun is now setting a good bit more westerly on the horizon so I am considering maybe adjusting the seasonal tilt on my 207 watt panel accordingly. Then again it is a bit of a hassle to do that (because of how I have it mounted) and for the marginal gains it may not be worth the trouble of doing it quite yet.
I should be getting that new MPPT charge controller any day now so I am pretty stoked to get it and test it with that 325 watt panel that I repaired the glass on.
Although I have yet to acquire some wire sufficient for hooking up that repaired panel I have been thinking about just using the wire I currently have connected to my little wind turbine because for the most part the wind turbine does not get enough sustained wind here to be useful. I also have some extension cords that might work for wiring up that panel but since they are 14 gauge I would probably have to double them up just to avoid voltage and current loss over such small wire. Either way I am pretty determined to at least set the 325 watt panel up and see how it works with the new MPPT charge controller.
The way I have things now is not all that efficient because the 207 watt panel is charging two separate twelve volt batteries through two separate PWM charge controllers and while it definitely works it means I am sharing the amps from the panel between both chargers and hence both batteries. The configuration works well enough but it also means that the negative lead from the panel is getting shared by both independent batteries which is safe and all but it introduces a bit of 'noise' into the system and I think it possibly affects the charge controllers from reading the exact voltage of the batteries which again is fine because the inaccuracy is minor but I would like to eliminate as many inefficiencies/kinks as possible. Honestly I think it's great that I figured out how to charge multiple independent batteries off a single high voltage panel (I had three independent batteries on it until I fried that PWM controller recently and had to downgrade it to just two) but ultimately I need to just get more MPPT charge controllers and just use a single battery per panel including an MPPT charge controller for my tiny 20 watt panel.
Obviously real battery banks would be a better option but just working with the stuff I currently I have I think the aforementioned changes would dramatically increase my electricity generation.
Cobbling things together has made doing solar more affordable for me but damn if I just had one big battery bank and one insanely priced charge controller I could wire all my panels together in series and be producing somewhere around twenty amps at roughly seventy-two volts which would charge a pretty large battery bank rather effectively and rapidly. For now my simple little systems work well enough but just knowing the potential is there makes me long for the day that I can upgrade my batteries and charge controllers and be done with all the 'making do with what I have.'
I can't help but to compare all that last bit to my current scenario where I have all the tools, the skills, the gear and potential to contribute a lot to a place but no place to contribute it. I keep thinking of a phrase (that I haven't quite worded out to my satisfaction) that goes 'all honesteaded up but nowhere to homestead' or something along those lines. It is not so much that I want to continue forward doing stuff here but that I feel I am wasting my potential by not contributing (working a bunch) somewhere while the weather is warm and there is time to do stuff before the cold weather arrives again. It is all a bit frustrating to say the least because I had to grind all my momentum to a halt here and get myself to refocus my efforts on 'pulling up stakes' and preparing to move.
Today the weather is going to be nice though and after a few days of rest and letting my mind adjust/settle a good bit I am not feeling quite so stressed and able to fall asleep at night without all the anxiety (over thinking) keeping me awake until the wee hours of the morning. So it is a small victory to be back in my daily routine and feeling clear headed without my body and mind straining under fatigue. The packing down and uninstalling of stuff is not a task I am all that happy to do to start with but I have already made a good bit of progress and think that I will make even better progress now that I have adjusted to the inevitable.
Finding a place is always difficult at best especially given my lack of finances, no transportation and that I have dogs and yeah what I offer is often met with skepticism but as much as I detest trying to 'sell myself' to folks I actually have an incredible skill set, am highly motivated to work without supervision nor prodding, am largely self sufficient when it comes to my own needs especially in regards to electricity, can build my own small structure if need be, have a small steady income from my Patreon page and to some degree Steemit, have my own communications array for places with poor cellular coverage and hell even my dogs have jobs and work as much as I do. Of course there is more I could add to all that but I have spelled it out before so there is not much point in going over it all again but really for someone that doesn't really need much but the physical property to do what I do on and largely be left alone to do it finding a place should not be all that difficult.
Although I am not big on living within communities of other folks I have lately been considering it not just for the potential of having some longevity somewhere but because there would be other folks around that could learn from what I know first hand instead of trying to decipher stuff from my rambling text, pictures, videos and podcasts. I love my hermit ways and all but when I look at the larger picture there is a lot I myself and other folks could benefit from by me being in a community.
I have been exploring the option largely because I have moved too much the last many years and I desperately crave actually putting roots down somewhere and not have this sort of upheaval in my life to cope with every few years or whenever it presents itself. I thought I was doing that here which played a big part in my peace of mind so I am exploring all the various options that might help me to find something that can last even options that I previously would not have entertained like living amongst a community.
Well I have rambled on enough for one morning and since it is finally warming up a bit outside and the sun is shining so I better wrap this up and do the unavoidable editing and posting so that I can get on with my day and continue sorting through, cleaning and packing stuff down.
As far as the packing down goes I am pretty short on containers for everything so if anyone has extra totes with or without lids, milk crates, clean trash cans, barrels, or pretty much anything I can securely pack things in please let me know because I could use them.
I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night. Daylight is burning so toodaloo for now.
